Collaborative Supply Chain Management Research Articles

E-collaborative commerce for small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises

This paper describes the system which was developed as a part work of joint ERDF-DTI-funded B2B-MC project. The world of mass customisation and globalisation has forced manufacturing industry towards outsourcing of manufacturing and product development activities, resulting in the formation of synchronously operating collaborative networks. Within such collaborative environment there is a need for information and communication technology infrastructure that integrates all the processes within supply chain, right from effective collaboration with partners, bidding/gaining contract, procurement, processing to the final delivery of product. This paper presents description and discusses the components of a developed system with a scenario, which depicts innovative way of integrating existing collaborative bidding and supply chain management process within manufacturing industry.

Optimization of multi-plants design strategies with fuzzy reliability model in collaboration manufacture

In this paper develop a optimization of multi-plants design strategies with fuzzy reliability model in Collaboration Manufacture. Optimal product reliability with minimum total cost is derived using model analysis in a Supply Chain Management collaboration system. This research also considers fuzzy to construct the multi-echelon system dynamic simulation model of supply system, and the simulation results which probes into the variations of each products fuzzy reliability

Establishing a transport operation focused uncertainty model for the supply chain

PurposeMuch of the recent research on supply chain uncertainty has focused on relationships between manufacturers and suppliers and existing models have therefore been based on this dyadic structure. The aim is to establish a supply chain uncertainty model that explicitly incorporates transport operations and hence the logistics triad; supplier, customer and transport carrier.Design/methodology/approachThis is a literature‐based activity that synthesises and extends existing models of supply chain uncertainty.FindingsThe paper develops a new model to reflect the nature of transport operations. Consequently, it identifies five main categories of uncertainty, namely from the points of view of the supplier, the customer and the carrier, respectively, the control systems used in the supply chain and external factors. The interfaces between the uncertainty categories involving all three parties of the logistics triad are identified, so as to develop a more holistic perspective on supply chain uncertainty and how it can be reduced.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is conceptual in nature and empirical research into the area of transport uncertainty will be required to validate its findings. Following this, the model can be used to investigate and evaluate improvements in the economic and/or environmental performance of freight transport within supply chains.Practical implicationsThe model is intended to provide a framework within which organisations, including logistics providers, can develop a supply chain strategy to mitigate the effects of uncertainty. By categorising uncertainty into the types described, organisations may determine where the greatest uncertainties lie and hence develop a prioritised plan for supply chain re‐engineering by initially targeting those uncertainties with the most significant implications for supply chain efficiency.Originality/valueLittle research has been undertaken on the impact of uncertainties on transport in the context of collaborative supply chain management. The model rationalises uncertainties into various types taking into account the nature of the logistics triad.

Comparative study on decentralised inventory policy and Vendor Managed Inventory with (r, Q) replenishment strategy

Recently, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) has emerged as a significant development towards collaboration in supply chain management. This paper develops a model to compare the performance of VMI with the performance of decentralised inventory policy. A two-member (vendor and buyer) system implementing (r, Q) replenishment strategy with multi-period, uncertain and price-sensitive customer demand is considered. We find that under a certain cost condition, although VMI likely reduces the vendor's profit, it, compared with decentralised inventory policy, will decrease the retail price and consequently brings higher expected profit level for the buyer and the whole supply chain. However, if the cost condition is not satisfied, VMI will result in a higher retail price, possibly lead a lower expected profit for vendor and not necessarily lead to a higher expected profit for the buyer or the whole supply chain.

Collaborative supply chain management

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to provide an overview of contemporary supply‐chain management systems.Design/methodology/approachThe paper highlights the examples of state‐of‐the‐art practice in supply‐chain management, and speculates about where this movement is headed. Some of the collaborative supply chain management products generating the most interest will also be examined.FindingsCollaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) is the most recent prolific management initiative that provides supply chain collaboration and visibility. By following CPFR, companies can dramatically improve supply chain effectiveness with demand planning, synchronized production scheduling, logistic planning, and new product design. CPFR will force suppliers to innovate, building on strong one‐to‐one relationships that will drive smarter ways of doing things. Most companies and industries can benefit from CPFR. However, companies that experience variation in demand, buy or sell a product on a periodic basis, and those that deal in highly differentiated or branded products will benefit the most.Practical implicationsPractitioners can gain first‐hand knowledge of the CPFR model, technology and factors influencing adoption. Practitioners can also find examples of state‐of‐the‐art practice in supply‐chain management, and study some of the collaborative supply chain management products generating the most interest.Originality/valueThe paper is valuable to practitioners interested in implementing CPFR in their organizations.

RFID Applications for Integrating and Informationalizing the Supply Chain of Foodservice Operators

By enabling easier and real-time information sharing among supply chain partners, Internet applications foster and support new forms of collaborative supply chain management (SCM) practices within the foodservice sector. Advances in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies extend such collaborative SCM practices by increasingly integrating and synchronizing demand and supply chains. The objective of this paper is to investigate and analyze how RFID technologies can seamlessly tie customer interactions with the food supply chain and revolutionize the accuracy, efficiency, personalization-interaction, and security of foodservice marketing, production, and distribution simultaneously. To achieve this, the paper discusses the RFID implementation issues, practices, and benefits within the foodservice sector. The food industry's perspectives on the adoption and benefits of RFID developments are reported by discussing the results of a reality-check study conducted in the Greek foodservice sector.

Streamlining information flow in steel product design and manufacturing industry network

This paper focuses on the importance of process integration in the supply chains from the viewpoint of information flow. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an important enabler of process integration. Many information systems have been developed for Supply Chain Management (SCM), and recently the use of software agent technology has received a great potential in supporting collaboration in SCM. In this paper, two different supply chains between the Finnish steel producer and its local suppliers are modelled in order to find out the critical issues in the move towards an integrated supply chain. Furthermore, the paper presents one development possibility to improve the efficiency of logistics processes by using agent technology.

A Framework for Implementing and Sustaining Trust in Horizontal Partnerships

Most of the extensive literature on collaboration in supply chain management focuses on the economic advantages of vertical collaboration, often ignoring elements such as trust and mutual confidence. In practice, collaborative initiatives often fail because of opportunistic behavior of one of the partners. In discussions of horizontal collaboration, trust is even more often disregarded. Trust in a social context, however, has been explored in depth. This study therefore explores models described in the social literature and tests their applicability in a supply management context. This leads to an adapted model suggesting that to build or sustain trust in horizontal collaborative initiatives, some critical factors should be taken into consideration. The model is validated and illustrated by means of several case studies.

Synergy analysis of collaborative supply chain management in energy systems using multi-period MILP

Energy, a fundamental entity of modern life, is usually produced using fossil fuels as the primary raw material. A consequence of burning fossil fuels is the emission of environmentally harmful substances. Energy production systems generate steam and electricity that are served to different customers to satisfy their energy requirement. The improvement of economical and environmental performance of energy production systems is a major issue due to central role of energy in every industrial activity. A systematic approach to identify the synergy among different energy systems is addressed in this paper. The multi-period and discrete-continuous nature of the energy production systems including investment costs are modeled using MILP. The proposed approach is applied on two examples that are simplified versions of an industrial problem. It is shown that the approach presented in this paper is very effective in identifying the synergy among different companies to improve their economical and environmental performance significantly.

A collaborative supply chain management

Purpose – The intention of this paper is to promote the model of knowledge‐based collaborative supply chain management (KBCSCM) system as an alternative strategy for organisations to resolve the problems in their current supply chain management (SCM) in the era of collaborative commerce (c‐commerce).Design/methodology/approach – This paper covers the explanation of the KBCSCM system and the utilisation of the GAP analysis technique, which is embedded in the knowledge‐based system (KBS). Through this technique, the missing prerequisites of current organisations' position can be identified before implementation of some improvement programs.Findings – This paper has described a hybrid KB/GAP analysis CSCM system for application in organisations, specifically for manufacturing environment. The valid, practical and consistent solutions that are provided by KBCSCM system would assist organisations in implementing CSCM as a strategy.Research limitations/implications – Future research could consider larger sample...

Sources and consequences of bargaining power in supply chains

Research suggests that collaborative supply chain management (SCM) helps chain members create “a rising tide that lifts all boats.” Yet resource dependence theory suggests that when tides rise, some boats are lifted more than others; members who furnish important resources or resources where control is concentrated have bargaining power. Drawing on Thompson [Thompson, J.D., 1967. Organizations in Action. McGraw-Hill, New York], we argue that strong firms’ bargaining power use is tempered by the type of coordination different types of task interdependencies demand. We also investigate how both strong and weak members benefit from SCM. Whereas strong members reap most of the direct benefits, weak members can often gain by building switching costs with strong members, leveraging SCM outside the focal chain, and increasing survival chances.

A collaborative supply chain management framework

PurposeThis paper presents issues associated with the needs of collaborative supply chain management (CSCM) and proposes a planning stage of a CSCM framework.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed planning stage of a CSCM framework incorporates issues of organisation profile, internal functional strategy and supplier‐customer strategy. The gauging absence of prerequisites (GAP) analysis technique which embedded in the knowledge‐based system is proposed in the planning stage to analyse the gap between the current and the desirable position (benchmark) for an effective implementation in organisation.FindingsThe planning stage framework provides information specifically for designing a CSCM by focusing on the organisation capability and business processes and discussed the important issues in planning a CSCM for business organisations, specifically for a manufacturing environment.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research could be carried out to capitalise the framework for improving the CSCM.Practical implicationsThe proposed planning stage of a CSCM framework enables the chain members to identify key factors or issues for CSCM development.Originality/valueThe new aspects of the proposed CSCM are firstly, the proposed planning stage model is supported by a KBS approach. Secondly, the use of GAP analysis technique and finally, the planning stage framework provides information and issues for the design stage of CSCM framework.

Representation and share of part feature information in web-based parts library

Abstract Web-based parts library is important to Collaborative Design, Concurrent Engineering and Supply Chain Management System. Other than the process of product design, the representation and share of parts family information and part feature information are paid more attention in web-based parts library. Based on research of a web-based parts library system, some key technologies are put forward in this paper, which are a web-based part data description norm on data dictionary, a feature-based neutral representation of part geometric information and a hoops-based visualization method of part feature model. All these realize the share of information of parts library in and among enterprises. The above achievements are used in China National 863 High-Tech Project. Besides, the achievements have been embodied in the international standard raised by China National Institute of Standardization and provided the technical foundation to propose the international standards with Chinese independent intellectual property right.

SME-based collaborative supply chain management: the impact of information technologies

The study aims to provide insight on how Small-and-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) adjust Supply Chain Management (SCM) in response to the introduction of Information Systems (ISs). An analysis of a three-tier, SME-based Supply Chain (SC) in the Taiwanese nylon fibre market is conducted. Based on this case study, a schema of IT-enabled collaborative SCM of SMEs is built. From the findings, ISs, information sharing, and performance metrics do facilitate implementation of business strategies, leading to synchronised SC operations and improved performance. In contrast, shared SC performance measures and SC-wide IT planning and strategy are not critical successful factors for SME-based collaborative SCM. As well, although it is argued, that advanced Inter-Organisational Systems (IOSs) are essential for SCM, they are found to be unnecessary for performance improvement in this studied SC. Finally, we find no support for the e-market hypothesis in this textile industry market structure.

Software Component Architecture for an Information Infrastructure to Support Innovative Product Design in a Supply Chain

Existing methodologies to increase the efficiency of design of supply-chain management (SCM) processes consider cost, quality, function, and technology attributes of products separately. However, there is no integrated information infrastructure to consider these attributes together. We have devised new table structures to combine the 4 attributes and their relationships organically. We introduced simple ontology concepts for this information infrastructure, considering the supply-chain tree and the structure of attribute–relationship tables, with some restrictions from a general ontology for the semantic Web. We created basic database schemas using the designed ontology for the information infrastructure for SCM collaboration. We also developed a software component architecture that provides interface services to clients and other business logic in future semantic Web services based on this information infrastructure and using the component-based software development methodology. We built Servlet classes for Web presentation and used Enterprise JavaBeans, entity beans, and session beans for business logic. We also describe examples to demonstrate our information infrastructure. Experiments using the 3 platforms provide performance data that show the capability of our server-side software component system.

Multi-company collaborative supply chain management with economical and environmental considerations

Process systems must interact with other systems for a better production performance. The interaction among process systems is usually established when these systems exchange materials such as steam and electricity. Integrated analysis of different process systems can provide valuable insight and also identify improvements in the financial and environmental performance of industrial supply chain systems. A systematic approach to identify the synergy among different process systems has been developed. The proposed approach uses three steps; the generation of standardized models for process units, integration of process unit models for the supply chain system and solution of the model and analysis of the results. The developed approach is illustrated with an example that is a simplified version of a real problem and tested on an industrial problem. It is shown that important improvements in the cost and release of environmentally harmful emissions can be accomplished by integration of different process systems.

A collaborative agent-based infrastructure for Internet-enabled collaborative enterprises

The Internet has evolved very rapidly from an information space to a market space over the past few years. There is a tendency towards implementing real-world agent-based applications based on the Internet. This paper presents some results of our recent research work towards an infrastructure for Internet-enabled collaborative agent systems. The infrastructure and the related supporting services, components, prototypes and mechanisms are initially proposed and developed for Internet-enabled collaborative agent systems in all kinds of application areas, but they are primarily targeted for implementing Internet-enabled collaborative enterprises or supply chain management systems. The general collaborative agent system architecture with the basic communication and cooperation services, domain independent components, prototypes and mechanisms are described. The benefits of implementing Internet-enabled collaborative enterprises with the proposed infrastructure are discussed. A case study on multi-plant production planning is presented. Some important implementation issues are discussed.

Supply chain collaboration alternatives: understanding the expected costs and benefits

Collaboration is a recent trend in supply chain management (SCM) that focuses on joint planning, coordination, and process integration between suppliers, customers, and other partners in a supply chain. Its competitive benefits include cost reductions and increased return on assets, and increased reliability and responsiveness to market needs. Recent advances in inter‐enterprise software and communication technologies, along with a growing use of strategic partnering and outsourcing relationships, has resulted in a confusing assortment of alternative information systems approaches for supporting collaborative SCM. This paper analyzes the alternatives and presents a framework for understanding the expected costs and benefits of each type of system. These costs include not only the total cost of ownership of the system, but also the partnership opportunity cost – the cost of being tied to a partner due to system inflexibility. The benefits of collaborative SCM include process, inventory, and product cost reductions as well as increased cycle times, service levels, and market intelligence.

Quantitative Analysis for Internet-Enabled Supply Chains

A supply chain, from an operations perspective, has three components: sourcing or procurement, manufacturing and distribution, and inventory disposal. In each component, the Internet is significantly affecting how supply chains are being managed, leading to new challenges while ultimately promising to provide value. The likely future is collaborative supply-chain management that promises to make, for the first time, the dream of virtual integration a reality. Quantitative modeling provides companies decision support as well as insights for better management of supply chains. But there are still a number of challenges that require further OR/MS analysis.