Supply Chain Flow Research Articles

A model for streamlining and automating path exchange hybrid life cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is inherently complex and time consuming. The compilation of life cycle inventories (LCI) using a traditional process analysis typically involves the collection of data for dozens to hundreds of individual processes. More comprehensive LCI methods, such as input-output analysis and hybrid analysis can include data for billions of individual transactions or transactions/processes, respectively. While these two methods are known to provide a much more comprehensive overview of a product’s supply chain and related environmental flows, they further compound the complex and time-consuming nature of an LCA. This has limited the uptake of more comprehensive LCI methods, potentially leading to ill-informed environmental decision-making. A more accessible approach for compiling a hybrid LCI is needed to facilitate its wider use. This study develops a model for streamlining a hybrid LCI by automating various components of the approach. The model is based on the path exchange hybrid analysis method and includes a series of inter-related modules developed using object-oriented programming in Python. Individual modules have been developed for each task involved in compiling a hybrid LCI, including data processing, structural path analysis and path exchange or hybridisation. The production of plasterboard is used as a case study to demonstrate the application of the automated hybrid model. Australian process and input-output data are used to determine a hybrid embodied greenhouse gas emissions value. Full automation of the node correspondence process, where nodes relating to identical processes across process and input-output data are identified, remains a challenge. This is due to varied dataset coverage, different levels of disaggregation between data sources and lack of detail of activities and coverage for specific processes. However, by automating other aspects of the compilation of a hybrid LCI, the comprehensive supply chain coverage afforded by hybrid analysis is able to be made more accessible to the broader LCA community. This study shows that it is possible to automate various aspects of a hybrid LCI in order to address traditional barriers to its uptake. The object-oriented approach used enables the data or other aspects of the model to be easily updated to contextualise an analysis in order to calculate hybrid values for any environmental flow for any variety of products in any region of the world. This will improve environmental decision-making, critical for addressing the pressing global environmental issues of our time.

Vendor Selection using Analytical Network Process (ANP) in Heavy Equipment Company

<p>Using qualitative interviews to understand the mindset of family business leaders in succession, this Supply Chain Management is important in industry. Vendor is the key component in the supply chain flow. A company abbreviated as UTPE is one of the biggest manufacturing companies in Indonesia that produces heavy equipment. The main materials are plates and spare parts that have been supplied by eight vendors. The current system of vendor selection is based on tardiness of delivery time, but every vendor has different frequency of delivery so that it cannot be compared. Therefore, the appropriate criteria and sub criteria are required to create a new system of vendor selection. The criteria and sub criteria are determined based on the previous research and interview with an expert in the company. There are 5 criteria and 17 sub criteria that are approriate for vendor selection. ANP is the development of Analytical Heuristic Process (AHP) by considering dependency between elements of hierarchy. By using ANP, the interdependency between criteria, sub criteria and their weight can be defined. Data collection is done by using observation, interview and questionnaire. Sub criteria long term relationship has the highest weight and vendor abbreviated as GH is the best vendor with score 3.057 of 5.</p>

Vendor Selection using Analytical Network Process (ANP) in Heavy Equipment Company

<p>Using qualitative interviews to understand the mindset of family business leaders in succession, this Supply Chain Management is important in industry. Vendor is the key component in the supply chain flow. A company abbreviated as UTPE is one of the biggest manufacturing companies in Indonesia that produces heavy equipment. The main materials are plates and spare parts that have been supplied by eight vendors. The current system of vendor selection is based on tardiness of delivery time, but every vendor has different frequency of delivery so that it cannot be compared. Therefore, the appropriate criteria and sub criteria are required to create a new system of vendor selection. The criteria and sub criteria are determined based on the previous research and interview with an expert in the company. There are 5 criteria and 17 sub criteria that are approriate for vendor selection. ANP is the development of Analytical Heuristic Process (AHP) by considering dependency between elements of hierarchy. By using ANP, the interdependency between criteria, sub criteria and their weight can be defined. Data collection is done by using observation, interview and questionnaire. Sub criteria long term relationship has the highest weight and vendor abbreviated as GH is the best vendor with score 3.057 of 5. </p>

A Fuzzy Optimization Approach to Integration of Physical and Financial Flows in a Global Supply Chain Under Exchange Rate Uncertainty

In recent years, increasing costs and organization concerns regarding the funding and allocation of financial resources have resulted in a great attention to financial flow and its effects on planning decisions through supply chain network. This study aims at developing a mathematical model that is able to integrate the financial and physical flows in the global supply chain planning problem. To evaluate the financial performance of the supply chain, economic value added index is used. The proposed model utilizes a new risk measure, i.e., fuzzy CVaR to cope with the uncertainty of exchange rate as an important factor in global supply chains. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed model, a test problem from the recent literature is used. The analysis of the results obtained from the developed fuzzy mathematical model shows an average 5% increase in profit and 10% reduction in the semi-variance measure compared to previously developed models.

Tactical production planning for physical and financial flows of supply chain in a multi-site context

In financial crisis, companies always need free cash flow to efficiently react to any uncertainties to ensure solvency. Thus, this thesis serves as an interface between operations and finance to develop tactical production planning models for joint management of physical and financial flows in the supply chain. In these models, the financing cost of operation-based working capital requirement (WCR) is integrated as a new financial aspect never before considered in the lot-sizing literature. We first focus on extending the classic EOQ model by considering the financing cost of WCR with a profit maximization objective. The optimal analytic production quantity formula is derived as well as sensitivity analysis of this model. Moreover, a comparison with the EOQ model and with the formula which considers the cost of capital are discussed. Secondly, a dynamic lot-sizing-based, discounted cash flow model is established based on Uncapacitated lot-sizing model. The zero-inventory ordering property is proven valid for this case and a polynomial-time algorithm can thus be established. Thirdly, multi-level and infinite capacity scenario is investigated with both sequential and centralized approaches. The ZIO property is demonstrated valid in both cases. Dynamic-programming based algorithms are constructed in order to obtain an optimal solution. This thesis should be considered as a first, but significant setup of combining production planning and working capital management. It is shown the significant financial consequences of lot-sizing decision on production planning. The cases investigated in this thesis may be tackled as subproblems in the study of more realistic scenarios.

Global seafood consumption footprint

To ensure food security and nutritional quality for a growing world population in the face of climate change, stagnant capture fisheries production, increasing aquaculture production and competition for natural resources, countries must be accountable for what they consume rather than what they produce. To investigate the sustainability of seafood consumption, we propose a methodology to examine the impact of seafood supply chains across national boundaries: the seafood consumption footprint. The seafood consumption footprint is expressed as the biomass of domestic and imported seafood production required to satisfy national seafood consumption, and is estimated using a multi-regional input output model. Thus, we reconstruct for the first time the global fish biomass flows in national supply chains to estimate consumption footprints at the global, country and sector levels (capture fisheries, aquaculture, distribution and processing, and reduction into fishmeal and fish oil) taking into account the biomass supply from beyond national borders.

Mapping of Inbound Flows in Supply Chain of Lithium-ion Industry in Indonesia

The demand for lithium battery is currently high from the consumer side due to the widespread application of lithium-ion battery for electronics (laptops, notebooks, mobile phones, street lighting) and electric vehicles (electric cars and electric motors). In Indonesia, the research and industrialization on lithium-ion battery have been conducted to develop products such as for electric vehicles and street lighting. On the other hand, the relationship between suppliers, producers, distribution channels, and consumers has not been mapped. This mapping is intended to provide an overview of the strength of suppliers, involved manufacturers, and to determine the readiness of the value chain of lithium-ion battery to perform mass production. The approach in the mapping uses primary data and secondary data for the initial stage of inbound flows in supply chain of lithium-ion industry in Indonesia. Primary data are obtained from the questionnaires, which adopted from the value chain lithium-ion battery research in USA adjusted for Indonesian context. Meanwhile, the secondary data derived from literature reviews. The respondents in the study are 11 institutions consisting of manufacturers and R&D of lithium-ion battery in Indonesia. The results obtained are supplier mapping that provides the flow of lithium-ion battery, cell, module, and pack as well as the producers and consumers. The results could also be utilized to identify the valuable metrics in the supply chain of lithium battery industry.

Economic sustainability of biogas production from animal manure: a regional circular economy model

Purpose This paper aims to understand the implementation of a circular economic business where animal manure is used to produce biogas and alternative fertilizer in a regional network of manure suppliers and biogas producers and to reveal the impacts of five variables (manure quantity, transportation distance, manure dry content, manure price and manure discharge price) on the economic sustainability of manure-based biogas supply chains. Design/methodology/approach An enterprise input-output approach is used to model physical and monetary flows of the manure-based biogas supply chain. Computational experiments are performed on all variables to identify under which conditions the cooperation is beneficial for all actors. Findings The cooperation is profitable for a large-scale farm (>20,000 t/year) if biogas producer (b) pays farmer (f) to receive its manure (5 €/t) or if f sells manure for free and manure disposal costs are >10 €/t. Cooperation is always profitable for b if f pays b to supply its manure (5€/t). If b receives manure for free, benefits are always positive if b is a medium-large-scale plant (>20,000 t/year). For a small-scale plant, benefits are positive if manure dry content (MDC) is ≥12 per cent and transportation distance is ≤10 km. Originality/value The paper adds value to the biogas production research, as it makes holistic analysis of five variables which might change under different policy and geographical conditions. The investors in biogas production, suppliers and transportation companies can find correspondence to empirical findings for their own site-specific cases.

Analysis of Organic Lettuce Supply Chain Institutions

Supply chains are formed due to the need of farmers, wholesalers, retailers, supermarkets, and consumers. With a large number of agents in the organic lettuce production starting from the farmers up to supermarkets, it turns out that supply chain management has not proceeded well. Each agent has still no-good cooperation and relationship because they only work and focus on their own goals. Information desired by consumers only reaches the retailers, not up to the farmers as suppliers. This research was aimed to identify the structure of organic lettuce supply chain flow, to analyze the performance of organic lettuce supply chain management, and to formulate alternative solutions for the management performance improvement in the organic lettuce supply chain. The results showed that the agents of the supply chain in the flow of information have not flowed perfectly and completely. Improved and better supply chain management performance is highly required at wholesalers and retailers.

Global water transfers embodied in international trade: Tracking imbalanced and inefficient flows

Abstract In light of the increasingly serious resource crisis in the context of global regional connectivity, a detailed analysis for embodied water flows in global supply chains is conducted involving more than 180 countries/regions. Based on the multi-regional database, this work attempts to explore the rules of embodied water transfers and the ways in which imbalance and inefficiencies in the new stage of globalization can be relieved. Overall, water embodied in trade flows, also known as embodied water, is estimated near one third the volume of global water withdrawal. Mainland China is the world's leading gross embodied water exporter with 114.47 billion m3, in contrast to the United States as the leading importer with 151.39 million m3. Under the background of resources distribution, trade acts as a mechanism to enable wealthy consumers to shift stress to their trading partners, leading to a more complex context of imbalance. As the most water-deficient region, the Middle East virtually receives 30 million m3 of embodied water; however most of the less developed regions including African countries are always large embodied water suppliers, requiring urgent, global attention. With the detailed data supports, this study provides systematical accounting on embodied water transfers, conducts comprehensive analyses on transfer patterns, efficiencies, and pressures, and identifies imbalanced and inefficient embodied water transfers among countries/regions, attempting to map out an inclusive and sustained transfer path and lay an essential foundation for globe resources use in the new stage of globalization.

Green supply chain flow analysis with multi-attribute demand in a multi-period product development environment

Green supply chain management is based on performing environmental management into supply chain network in order to decrease the environmental side effects in the product life cycle. So, in this paper, a bi-objective nonlinear programming for an integrated forward/reverse logistics network with the aim of increasing total profit of the network and maximizing the score of green design and quality indicators and green scrap score is discussed. Quality and green design indicators are considered for the forward network and the green scrap score are defined for scrapped products collected and disassembled in the reverse network. The mentioned network includes three echelons in the forward flow (production centers (factories), distribution centers, and customer zones) and three echelons in the reverse flow (collection/disassembly centers, recycling centers, and disposal centers). The main contribution of this study is to consider green design indicators and quality indicators for developing final products. Furthermore, in the model of this research, some constraints are regarded to determine the amount of paper and plastic consumption in the packaging of the products. After presenting the considered model, Multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic (NSGA-II) meta-heuristic Algorithms are proposed to find a set of Pareto-optimal solutions. Then, their output is compared through some samples with different sizes to prove their workability.

Regularities of Change of The Supply Chain Operation Efficiency, Depending on The Parameters of The Transport Process

Abstract Movement of material flow in supply chain is impossible without transport involvement. It confirms importance of this element in the entire system functioning. However, efficiency of supply chain based only on transport efficiency indicators is not appropriate. The main purpose of it functioning is to satisfy consumers’ demand on physical inventory with minimum logistical costs. At the same time, it is important to organize work of all the elements in a way to give maximum synergetic effect. The issues of efficiency increase of supply chain functioning have been studied by many scientists; however, regularities of performance changes of its functioning including parameters of transportation process have not been discovered to full extent. In the article the influence of technological process parameters of freight transportation to the total transport costs has been identified; simulation of the goods delivery process to distribution points has been conducted; transport efficiency regularities on distribution city routes depending on its functioning parameters has been estimated; regularities of storage costs change depending on its parameters have been identified; regularities of change of the supply chain operation efficiency, depending on the parameters of the transport process have been identified.

An investigation of consumer awareness of supply chain management flows: differences between consumers in Thailand and the USA

Consumers purchase goods and services based upon the utility that they receive from the exchange. Supply chains provide the utility that consumers receive. However, consumers may not fully realise the utility that they receive from a supply chain if they are not aware of the benefits the supply chain provides. This paper explores the extent to which consumers in Thailand and the USA are aware of the supply chain activities (flows) that provide the benefits they seek. Survey results suggest that intercultural differences between consumers in Thailand and the USA are related to consumer awareness of supply chain flows. Consumers in Thailand were found to be more aware of supply chain flows than consumers in the USA. Managerial implications are discussed in the paper.

Consumer awareness of supply chain flows in relation to consumer perceptions of value-added by supply chain management

The objective of this study was to examine the perceptions of consumers regarding their awareness of supply chain management flows and the benefits that these flows convey to them. A further objective was to test the conjecture that consumers could be grouped into supply chain benefit segments. An electronic survey (Qualtrics) was administered to consumers in the USA to test the propositions. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three important benefits sought by consumers (variety and assortment, quality/price and reasonable price segments). An analysis of variance suggested that the three consumer supply chain benefit clusters explained differences in consumer awareness of supply chain flows. Consumers in the variety and assortment segment had a higher awareness of financial flows, material flows and information flows as a result of their shopping behaviour. The conjecture that the variety and assortment segment had higher awareness of supply chain flows due to their higher online shopping frequency was supported.

Consumer awareness of supply chain flows in relation to consumer perceptions of value-added by supply chain management

Consumer awareness of supply chain flows in relation to consumer perceptions of value-added by supply chain management

Impact of supply chain alignment on construction performance: A developed model for Vietnam

There are many articles mentioning the advantages and benefits of supply chain alignment none, however, describe how to model such alignment in the supply chain. This paper offers a framework for examining and understanding the impact supply chain alignment has on performance. Based on supply chain mapping approach, a model describing alignment between processes/ flows in the supply chain network is developed. The model is then validated using a dataset of 316 enterprises operating in the Vietnam construction sector. Evidence indicates that the supply chain processes and flows were aligned. According to the results, the proposed supply chain alignment model is able to explain a 59.9% variance in operational performance, 58.9% in customer satisfaction, 34.5% in operating costs and 67.4% in business performance. To successfully align the supply chain network, companies can use the proposed model as a “road-map” to reduce high costs, to avoid the loss of control, management difficulties and/or vulnerability to opportunistic action, all of which may hinder efforts to align the supply chains.

Impacts of Additive Manufacturing on Supply Chain Flow: A Simulation Approach in Healthcare Industry

Additive manufacturing (AM) can lead to innovative solutions in traditional supply chain networks (TSCN), which contains very complicated and -hard to manage- chains. With 3D printing technology, a design file can transform directly to a product, skipping many traditional manufacturing steps. Thus, this new application can affect all logistics and supply chain activities positively. The research problem of this paper is to search and assess supply chain changes associated with 3D printing technology adoption to identify the potential impact of AM. To do so, two different supply chain networks, which are TSCN and 3D printing supply chain network (3DPSCN) for healthcare industry are considered. A simulation model is developed to evaluate the potential impact of 3D printing improvements on the configuration of orthopedic insole supply chains. The main contribution of this paper is proposing a simulation model for a healthcare company to compare its 3DPSCN structure with its TSCN version. The results show the concrete benefits such as lead-time and number of customers that can be achieved by 3DPSCN compared to TSCN.

Sustainable silicon photovoltaics manufacturing in a global market: A techno-economic, tariff and transportation framework

Solar photovoltaics (PV) manufacturing has experienced dramatic worldwide growth in recent years, enabling a reduction in module costs, and a higher adoption of these technologies. Continued sustainable price reductions, however, require strategies focused in further technological innovation, minimization of capital expenditures, and optimization of supply chain flows. We present a framework: Techno-economic Integrated Tool For Tariff And Transportation (TIT-4-TAT), that enables the study of these different strategies by coupling a techno-economic model with a tariff and transportation algorithm to optimize supply chain layouts for PV manufacturing under equally-weighted objectives.We demonstrate the use of this framework in a set of interacting countries (Mexico, China, USA, and Brazil) and two extreme tariff scenarios: no tariffs, and high tariff levels imposed. Results indicate that introducing tariffs between countries significantly increase the minimum sustainable price for solar PV manufacturing, alter the optimal manufacturing locations, and render a more expensive final solar PV module price which can hinder the adoption rates required to mitigate climate change. Recommendations for stakeholders on the optimization process, and techno-economic drivers are presented based on our results. This framework may be utilized by policymakers for the spatially-resolved planning of incentives, labor and manufacturing programs, and proper import tariff designs in the solar PV market.

An examination of national supply-chain flow time

ABSTRACTThe US and other national governments invest in research and development to spur competitiveness in their domestic manufacturing industries. However, there are limited studies on identifying the research efforts that will have the largest possible return on investment, resulting in suboptimal returns. Manufacturers commonly measure production time in order to identify areas for efficiency improvement, but this is typically not applied at the national level where efficiency issues may cross between enterprises and industries. Such methods and results can be used to prioritize efficiency improvement efforts at an industry supply-chain level. This paper utilizes data on manufacturing inventory along with data on inter-industry interactions to develop a method for tracking industry-level flow time and identifying bottlenecks in US manufacturing. As a proof of concept, this method is applied to the production of three commodities: aircraft, automobiles/trucks, and computers. The robustness of bottleneck identification is tested utilizing Monte Carlo techniques.

LEAN SUPPLY CHAIN UNTUK MENINGKATKAN EFISIENSI SISTEM MANUFAKTUR PADA PT. XYZ

There were wastes in the supply chain flow of PT. XYZ which leads to long lead time in the delivery of customer orders. The result is that the company's planned delivery targets are not fulfilled. The objective of this research is to identify waste and cause of waste and to propose improvement to eliminate waste in PT XYZ supply chain so as to reduce lead time and achieve delivery target as an effort to improve company performance with Lean Supply Chain approach. In this research we use VALSAT to minimize waste and non value added activities in supply chain flow. Based on Value Stream Mapping and analysis of waste we proposed improvements that is application of acceptance sampling method on raw material inspection, application of p control chart on assembling process and store warehouse, 2 days battery storage time limit with kanban card proposed and also change of process sequence of lead part casting. Based on the projection, we got the decrease of manufacturing lead time and the increase of process cycle efficiency from 51.47% to 73.69%.