Procurement Lead Time Research Articles

Flux Sensor Measurement and Calibration Requirements for High-Intensity Heat Flux Applications

Stakeholders of CSP and non-CSP high-intensity broadband flux measurements were surveyed and interviewed to obtain flux sensor design and calibration requirements. Existing sensor technologies and existing calibration facilities were then compared against this standard. Stakeholders require a flux sensor designed for >5,000 kW/m2 flux measurements, >1,000 life cycles, <500 ms response time, >60-minute exposure at maximum flux, and <5% measurement uncertainty. Stakeholders also require a sensor with minimal cost, short procurement lead time, and a high-intensity broadband flux calibration. Commercial CSP stakeholders primarily rely on infrared (IR) temperature measurements of receiver equipment to control CSP plant process operation, whereas CSP research and development (R&D) and non-CSP stakeholders rely on accurate flux gauge measurements for a variety of applications. It was determined that existing flux sensor technologies and calibration facilities do not comprehensively meet stakeholder needs. This study suggests a more robust circular foil gauge with a high-intensity solar flux calibration comprehensively meets stakeholder flux measurement needs. Improved circular foil gauge designs and an improved flux sensor calibration facility are discussed.

Supply chain cash-flow bullwhip effect: An analytical model for working capital variance propagation

This research article probes the cash-flow bullwhip effect (CFB), a phenomenon precipitating an increase in the fluctuations of working capital within supply chains. A novel analytical model is proposed to delve into the CFB within a multi-echelon, serial supply chain, taking factors into account, such as demand autocorrelation, procurement lead time, and payment lead times. Our study implies that extended procurement lead times contribute to a heightened CFB, and a substantial discrepancy between a firm’s payment lead time and that of its customers results in a more pronounced CFB. Importantly, adopting shorter payment lead times for customers and extending them for suppliers can inflate the cash-flow bullwhip for all three constituent entities: the echelon, its customers, and suppliers. Our quantitative analysis reveals that strategies, such as payment batching and divulging end-customer demand information can mitigate the cash-flow bullwhip by as much as 49.5 and 53.7%, respectively. Empirical inspection of the CFB experienced by a sample of 786 companies from 2010 to 2019 demonstrates that ∼65% of these companies intensify their working capital variance. This underscores the need for cautious management of working capital variance and the adoption of suitable inventory and payment strategies to forestall financial turmoil within the supply chain.

Visualization Tool for Obsolescence Management: Reducing Supply Chain Risk for C5ISR Systems

Obsolescence is a challenge for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) systems within the Army. These challenges include lower availability of components in the supply chain, schedule delays, and higher costs. Proactive obsolescence management in lieu of reactive obsolescence management is essential to assist with understanding and mitigating obsolescence challenges. This article presents a visualization tool for evaluating the risk of obsolescence to a system’s components. The tool was developed and deployed using the R statistical software program. The visualization tool focuses on the areas of component design life, procurement lead time, cost growth, and the number of manufacturers producing the component. These obsolescence properties are combined in the visualization tool to measure the level of obsolescence risk exposure from the supply availability of the components. The visualization tool was first demonstrated using simulations of 10 systems based on a mix of risk levels with respect to the obsolescence properties. The visualization tool allows a user to input component level data for their system and compare it with two reference systems: the best case when all variables are low risk (i.e., proactive) and the worst case when all variables are high risk (i.e., reactive). The reference systems are included to help practitioners quickly understand their systems level of obsolescence risk from the supply availability of the components. The visualization tool was then validated with publicly available data for a drone and a user study that demonstrated improved accuracy, duration, and confidence in assessing obsolescence risk.

Effect of logistics integration and demand and supply uncertainties on manufacturing performance: A mediating role of product characteristics

This study examines the influence of distribution convergence, delivery lead times, manufacturing difficulties, material management, and procurement on company performance. Primary and secondary data from small and large-scale manufacturing enterprises will be gathered and analyzed using structured and explorative methods, with different analyses applied for causal and cross-comparison outcomes. It will be used as a mathematical model for the following investigation. It assessed the variables' correlation and function as a mediator between them. Cronbach's alpha, a measure of internal consistency, was used to assess overall variable agreement. The study shows the role of interdependence in logistics convergence, pricing fluctuation, and demand and supply uncertainty. Demand and supply uncertainty is one of lead time and substantially impacts outcomes. In this research, procurement lead time significantly impacts the relationship between overall market volatility and supply and demand characteristics. Efficacious Manufacturing requires well-planned procurement, as well as extensive logistical integration.

Lead time and quality driven transport strategies for the wood supply chain

Fresh roundwood loses quality during storage at roadside primarily through blue stain and insect infestation leading to wood value loss. The potential of altitude zone-based risk forecasts to prioritize spruce sawlog piles at devaluation risk for unimodal and multimodal transport strategies was evaluated with a discrete event simulation model. This enabled tracking roundwood quality development through the supply chain as well as identifying and modelling the relationship between lead time and roundwood quality devaluation. Respective regression analyses showed that the procurement lead time is a significant predictor of the downgraded roundwood amount, explaining over 98% of the variance of downgraded wood. This knowledge was applied to provide practical decision support for procurement management. Presented transport strategies using roundwood quality forecasts significantly outperformed those currently being used by preventing, on average, 57% of the roundwood devaluation in a case study. Moreover, 73% of the devaluation could be avoided if up to 25% supplementary truck transport capacity was deployable in peak periods. If no additional self-loading trucks were available, still 67% of the devaluation could be prevented by using the bottleneck resource more efficiently through transferring 20% of the roundwood to rail wagons leading to a more sustainable and resilient wood procurement.

Remanufacturing lead time planning of the medical device with multi-refurbishing steps

This research is motivated by the challenges a ventilator remanufacturer encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic: (i) three refurbishing steps, namely, disassembling, sterilising, and reconditioning, which reduce the yield rates of reused components and thus complicating the remanufacturing process, are required to satisfy the compulsory hygienic regulations; and (ii) the lead time to procuring new components become rather variable because of the paralysed global logistics, thereby prolonging the remanufacturing time. To minimise the total remanufacturing costs, mathematical models are built to derive the optimal remanufacturing lead time analytically for one- and two-component cases and numerical studies are conducted to investigate the behaviour of the remanufacturing process. Four managerial insights are provided to improve the remanufacturing performance: (i) The minimum relative entropy method could approximate the optimal remanufacturing lead time with higher precision because the remanufacturing time might be multi-modal distributed. (ii) Increasing the yield rates at all refurbishing steps could shorten the remanufacturing lead time but does not lower the total cost necessarily. (iii) Investment in reducing the refurbishing lead times might not be economically efficient, whereas shortening the procurement lead time could lower the cost dramatically. (iv) Stock-based strategy for the components with low holding cost could help simplify the remanufacturing process and save the multi-skilled labour cost.

Application of lean manufacturing to improve procurement lead time in the case of the steel industry

The steel industry is classified as a strategic industry that supports many industries, due to continuous national development. The steel industry must improve the quality of its production processes in order to increase its competiveness. One factor that supports the stability of the production process is the procurement process. Delays in the procurement process can disrupt the smooth production process. The purpose of this research is to minimize waste in the steel procurement process by using the value stream mapping method. This research begins by making current state mapping of the actual procurement process, then analyzed the activity categories including value added activity and non-value added activity. In the beginning, the total time value added activity is 7488 minutes and total time non value added activity is 12240 minutes. An improvement was made in terms of the negotiation process, document review, and waiting for an offer, the result of the total value added activity is 7488 minutes and non-value added activity is 2160 minutes, so the procurement process initially 41 days became 21 days.

Analysis of an k-out-of-n:G system with redundant dependency and repair equipment procurement

ABSTRACT This paper studies an k-out-of-n:G system with redundant dependency and repair equipment procurement lead time where the operating times and repair times of components follow exponential distributions and phase-type distributions, respectively. When one component breaks down, it is repaired by a repair equipment. The repair equipment may fail during the repair period and the following repair is not ‘as good as new’. After a number of repairs, it is replaced by a new one. The new spare repair equipment for replacement is only available by an order, and the procurement lead time for delivering follows a phase-type distribution. Moreover, in the multi-component system, the redundant dependency is taken into account. Applying the matrix-analytical method, the system availability, the rate of occurrence of failures of the system, the expected number of broken components, the availability and the rate of occurrence of failures of the repair equipment are derived. Finally, numerical examples are given to show these theoretical results.

Shorten Lead Time of the Procurement Process in Aluminium Smelter

Aluminium Smelter as a specific manufacture, certainly has various types of needs both in terms of materials, services and spare parts. This difference causes longer duration of procurement lead time which can cause disrupted production processes. Procurement Department as a department that serves the purchase request identifies the source of the problem that causes the procurement lead time process does not meet the standard lead time 45 working days for goods & 60 working days for service. By using Ishikawa’s Fishbone and Fault Tree Analyst, it was found that one of the causes of the long lead time of the procurement process was policy. Improvements were made in various aspects such as changes in procurement methods, authority, etc. In the 2019 SKDIR Procurement regulatory application, improvements in goods lead time which were originally from 88.54 working days to 61.90 working days and services from 105.9 working days to 52.62 working days.

Comparing Application of R-Model over Conventional ABC Analysis in a Pump Manufacturing Organization

Inventory control technique is widely employed in every manufacturing organization and ABC analysis is traditionally used for selective inventory control in a supply chain, or in the production system. The main purpose of ABC analysis is to classify stock keeping units to control the high value, medium value and low value items. ABC analysis concentrates quantities of inventory items and inventory values only. Different criteria such as lead time and criticality of inventory items may be initiated to manage the inventory items in a better way. Since consideration of those criteria is impossible for ABC inventory control technique, different multi criteria based inventory control techniques are applied to manage stock items. In this article, selective ABC inventory control technique has been applied to manage inventory items of a pump manufacturing organization situated in the Eastern region of India. Procurement lead time for a stock item plays an important role in supply chain as well as production also. So, lead time criterion in different inventory control strategies ensures an appropriate inventory management system. An AHP based Multi Criteria Inventory Control (MCIC) technique has been adapted regarding different criteria, such as quantities of inventory items, inventory values and lead time criteria to manage inventory items of the pump manufacturing organization. This MCIC model is a weighted linear optimization technique, termed as ‘R-model’. To evaluate the performance of conventional ABC analysis and R-model, a comparison is drawn based on the safety stock inventory cost and fill rate of the inventory items. The entire investigation is capable to find out the cost effective inventory control technique.

Pricing to the Scenario: Price-Setting Newsvendor Models for Innovative Products

In this paper, we consider a manufacturer who produces and sells a kind of innovative product in the monopoly market environment. Because the life cycle of an innovative product is usually shorter than its procurement lead time, one unique demand quantity (scenario) will occur in the selling season; thus, there is only one chance for the manufacturer to determine both optimal production quantity and optimal sale price. Considering this one-time feature of such a decision problem, a price-setting newsvendor model for innovative products is proposed. Different to the existing price-setting newsvendor models, the proposed models determine the optimal production quantity and sale price based on some specific state (scenario) which is most applicable for the manufacturer. The theoretical analysis provides managerial insights into the manufacturers’ behaviors in a monopoly market of an innovative product, and several phenomena in the luxury goods market are well explained.

An Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach in Decision-Making for Material Selection in an Automotive Company: A Case Study

This study is an approach to investigate and to choose the suitable material for the fabrication of tools trolley to ensure the good quality of the product. The project team of an automotive manufacturing company is planning to fabricate 100 sets of tools trolley in the assembly shop. This study was developed to describe an approach based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) that can assist decision-makers and continuous improvement engineers in determining the most suitable material to be employed in fabrication process at the early stage of the product development to reduce the cost. The selected main criteria are Material Strength, Material Cost, Procurement Lead Time and Duration of Fabrication Process while the four materials that will be considered in this study are Aluminium, Steel Tube, and Square Tube. Finally, the results show that Square Tube is recommended as the most suitable material for the in-house tools for trolley fabrication.

Examining the effects of source selection method on procurement outcomes

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the effects of supplier selection method on key procurement outcomes such as procurement lead time (PLT), supplier performance and buyer team size.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a sample of 124 archival contract records from the US Department of Defense. A multiple regression model and multivariate analysis of covariance/analysis of covariance models were used to test the effects of source selection method on pertinent procurement outcomes.FindingsThe trade-off (TO) source selection method increases PLT, as does the number of evaluation factors and the number of proposals received. Substantially larger sourcing teams are also associated with the TO source selection method. Nonetheless, the TO method results in better supplier performance.Practical implicationsTO source selections yield superior supplier performance than low-bidder methods. However, they are costly in terms of time and personnel. Any assessment of supplier value should consider not only the price premium for higher performance but also the transaction costs associated with the TO method.Originality/valueVery little research addresses a buying team’s evaluation of supplier-offered value ex ante and whether that value assessment materializes into actual value-added supplier performance. Low bidder tactics are pervasive, but price (i.e. sacrifice) is only one component of value. Benefits from superior supplier performance may yield greater overall value. If value is critical to the buyer, a TO source selection method – versus a low-bidder approach – is the appropriate tool because of higher supplier performance ex post.

Development of a novel lot sizing model with variable lead time in supply chain environment

Supply chain management (SCM) addresses the management of materials and information across the entire chain from suppliers to producers, distributors, retailers, and customer. The theory of supply chain management suggests that lead time reduction is a pioneer to the use of market mediation to reduce transaction uncertainty in the chain, which can be conceptualized as the primary goal of supply chain management. In the past few decades, scholars gave ample attention about the impact of inventory on SCM. This paper relates to the development of a lot sizing model for a single component multiple delivery system with variable demand and lead time of a multinational transformer company. Two models and the modification were developed on the basis of the following assumptions. For first model distribution of demand is normal, distribution of procurement lead time is exponential and the quantity is coming in a single lot. For second model distribution of demand is normal distribution of ‘procurement’ and ‘administrative delay’ lead time is exponential and the quantity is coming in a single lot. Modification of the first model has been done by taking the effect of multiple deliveries in the models and correcting the Re-order point as obtained from the previous models. The results were observed by the second model and analysis has been done for different parametric conditions. The effect of multiple deliveries is also taken into account. The optimum re-order point and economic ordering quantity with various different inputs have been discussed.

Electricity Material Management, Procurement Lead-time, Project Milestone Schedule, Forewarning Mechanism, Synergism Study

For electricity material management, the mismatch between transmission and transformation project material procurement requirements management and the project milestone schedule always leads to the mistiming response of material procurement and supply. Through learning the materials requirements in each process of different voltage project milestone schedule point, analyzing the material procurement lead-time, the company will establish the synergy mechanism to improve the material management active service for grid project, to enhance the timely supply and its supporting capabilities.

Impact of reorder option in supply chain coordination

This paper studies the impacts of some reorder options on the performance as well as the coordination issues in a supply chain. A large category of products requires a long procurement lead time yet only has a relatively short selling season. Hence the purchase decisions usually have to be made well in advance of the opening of the sales. However, when uncertainty exists, the actual market demand may turn out to severely deviate from the initial order amount. To make up for the deficiency arising from this situation, a reorder option is introduced which renders a second manufacturing chance available shortly before he selling season. This reorder option facilitates an adjustment of the inventory level according to the realization of market demand. Since the market under investigation is facing a downward sloping demand curve, the effect of implementing this option is multi-fold. Moreover, the launch of the reorder option may also affect the decision makings at other levels of operations, such as altering the size of the initial order. Therefore, the overall impact of such option is not immediately clear. In this paper, it is shown that a properly designed reorder option is able to bring in profit growth and stabilize the fluctuations in the market retail price. Besides, quantity discount contracts are constructed to coordinate decisions on the initial inventory amount within the supply chain, so as to achieve higher economic efficiency. Finally, numerical examples are given to demonstrate the conclusions obtained in this paper.

Federal bid protests: Is the tail wagging the dog?

The fear of receiving a bid protest is said to affect acquisition strategies, yet it has not been empirically explored. Based on the Public Value Framework and interviews with contracting personnel, this research tests a model of antecedents to and consequences of the fear of a protest. Survey data was obtained from a sample of 350 contracting personnel. The fear of protest is mitigated by having sufficient procurement lead time and by source selection experience, and increased by protest risk. Fear of protest increases compromised technical evaluations, added procurement lead time, and transaction costs, while it decreases contracting officer authority and is associated with source selection method inappropriateness. Compromised technical evaluations, in turn, decrease contractor performance while contracting officer authority increases contractor performance. Thus, findings suggest that, indeed, the tail is wagging the dog. The research concludes with several managerial implications, study limitations and future research directions.

Lead Time in Drug Procurement: A Study of Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of North India

ABSTRACT Pharmaceutical procurement is a complex process that involves many steps, agencies, and manufacturers. Procurement lead time is defined as the time required to acquire the supplies and services and then placing them in the hands of the user. This study was done to study the lead time in drugs procurement at Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh. It was aimed at calculating the average lead time in the procurement of drugs for year 2009—2010 in Pharmacy Department. Observational study along with retrospective record analysis was done to calculate the average internal and external lead time. Standardized format was used to retrieve data from the procurement records. Average lead time between the preparation of indent and receipt of drugs was observed to be 162 days, out of which 117 days (71%) accounted for internal lead time and external lead time was 47 days (29%). Internal lead time was approximately four times that of external lead time. Various reasons were noted for longer duration of internal lead time and every effort should be made to bring it down to the minimum, so as to ensure the availability of the right medicine in the right quantity, in the right time at the right place. How to cite this article Anand H, Siddharth V, Goyal V, Koushal VK. Lead Time in Drug Procurement: A Study of Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of North India. Int J Res Foundation Hosp Healthc Adm 2016;4(1):16-19.

Reliability analysis and spares provisioning for repairable systems with dependent failure processes and a time-varying installed base

ABSTRACTLine Replaceable Units (LRUs), which can be quickly replaced at a first-level maintenance facility, are widely deployed on capital-intensive systems in order to maintain high system availability. Failed LRU are repaired after replacement and reused as fully serviceable spare units. Demand for spare LRUs depends on factors such as the time-varying installed base, reliability deterioration or growth over maintenance cycles, procurement leadtime of new LRUs, turn-around leadtime of repaired LRUs, etc. In this article, we propose an integrated framework for both reliability analysis and spares provisioning for LRUs with a time-varying installed base. We assume that each system consists of multiple types of LRUs and associated with each type of LRU is a non-stationary sub-failure process. The failure of a system is triggered by sub-failure processes that are statistically dependent. A hierarchical probability model is developed for the demand forecasting of LRUs. Based on the forecasted demand, the optimum inventory level is found through dynamic programming. An application example is presented. A computer program, called the Integrated Platform for Reliability Analysis and Spare Provision, is available that makes the proposed methods readily applicable.

Improving services supply management in the defense sector: How the procurement process affects B2B service quality

Organizational buyers struggle with the effective management of business-to-business (B2B) services, yet little research has examined specifically how the procurement process impacts the supplier’s level of delivered service quality. Based on a sample of 216 buyers of services, this study uses structural equation modeling to examine the relationships between service quality and its determinants. The results suggest that the sufficiency of the requirement definition and communication between the buyer and supplier are associated with B2B service quality, but that monitoring the supplier is not. Additionally, the internal customer’s level of commitment to the procurement and the sufficiency of the allotted procurement lead time affect how sufficiently the buyer defines the requirement for the supplier. The internal customer’s commitment also affects the amount of monitoring of and communication with the supplier. The study’s findings have implications for integrating unified service theory with service-dominant logic; since service quality increases service value, these findings add fidelity to S-D Logic by unveiling specifically how to co-create value with the supplier. Two novel constructs are introduced to supply chain management discourse—sufficiency of the requirement definition and sufficiency of procurement lead time. Furthermore, a new measure of B2B service quality is offered. From these results, implications for practice and theory are drawn. The study concludes with a discussion of limitations and promising directions for future research.