Production-distribution System Research Articles

Re: The Impact of the Absorbent Products Distribution System on Family Caregivers of Older People with Incontinence in Italy: Perception of the Support Received.

Re: The Impact of the Absorbent Products Distribution System on Family Caregivers of Older People with Incontinence in Italy: Perception of the Support Received.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC INTERACTION OF LOCAL FOOD PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS IN THE ONLINE SPACE

The relevance of the study is due to the continuing contradictions between producers and other participants in the supply chain in the food market, the presence of barriers to entry for small entrepreneurs. The demand for local producers’ products by final user and the information technologies prevalence contribute to the emergence of new forms of interaction between market exchange participants and product distribution systems. The purpose of the article: to identify the features of interaction between local food producers and consumers, based on the use of online technologies. Neoinstitutional, structural-functional, and environmental approaches to market analysis are used as the theoretical basis of the research. The results of contemporary research describing new forms of contact “seller — buyer”, aimed at local production, and their characteristic distribution systems, including the use of information technologies, are used. The theoretical concepts of eco-habitus and “smart lifestyle” was relied on for describing the behavior of buyers of local products. The article presents the results of an empirical study aimed at studying the motives, means and forms local food consumers and producers interaction in the online space. The key motives for market exchange choosing on the part of the consumer and producer in the online space are highlighted. The methods of searching for a local producer not entering organized markets are considered; both participants of simple market operations use information services, social networks and messengers for these purposes. The importance of eco-friendly consumption is noted, which is characterized by social responsibility formed in connection with living in a specific location and significance of local production support. The scientific novelty of the work concludes in the categorical scheme development that reflects the local food products producers and consumers interaction, this is also of practical significance in the context of the supply chain transformation in the information society and support for small businesses.

The impact of customer contact as part of the agricultural products distribution channel on the increase of the competitiveness of agricultural holdings

The main objective of this paper stems from the need to provide new insights into the competitiveness of the agricultural products distribution system in the Republic of Serbia, through determining the impact of customer contact as part of the agricultural distribution channel on the competitiveness of agricultural holdings. The survey was conducted on a sample of 126 farms from the territory of the Republic of Serbia through a closed-type survey (12 claims related to customer contact and 15 claims related to the competitiveness of the agricultural products distribution system; five-stage Likert scale), which was distributed electronically. The contribution of the paper is reflected in the results which showed that the level of customer contact (as part of the distribution channel) influences the level of competitiveness of the agricultural products distribution system (in the Republic of Serbia). The results also form the basis for further research in this field.

Designing Value Co Creation Process in Organic Food Product Distribution System

This paper is a study of how to improve the organic product distribution system by applying value co-creation process in the distribution ecosystem by implementing knowledge management into all stakeholders in the distribution ecosystem. The paper will improve the existing organic food product distribution business model and the proposed business model with the implementation of knowledge management to accommodate the value co-creation among stakeholders. The reason why value co-creation among stakeholders needs to be improved is because currently organic food producers focus only on selling their products without having proper knowledge about their customers, while customers do not have enough awareness about organic food’s benefit. Because of this gap, this research tries to find the solution by improving the organic product distribution system through the application of value co-creation process. This paper will use qualitative research method as the main method to collect data and scientific analysis for achieving the goals which will be proposed and related to the research objectives as explained before.

Design of Performance Measurement in Indonesia Plastics Seeds Coloring Company by using Stakeholder Perspective PRISM

Plastic seed manufacturing industry is an important plastics industry in Indonesia, seen from the needs of plastic consumption to make this industry have considerable opportunities. The measurement system of manifacture industry performance has been so far only centered on financial indicator, whereas this industry is included on the industry which gets many attention from stakeholder related to the potential of environmental pollution caused. The purpose of this research is to develop framework of performance measurement in manufacture industry of plastic seeds coloring by adopting stakeholder perspective Prism. Prism performance measurements have advantages that provide a more comprehensive performance measurement overview than performance measurement using Balanced Scorecard. Steps of research begins with screening KPI, determining performance achievement target, measuring performance target achievementof each KPI and improvement recomendation. The PRISM performance measurement performed in company are then classified into the Traffic Light System category, and find 5 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the red or critical category. Target achivement of KPI employed is the worst in the Case Study done, followed by KPI related product and one KPI related to product distribution system. The low target achievement of KPI employed has implication on the loss annual production 1,028,580 kg equals to $ 102,82.

The impact of the absorbent products distribution system on family caregivers of older people with incontinence in Italy: perception of the support received

BackgroundUrinary incontinence is a chronic, age-related disorder, likely to increase in the future due to global population ageing. In Italy, as in most countries, older people with incontinence are often cared for by family caregivers, whose burden might be worsened by the perception of receiving an inadequate support, due to the lack of customized services. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the absorbent products distribution method on family caregivers’ perception of the support received.MethodsThe study compared the distribution of pads to homes and in pharmacy via a survey reaching 101 family caregivers of older people with incontinence living in two geographical areas of the Marche Region (Central Italy) with different distribution systems. The association between “Quality of perceived support” (the outcome variable) and two types of absorbent products delivery methods (i.e. pharmacy and home distribution) was analysed by means of a general linear model.ResultsFindings show that family caregivers receiving pads at home (HODs) perceived a higher support than those gaining them at the pharmacy (PHADs) (respectively 68.1% vs 35%). The association between perceived support level and distribution system remained even after correction for confounding factors. 70.2% of PHADs reported “Poor well-being”, versus only 53.7% of HODs. The latter are more satisfied with the type of products distribution and thus less inclined to experiment different systems for the supply of products for the urinary continence (e.g. by voucher). The results are virtually reversed among PHADs and the difference is statistically significant (p < 0.001).ConclusionsWhen family caregivers feel supported by a more customized service delivery system, their perception of the care-related burden is mitigated. Thus, it is important to consider the needs of both family caregivers and cared for older people, and not only of the latter for designing a more suitable distribution of absorbent products. The best solution could be leaving end-users the freedom to choose how they want to get products (e.g. voucher or personal budget). This requires a reorganization of the current pads delivery systems adopted by the Marche and by other Italian Regional Health Systems.

Упpaвлiння мapкeтингoм і лoгicтикoю в cиcтeмi cтpaтeгiчнoгo мeнeджмeнту кoнкуpeнтocпpoмoжнocтi aгpapнoгo пiдпpиємcтвa

Introduction. The use of a systematic approach to the distribution of agricultural products involves taking into account combinations of elements of the marketing and logistic system. Systematic management of product distribution is the key to the success of an agricultural enterprise. This helps to mobilize the available resources of the entity. The purpose of the scientific research is to develop theoretical aspects of management of marketing and logic in the strategic management system of the agro-business competition. Results. It is determined that the reproduction process depends on the formation and functioning of the distribution system. The dependence of the formation and functioning of the production distribution system from the influence of external and internal factors is substantiated. The influence factors on the formation and functioning of the production distribution system are determined. The effect of factors on extended and simple types of reproduction is characterized. It is established that the intensity of factors influence depends from the duration of the influence period. The factors classification by the appearance intensity of the factors action, by the systematic signs, by the mediocrity of influence and formation is proposed. The role of state factors in the formation and functioning of the products distribution system is noted. Principles are presented and the essence is characterized of the organizational and economic mechanism of the system formation of the enterprise product market division. The influence means of formation of the production distribution system are given. The enterprise product division from the standpoint of the systematic approach is considered. Conclusions. The necessity of formalization of the organizational and economic mechanism of the distribution system formation is conditioned by the synthesis of the economic base and the organizational measures. It is suggested to consider the involvement of economic and organizational means of influence at the enterprise level as a reaction to the application of a certain list of influence means by macro environments. The impact is carried out with the use of a wide range of production and sales tools in accordance with certain conditions of the agricultural enterprise activity. Keywords: logistics, logistic activity, logistics system, marketing, marketing of agricultural products, agricultural enterprise, sales channel.

Using Guided Initial Chromosome of Genetic Algorithm for Scheduling Production-Distribution System

Production and distribution system in a company should be managed carefully. Delay in product delivery not only results in a late penalty due to customer dissatisfaction or breach of contract, but also causes a supply chain failure. Of course, all these impacts will also reduce the reputation of a company. Scheduling integrated production-distribution is classified as NP-Hard problem. Genetic algorithm can be used to solve complex problem. In this paper, genetic algorithm is used for scheduling production-distribution in make to order system where each job has a different deadline and volume (size). This problem is represented on mixed integer programing model. We verify the genetic algorithm’s performance by comparing the results with the total cost calculated by lower bounds of the problems. Experiments show that the traditional initial random cannot produce good result with more than 15 job size problem. We proposed guided initial chromosome to tackle this problem. From further experiments shows that the proposed method approach can increase the performances of genetic algorithm in more than 15 job size problem. In general, proposed genetic algorithm with guided initial chromosome shows better solution quality and better time efficiency compared to previous related research.

Doing good by drinking wine? Ethical value networks and upscaling of wine production in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

ABSTRACTThere has been a rise in recent decades of consumer campaigns to promote more ethically responsible food and consumer goods production. These campaigns have spanned movements such as fair trade, food miles and organics. They have evoked significant if uneven response from producers and some government agencies. These responses, seen in changes to production methods, ownership structures, distribution systems and marketing have involved new ways of thinking and operating and can be regarded as interesting forms of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). Adopting combined sectoral and locality case study perspectives, this paper examines the example of the wine industry in a number of production locations (South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) and analyses how ethically responsible values of justice (fair trade), sustainability (organic production) and provenance (Geographical Indications) have been translated into forms of industrial innovation embodied and perpetuated through and in ‘ethical value networks’.

Research on the Distribution System of Agricultural Products Cold Chain Logistics Based on Internet of Things

With the constant improvement of the people’s living standards, more and more people pay attention to the demand of the fresh agricultural products. However, frequent outbreak of food quality and safety problem caused the concern of consumers. How to improve the distribution efficiency of agricultural products cold chain logistics and ensure the freshness, quality and safety of agricultural products has become a focus of the current logistics research. We apply the Internet of Things to agricultural products cold chain logistics and introduce the three-tier architecture and key technologies of logistics network in this paper. The cold chain logistics distribution system of agricultural products based on the Internet of Things is established. Finally, we accomplish the real-time supervision of the agricultural products in the whole distribution process and strengthen the information communication of each distribution link to ensure the rapid and efficient distribution of agricultural products.

Research on the Cold Chain Logistics Distribution System of Agricultural Products

In recent years, with the constant improvement of the people’s living standards and quality, people’s demand for fresh agricultural products is increasing. The cold chain logistics of agricultural products has become a new field of logistics, which attracts more and more attention from all sectors of society. Distribution of agricultural products is an important part of cold chain logistics of agricultural products. Its research can not only reduce logistics costs and improve economic benefits, but also reduce the loss of agricultural products and improve the freshness of agricultural products. Firstly, this paper analyzes the main distribution modes of cold chain logistics of agricultural products in China, and puts forward some suggestions to improve the existing problems. Secondly, the logistics cost in the distribution process of agricultural products is analyzed and modeled. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the model.

Source Resizing and Improved Power Distribution for High Available Island Microgrid: &lt;italic&gt;A Case Study on a Tunisian Petroleum Platform&lt;/italic&gt;

A microgrid is a small-scale smart network that contains distributed resources and loads and serves several technical, economic, and environmental aims. In this kind of power system, the energy generated by different sources is often collected in an adequate bus system (ac or dc busses) and transported to loads across a distribution system. In case of islanding operation of a microgrid, each production insufficiency or distribution system fault can cause a partial or total interruption of power supply required by loads of the microgrid. This unavailability can last longer because of the randomness and intermittent behavior of renewable sources and the importance of the maintenance actions of the distribution system. To guarantee high availability of power supply, microgrid must be able to produce and to transfer the power energy requested by loads. The sizing of distributed sources and the design of the distribution system present an important challenge to achieve this goal. This paper offers a new global methodology carried out in two steps: in the first, it aims to optimize the source sizing by adding some microsources for ensuring the balance between sources production and loads requirement, then, in a second step, it aims to enhance the distribution system design by the creation of new paths of power transmission for transferring the produced energy from sources to loads. The proposed optimization methodology aims to achieve the requested availability rate requested by each load (considering their priorities) by taking into account some technical and economic factors. In this methodology based on genetic algorithms, objective functions are defined, and several electrical and economic constraints are formulated. The graph theory is used to represent the architecture of the microgrid distribution system, and Matpower tool of MATLAB is used to model it. An application and implementation of the proposed optimization methodology in a Tunisian petroleum platform indicate that the proposed solution is efficient in optimizing of power supply availability in its microgrid.

Effect of Ordering Policies on Complex Dynamics Behaviours in a Discrete-Type Manufacturing Industry Supply Chain System

The beer game model is a typical paradigm used to study complex dynamics behaviours in production–distribution systems. The model, however, does not accord with current practical supply chain system models in discrete-type manufacturing industry, which are generally composed of retailers, distributors, manufacturers with internal supply chain, and suppliers. To describe how ordering policies influence the complex dynamics behaviour modes and operating cost in a general discrete-type manufacturing industry supply chain system, a high dimension piecewise-linear dynamics model is built for the supply chain system. Five kinds of ordering policy combination are considered. The distribution of both the largest Lyapunov exponent of effective inventory and average operating cost per cycle is obtained by simulation in a policy space. The simulation shows that for the general discrete-type manufacturing industry supply chain system, the upper chaotic corners emerge besides the lower chaotic corners in the policy space expressing the distribution of system behaviour mode, and that the ordering policies at each supply chain node as well as their combination have very significant effect on the topology of the distribution of both system behaviour mode and operating cost in the policy space. We find that chaos is not always corresponding to high cost, and the “chaos amplification” is not completely relevant to the “cost amplification”.

A Grey-Fuzzy Multiobjective Model for Supplier Selection and Production-Distribution Planning Considering Consumer Safety

Most of the recent product recall incidents indicate that effective management of suppliers and production-distribution planning may play a vital role in increasing product safety. This study explores the opportunities to increase the product safety by analyzing the performance of suppliers and production-distribution system. More precisely, this research analyzes the impact of suppliers’ performance on overall profit of supply chain and impact of increasing consumer safety on total profit of supply chain. The novelty of this study is the development of integrated supplier selection and production-distribution model considering consumer risk and product safety. The proposed model is a grey multiobjective model which considers imprecise information as grey parameters. Furthermore, a novel grey-weighted ε-constrained (GWECON) method is developed to solve the proposed multiobjective model.

Valorization of food waste into biofertiliser and its field application

Abstract Worldwide significant amounts of food waste are generated daily causing serious environmental issues, occupying land and requiring expenditure of resources for its treatment. A smart method for handling this food waste problem is the development of novel processes targeting the conversion of this waste into value added products. Although valorization of food waste to biofuels, biochemicals and bio-polymers have been widely investigated, the utilization of food waste streams into biofertiliser has not been intensively reviewed. Conversion of food waste, especially agriculture residues into biofertiliser would reduce its environmental impact, improve nutrition levels of the soil, decrease requirements for synthetic chemical fertiliser and have a direct benefit on food production. This paper reviews recent progress in the field regarding the production of biofertiliser from food waste, using anaerobic digestion, aerobic composting, chemical hydrolysis, in situ degradation and direct burning methods. This review also highlights the latest field applications of biofertiliser derived from various food waste streams. It confirms that the technology for the conversion of food waste to biofertilisers is viable, but the production efficiency could be improved with better process control strategies, strict quality controls, development of a smart product distribution system and adoption of advanced technologies. Field tests have indicated that biofertilisers which are obtained in proper managed AD plants are safe and could partially replace the use of chemical fertilisers in field application.

Analysis of bullwhip effect on supply chain with Q model using Hadley-Within approach

This research held on a tapioca flour industry company that uses cassava as raw material to produce tapioca starch product. Problems that occur in this company is inaccurate planning, consequently there is a shortage of variation between the number of requests with the total supply is met, so it is necessary to do research with the formulation of the problem that is how to analyze the Bullwhip Effect on the supply chain using Q model through Hadley-Within approach so as not to disturb the product distribution system at the company. Product distribution system at the company, obtained by the number of requests. The 2015 forecast result is lower than actual demand for distributors and manufactures in 2016 with average percentage difference for Supermarket A distributor, Supermarket B and manufacturing respectively 38.24%, 89.57% and 43.11%. The occurrence of information distortion to the demand of this product can identify the existence of bullwhip effect on the supply chain. The proposed improvement to overcome the bullwhip effect is by doing inventory control policy with Q model using Hadley-Within approach.

Sequential versus integrated optimization: Production, location, inventory control, and distribution

Traditionally, a typical approach towards supply chain planning has been the sequential one. By ignoring the links between decisions, this approach leads to each department of a company making its own decisions, regardless of what others are doing, and overlooking the synergy of a global strategy. However, companies have realized that significant improvements can occur by exploiting an integrated approach, where various decisions are simultaneously taken into consideration and jointly optimized. Motivated by a real case, in this paper we consider a production–distribution system that deals with location, production, inventory, and distribution decisions. The objective is to minimize total costs while satisfying demands within a delivery time window. To solve the problem sequentially, we exploit several commonly used procedures based on separately solving each part of the problem. The integrated problem is solved both by an exact method and a matheuristic approach. Our extensive computational experiments and analysis compare solution costs obtained from the two approaches, highlight the value of an integrated approach, and provide interesting managerial insights into the benefits of integration.

Реалії і перспективи технології друку та інтерпретація тексту шрифтом Брайля у видавничій справі

This article is intended to highlight some current problems of contemporary publishing as a social and cultural phenomenon and a component of the national information space. The author shows a retrospective of development, ups and downs of production of books both in terms of the number of editions and their circulation. The analysis of books and brochures publishing by print groups, as to the purpose and the enlarged thematic sections is made. Some aspects of the distribution system of publishing products are considered. The characteristic industry problems and trends of development, the role of the state in these processes are represented. The publishing market leaders are shown. In the conclusions it is referred to that a large share of more than 5 thousand registered publishing companies or is only listed in the register, or publish from one to several titles of books per a year. Summarizing this situation one can characterize it as a crisis, which requires systematic and consistent steps of the Ukrainian authorities to support this industry. The publishers consider the constraining factors as follows: a decline in demand for publishing products due to low purchasing power of the population; a lack of real support from the state; the limited working capital and high tax burden; the constant increase of prices for general printing materials due to the total dependence on imports; impossibility of timely updating of fixed assets; the low power sales system and so on. Among the actual and very important factors that influence reduction of overlays, there is a noticeable loss of interest of the population in reading the print materials, caused both by world trends, and the lack of purposeful propaganda of education and books in Ukraine as elements of everyday life of every person. The slow pace of development of Internet technologies and producing the books on electronic media, the lack of advertising, and ignorance of potential readers about domestic books are equally worryingly.

Сучасні тренди українського книговидання

This article is intended to highlight some current problems of contemporary publishing as a social and cultural phenomenon as a component of the national information space. The author shows a retrospective of development, ups and downs of production of book products both in terms of the number of editions and their circulation. The analysis of books and brochures publishing by print groups, as to the purpose and the enlarged thematic sections is made. Some aspects of the distribution system of publishing products are considered. The characteristic industry problems and trends of development, the role of the state in these processes are represented. The publishing market leaders are shown.

Research on Current Situation and Strategy of Online Marketing of Plateau Summer vegetables in Gansu

This paper pointed out that there were a series of problems in the development of Gansu plateau summer-vegetables online marketing such as the lagging online marketing subject, the low application rate of rural internet and the low standardization and branding of products as well as the imperfect product distribution system and so on. In order to deal with these problems effectively, this paper suggested that Gansu province not only should cultivate the online marketing awareness of all relevant parties and improve the popularization rate of rural networks, but also should build a standardized system and a high-qualified plateau summer food brand. In addition, it is also of much importance to perfect the plateau summer vegetables distribution mode.