Supply Chain Disturbances Research Articles

How to Find Disruptions in Logistics Processes in the Cold Chain and Avoid Waste of Products?

This article presents a review of the literature related to the topic discussed and then discusses the system enabling the collection of data for analysis, the components of which are described in the paper. Next, a case study containing analyses of the circulation of logistic containers and the quality of deliveries is presented. Finally, a discussion of the results is presented. Background: This research is instrumental in navigating the intricacies of using these insulated containers of disturbances in the cold supply chain is imperative for ensuring the safety of perishable items, pharmaceuticals, and medical provisions, all of which necessitate precise temperature storage. Moreover, it holds significant sway over the efficacy of logistics, curtails losses, and guarantees adherence to regulatory stipulations and quality benchmarks. Research target: The research aimed to analyze the circulation of isothermal containers and indirectly assess the transportation quality for food products using the example of a 3PL company. Method: The article addresses issues encountered in the transportation of products within the cold supply chain. Using a company as an example, the temperature of coolboxes at the beginning of the logistics cycle, temperature distribution during transportation, and the temperature at the end of delivery were analyzed. The circulation of containers, their utilization over time, cycle durations, and the entire container circulation process were also examined. Results: Based on the collected data, recommendations were formulated to enhance product quality and increase container utilization. This research offers valuable insights into improving the efficiency and quality of logistics processes, specifically within the cold chain transportation industry, and provides recommendations for better managing temperature-sensitive product transportation.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE BUSINESS EFFICIENCY AND THE METHODS FOR ITS ANALYSIS

The issue of enterprises’ business is relevant at all phases and stages of their development. The survival of enterprises and the continuation of their business in the context of the complex and contradictory economic reality require them to be financially stable, properly oriented and positioned on the competitive market that is characterized with certain level of entropy. The achievement and maintaining of market and financial stability require the enterprises to implement measures for the continuous increase of their business efficiency. The importance and relevance of this issue are even higher today due to the effect of a system of internal and external factors, and as a result of the existing crises some of which are still experienced. For example, the enterprises’ business is subject to the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic consequences and the health crisis, supply chain disturbance, closing and restriction of many business and activities in the country, etc., it has caused. The business of the Bulgarian enterprises is also influenced by the wars led in the vicinity of the territory of Bulgaria, the occurred gas crisis, the unstable political situation, the high inflation rate, the increase of energy and other resource prices and a number of other factors.The author’s interest to the issues of enterprises’ business efficiency and the methods for its analysis is a long-term interest. Observations show that the specialized literature in the country does not offer theoretically substantiated general methodology for efficiency analysis, which is feasible and useful for the business practice. Only individual methodologies for analysis of different aspects of the efficiency are offered, such as methodology for analysis of the efficient use of workforce (analysis of the labour efficiency indicator). Thus, the objectively existing dialectic relations between the resultative indicators that characterise the various aspects of efficiency and the factor indicators that affect the improvement or worsening of the business in general and its specific aspects, cannot be covered. This publication reviews the methodology for analysis of enterprises’ business efficiency. The concept of efficiency is consistently highlighted, the sources of the information necessary for its analysis are described, and the system of indicators for business efficiency analysis is justified. The author’s objective is to suggest an improved general methodology for analysis of business efficiency, which integrates the individual private methods for analysis of its different aspects in the course of the enterprises’ business.

A Hybrid Method for Technical Condition Prediction Based on AI as an Element for Reducing Supply Chain Disruptions

In the field of transport, and more precisely in supply chains, if any of the vehicle components are damaged, it may cause delays in the delivery of goods. Eliminating undesirable damage to the means of transport through the possibility of predicting technical conditions and a state of failure may increase the reliability of the entire supply chain. From the aspect of sustainability, the issue of reducing the number of failures also makes it possible to reduce supply chain disturbances, to reduce costs associated with delays, and to reduce the materials needed for the repair of the means of transport, since, in this case, the costs only relate to the replaced elements before their damage. Thus, it is impossible for more serious damage to occur. Often, failure of one item causes damage to others, which generates unnecessary costs and increases the amount of waste due to the number of damaged items. This article provides an author’s method of technical condition prediction; by applying the method, it would be possible to develop recommended maintenance activities for key elements related to the safety and reliability of transport. The combination of at least two artificial intelligence methods allows us to achieve very good prediction results thanks to the possibility of individual adjustments of weights between the methods used. Such predictive maintenance methods can be successfully used to ensure sustainable development in supply chains.

Taiwan’s Electricity Demand Under the COVID-19 and Supply Chain Disruption

ABSTRACT Our research aims to find the alteration in electricity consumption during supply chain disturbance following the COVID-19 pandemic, while seeking to elucidate the island-wide power blackout in Taiwan in May 2021. The inquiries addressed are as follows: initially, the income elasticity of electricity consumption decreases over time. We present evidence indicating a decoupling between electricity consumption and GDP, linked to higher overseas production ratio of export orders being produced. Secondly, as a result of the supply chain disruption, the income elasticity of electricity consumption escalates, and Taiwan experiences GDP growth. Electricity consumption increases rise through both channels. Lastly, utilizing a nonlinear model for prediction yields more accurate projections, potentially averting power outages.

Existing Stature and Possible Outlook of Renewable Power in Comprehensive Electricity Market

The massive growth in power demand and the sharp decay in the availability of conventional energy sources forces society to move toward renewable power consumption. The rise in renewable energy utilization is one of the greatest strategies involved in making the environment clean, green, and emission-free. The investment cost is slightly high for this kind of resource, but their running costsare very minimal, which encourages power producers to invest in renewable power plants. Power producers always focus on their economic profit and possible feasibilities before the investment in a new power plant setup. Wind, small hydro, and solar photovoltaics have been considered the foremost efficient and feasible renewable sources. In 2021, the worldwide renewable power capacity had grown to 17%, despite supply chain disturbances and surges in prices. The renewable power market set a target of achieving a 95% increment in global power capacity by 2026. Hence, humankind should consider wind, hydro, and solar photovoltaics as the main energy sources, and there is a need to increase use of such sources. This paper highlights the latest developments, enormous technologies, and upcoming aspects of wind power, hydropower, and solar photovoltaics in India, as well as around the globe. The present status of renewable energy can motivate global power producers to spend their money on the installation of a new renewable power plant to obtain more economic benefits and give societal economic and environmental payback to humans.

A strategic approach to safeguard global supply chains against COVID‐19 disruptions

The global system of supply chains has been dramatically disrupted over the last years due to the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic. In these current challenging times, this paper proposes a methodological approach for managing dependence and uncertainty in dynamic industrial scenarios. A detailed study of epidemic effects is carried out according to an operational management‐based perspective. We proceed by analyzing connections among effects and risks potentially leading to significant supply chain disturbances through a multicriteria approach. Risks and effects are weighted by applying the Analytic Network Process (ANP). Weighted risks are then assumed as criteria for selecting the most suitable contingency strategy. To this aim, the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) is able to rank a set of strategies by addressing and quantifying uncertainty. A case study on the sector of the automotive industry is implemented to validate the proposed methodological approach.

How to Manage Relations Facing Accumulated Supply Chain Disturbances: Pandemic, War and Ripple Effects

How to develop a suitable management style to manage external Supply Chain network relations in the light of unprecedented external disturbances like the Covid pandemic, Ukraine war and inevitable ripple effects caused by explosions or strikes? Impacts in terms of increased lead times, uncertainty about the time required by suppliers and buyers for decision making. But, it also should be suitable in dealing with quite different types of managerial attitudes encountered. The mixed-methods analysis of a 3 tier supply network around a small focal printing company shows that (1) total lead time for raw materials, production and delivery went up from 9 days to 60 days or more. It not only meant increased uncertainty for the focal company but also for its B2B buyers; (2) the decision time of buyers responding to requests to accommodate changes enforced by scarcity or increased lead time of raw materials varied between 3 and 41 days, depending of the size of the buying firm where four size categories were used. Small SMEs were fast deciders but being mostly negative in attitude; multinationals were slow but more flexible and cooperative. (3): zooming in on the managerial or human attitudes encountered in 100 contacts with buyers revealed 9 different human attitudes that could be clustered into a scale with two extremes: Total denial (selfish, exploitative, demanding, brutal, ignorant, helpless) versus Total flexibility (cooperative, tolerant, inspiring). (4) To deal with these different attitudes employee training is recommended, using the DiSC portfolio model invented by William Moulton Marston, standing for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance (sometimes referred to as Conscientiousness).

Supply Chain Disturbance Management Scheduling Model Based on HPSO Algorithm

Supply Chain Disturbance Management Scheduling Model Based on HPSO Algorithm

The challenges of low and middle-income countries in healthcare management after COVID-19

More than two years after WHO declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic, a year after deploying the first COVID vaccine, and as we approach nearly 6.5 million infection-related deaths1, we wonder, as Brazilian front-line physicians, what are the lessons we should have learned. Accordingly, healthcare was the first of all systems affected by COVID-19, particularly in developing nations. Despite the additional costs of unemployment, supply chain disturbances, finance expenses to support businesses, and millions of children deprived of education, we still witness the abundance of daily clinical practices of low-value care, failed public health policies, and scientific researches of controversial relevance and not centered in the patient.

Interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy digraph-matrix approach with PERMAN algorithm for measuring COVID-19 impact on perishable food supply chain.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has prompted a substantial shrinkage in various businesses worldwide, the perishable food sector being one of the worst hits. Henceforth, this manuscript intends to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on perishable food supply chains (PFSCs) of developed and developing countries. For this, the study presents the analysis in two steps. In the first step, the study illuminates the particular factors that frame unique sorts of supply chain (SC) disturbances in PFSC. Secondly, the study proposes a unique interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy set (IVIFS)-based graph theory and matrix approach (GTMA) to analyse the COVID-19 impact index value. In addition to this, the PERMAN algorithm is used to calculate the permanent function. The study has revealed that developing nations should focus more on their technological and infrastructural factors to improve the condition of PFSC during the pandemic. This study’s results can be deployed by decision-makers to forestall the operative and long-haul consequences of COVID-19, or any other disruptions to the PFSC, and make plans to overcome the impact. The significance of this manuscript is that the prominent factors degrading the performance of PFSC amidst the pandemic have been highlighted, with their respective impact on developed and developing nations compared. Moreover, a neoteric comprehensive integration of IVIFS-GTMA technique along with the PERMAN algorithm has been utilised in this manuscript. This particular study is inimitable as it supplements existing literature by providing analytical support to the relationship among various factors impacting the PFSC amidst the pandemic.

The resilience of on-time delivery to capacity and material shortages: An empirical investigation in the automotive supply chain

Supply chains around the globe are susceptible to disturbances that negatively impact their performance. Generally, supply chain disturbances lead to failure modes that impact the ability of the supply chain to deliver the promised goods and services on time. Therefore, companies operating in different supply chains are willing to become resilient to disturbances and their ensuing failure modes to be able to deliver on time and remain competitive. In light of this willingness, this study aims to propose an index that enables companies to assess their resilience of on-time delivery to supply chain failure modes based on the resilience practices they deploy. To this end, drawing on the knowledge derived from case study data analysis and literature, eight propositions and an explanatory framework are put forward that theorize the identified relationships between supply chain disturbances, failure modes, resilience practices, and on-time delivery as the primary indicator for measuring supply chain performance. Next, considering the resilience practices companies tend to deploy, an index capable of assessing the companies’ resilience of on-time delivery to two prevalent supply chain failure modes, namely capacity shortage and material shortage is modelled and tested using a case study in an upstream automotive supply chain in Portugal. The results indicate high resilience levels of on-time delivery to the aforementioned failure modes, mainly due to the high cost of production halt in the automotive industry. Additionally, a set of supply chain capabilities and their related resilience practices and supply chain state variables are identified that can be deployed and controlled to improve supply chain resilience.

Assessing IoT challenges in supply chain: A comparative study before and during- COVID-19 using interval valued neutrosophic analytical hierarchy process

Although the Internet of Things (IoT) has spawned a new breed of smart factories within supply chains, the latest pandemic has ushered in unparalleled supply chain disturbances. Following the challenges identified in the literature, we interview top experts to evaluate the significance of these challenges. We apply a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tool, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in combination with interval-valued neutrosophic numbers (IVN). The critical part of this research is that we also perform a comparative analysis by focusing on before- and during- the pandemic periods individually to better assess the impact of the latest pandemic on the IoT challenges. Our study also includes a comprehensive, systematic literature review to bring the readers up-to-date.

RETRACTED: Natural Knowledge of Smart Bioinformatics to Reduce Tasks Without Added Value or Human Contact in a Pandemic

The use of technological innovations within the business context has a major influence on product, services, business processes, sales channels, and supply channels. The associated potential advantages include, among others, increased sales or productivity, innovations in price creation, and new sorts of client interaction. Global enterprises are facing supply chain issues, consequently potentially higher operational costs, lower inventory, and the prospects of lower demand will be reluctant to disburse resources and time to connect in M&A and financing activities, predominantly if valuations of targets remain high. Digitalization of supply chain (SC) could be a way that companies can start to strategize and accomplish trade strength against supply chain disturbance.

Sustainable Production Management Model for Small and Medium Enterprises in Some South-Central EU Countries

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are main generators of employment and economic development in European Union. In Croatia and Slovenia, SMEs in wood processing (C16) and furniture manufacturing (C31) also play an important role in social cohesion and development of rural areas. The aim of this research was to investigate the current situation in SMEs in wood processing and furniture manufacturing regarding driving parameters of business and production management system in the time of a disturbed market situation caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Two different questionnaires in an e-mail survey were used to collect data for this research from companies and from experts in the field of management, production and marketing. Various statistical tests were used using seven driving parameters on data collected from 212 SMEs. Also, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used on the data collected from 20 experts. Results showed that companies in the time of pandemic crisis and during the time of major disturbances in supply chain pay the most attention to their production program and quality of their products, and then to marketing activities and situation on the market. According to the results presented in this research, the management model can help SMEs managers, micro and small enterprises in particular, to improve their decision-making process, make the necessary innovations easier and faster, and maintain the sustainable business and production management system of their companies.

Пандемия коронавируса и перспективы развития оборонно-промышленного комплекса Европейского союза

The article analyzes the impact of the current crisis on the defence policy of the EU countries. Coronavirus has had a negative impact almost on all industries. According to the forecast of International Monetary Fund the growth of the world economy is expected to be at the level of -4.9%. In such conditions where social sphere including medical is going to be the most important one, governments are faced with the problem of relocation of their expenditures. Therefore, the military expenditures probably would suffer cuts like it was during last crises for example financial crisis of 2007-2008. The EU defence industry is also influenced by coronavirus crisis, this was yielded in the downtime and supply dates shifts during lock down. However together with armed forces defence companies were engaged in fight with coronavirus: production of medical and protective equipment, disinfection, transportation and etc. But these efforts cannot be considered as an efficient measure to limit negative impacts of coronavirus crisis on the prospects of defence industry. The following coronavirus crisis consequences for the defence industry can be outlined: stock prices fall, civil aviation crisis, supply chain disturbance and difficulties for small and medium enterprises during lock down. Such effects of course can slow down the development of the defence industry and complicate the operation. However the most crucial one is military expenditures cuts, because such changes put defence industry in the new environment with reduced demand for arms. Defence cuts are also a threat to the joint EU defence industry development programs. The importance of these programs is that their goal is to contribute to the military capability of the EU and these programs could be used for coronavirus crisis consequences overcome. However the budget allocated for these programs was also cut, so their implementation is hampered. But defence companies and their associations are working on the plans to boost the development. The author believes that in such conditions the key point for the successful overcome of coronavirus crisis and further sustained development of the EU defence industry is the joint efforts in this direction. The current level of cooperation between member state in the sphere of defence industry is not enough not only for the overcome of coronavirus crisis, but also for the development even in the standard conditions. Therefore the deepen of the cooperation is required and important like never before. As a result current crisis situation is a chance for the EU defence industry to joint the efforts in the defence sphere and expend integration in defence and security.

Enhancing resiliency of perishable product supply chains in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak

ABSTRACT Globally, countries are struggling to fulfil customer demands due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on perishable food supply chains (PFSCs). This study aims to analyse the factors influencing PFSCs during the pandemic and improve their resiliency. This is essential as some factors discourage the productive execution of PFSCs and decrease organisational performance, thus lowering stakeholder satisfaction. This study has been conducted in two phases. The first phase, through extensive review and discussion with experts, identifies the influencing factors related to supply chain (SC) disturbances in PFSCs. In the second phase, a hybrid method i.e. g-DANP, a combination of grey-decision making trial and evaluation laboratory and analytic network process, is employed to develop a hierarchical structure to measure their influence. The proposed framework is validated with a case of the current COVID-19 outbreak. The study revealed that factors, restriction on import-export and fear of violation of social distancing guidelines, are the primary ‘cause’ group factors; whereas, price variation of perishable products and panic buying and stockpiling are the crucial ‘effect’ group factors affecting the PFSCs. The findings also enrich existing literature by providing analytical support to relationships between various factors affecting PFSCs during the pandemic.

Endogenous Production Networks under Uncertainty

Supply chain disturbances can lead to important increases in production costs. When looking for new suppliers, firms therefore worry about the risks associated with potential trading partners. We investigate the impact of beliefs and uncertainty on the structure of the production network and, through that channel, on the level and volatility of macroeconomic aggregates. To do so, we construct a model of endogenous network formation in which uncertainty about future outcomes affects the structure of the production network. In the model, when uncertainty rises producers prefer to purchase from more stable suppliers, even though they might sell at higher prices. The resulting reorganization of the network leads to less macroeconomic volatility, but at the cost of a decline in aggregate output. We calibrate the model on U.S. data and find that the mechanism can account for a sizable decline in expected GDP during periods of high uncertainty like the Great Recession.

Traceability and Management Method of Supply Chain Information Based on Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless sensor network is an emerging technology with broad application prospects and will play an increasingly important role in many aspects of people’s production practices. This article is aimed at conducting research on supply chain information traceability and management methods from the perspective of wireless sensor networks. This paper uses simulation methods and comparative experiment methods. From the perspective of Spanner algorithm research, the wireless sensor network technology is researched, the explanation and simplification of Spanner algorithm in supply chain information traceability are designed, and the parameters are optimized while the algorithm is optimized. Performance analysis introduced the research on supply chain disturbance management and conducted the reliability analysis of the supply chain trust scale. The experimental results show that among the three dimensions of supply chain information sharing, the reliability coefficients of the two dimensions of information sharing content and information sharing quality are 0.803 and 0.825, respectively, which are both greater than 0.8, indicating that the reliability is very good. Cronbach’s coefficient in the information sharing level dimension is equal to 0.665, which is in an acceptable range, the CITC value of this dimension is all higher than 0.4, and the value of the deleted item is lower than 0.665, so all the items of the information sharing level will also be retained. The research of supply chain information traceability and management methods based on wireless sensor network is well completed.

Strategies to Manage the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Supply Chain: Implications for Improving Economic and Social Sustainability

This paper aims to identify the negative impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on supply chains and propose strategies to deal with the impacts in the context of the readymade garment (RMG) industry supply chain of an emerging economy: Bangladesh. To achieve the aims, a methodological framework is proposed through a literature review, expert inputs, and a decision-aid tool, namely the grey-based digraph-matrix method. A total of 10 types of negative impacts and 22 strategic measures to tackle the impacts were identified based on the literature review and expert inputs. Then, the grey-based digraph-matrix was applied for modeling the strategic measures based on their influence to deal with the impacts. Findings reveal that the strategies “manufacturing flexibility”, “diversify the source of supply”, and “develop backup suppliers” have significant positive consequences for managing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the RMG supply chain. The findings help industrial managers recover from supply chain disruptions by identifying and classifying the impacts and strategies required to manage the major supply chain disturbances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a theoretical contribution, this study is one of few initial attempts to evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and the strategies to deal with the impacts in the supply chain context.

Disturbances to the supply chains of high-value manufacturing firms: comparison of the perceptions of product managers and supply chain managers

We draw on the literature to categorise the supply chain disturbances (risks and uncertainties) that affect high-value manufacturing (HVM) firms when adopting the following two sourcing strategies: (a) insourcing/nearshore outsourcing, and (b) outsourcing/offshoring. We build a hierarchy structure of disturbances, which was tested in a case study of a European HVM operating in the aerospace industry. A novelty of this study is the quantitative prioritisation and comparison, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, of the disturbances reported by two groups of managers: three product managers (internally facing) and four supply chain managers (externally facing). Our findings show that managers’ perceptions of firm-related, network-related and location-related disturbances can be prejudiced by their functional boundaries. We show that both product and supply chain managers prefer the insource/nearshore outsource strategy, as they feel that the disturbances while outsourcing/offshoring are significantly greater and offset the benefits of low-cost production – a counterintuitive finding. Through in-depth interviews with both groups of managers, we found the mitigation strategies are reshoring, full consideration to the total cost of acquisition (including hidden costs of distant operations) and building clusters in emerging markets to support the firm’s regional hub by partnering with its existing suppliers from developed countries.