Sourcing in the global aerospace supply chain using online reverse auctions

This article discusses the use of online reverse auctions to source engineered components in global aerospace supply chains using online reverse auctions and examines the specific case where a long-established U.S. economic cluster supporting large tier-one aerospace companies must compete against globally distributed sources of supply favored by their customers due to unit price savings, principally the result of lower wages. The article also examines if global sourcing practices based on power-based bargaining is an intelligent or effective solution to market pressure demanding lower prices, or whether collaborative problem solving and the creation of knowledge-sharing networks offers greater potential for cost savings and improved long-term supply chain competitiveness. Key factors that contributed to the recent failure of global sourcing initiatives using online reverse auctions are presented. Findings can be generalized to other industries that use online reverse auctions for globally sourcing engineered components that rely on networks of supporting service suppliers to create finished goods.     

Contract costing in outsourcing enterprises: Exploring the benefits of discrete-event simulation

Outsourcing is a business strategy that has received much attention. An increase in outsourcing has a direct influence on the complexity of supply chain networks and on the number of contracts required to manage a supply chain. Outsourcing contracts may be entered into relatively quickly without a full understanding of the true cost implications. The research described here aims to develop tools based on discrete-event simulation to aid outsourcing companies when costing contracts. Currently available software for this type of application is reviewed. A field study is presented from the electronics sector, describing companies’ needs with respect to contract costing and how simulation could be used in the contract costing process. Simulation approaches are described for different contract costing scenarios. The paper concludes with a case study of a preliminary simulation model that has been developed to test the concept with a specific outsourcing scenario.     

Evaluation of postponement in the soluble coffee supply chain: A case study

This paper, through a case study, evaluates postponement as an option to improve supply chain performances in a soluble coffee manufacturer. The main focus of the paper is on the development of a numerical data-driven methodology for quantifying the benefits of postponement obtained from the total inventory reduction. Our study shows that significant cost savings are achievable by delaying the labelling and packaging processes until actual orders from retailers are known. These savings include the reduction of the cycle stock, safety stock, and obsolete stock unsold from promotional events. We also discuss the cost implications of the proposed configuration that may offset the estimated potential benefits. The methodology presented in this paper can also be used in many other supply chains, particularly in the food industry with similar environments. This paper contributes to the literature in extending the very short list of published work presenting a systematic methodology of characterising the postponement benefits in real world settings and driven by numerical data.     

A system-wide interdisciplinary conceptual framework for food loss and waste mitigation strategies in the supply chain

The issues of food loss and waste (FLW) in the global supply chains have recently gained attention. However, causes for FLW and their mitigation strategies for curbing FLW at different stages of the supply chains remains under researched. Our research aims to address these research gaps in a three-fold way: i), we identified key causes (through root-cause analysis) of FLW in the supply chain of developed and less developed countries; ii), systematically classified measures and policies, which have been implemented to mitigate FLW; iii), developed an interdisciplinary conceptual framework for waste utilisation practices that can contribute towards the triple bottom-line in food system. A root-cause analysis was performed, and mitigation strategies identified by systematically analysing and synthesizing the extant research published over the past 20 years (1998 to 2018) in the areas of food loss and waste in the supply chain. A conceptual model for the prevention of FLW utilising a systems approach through the circular economy concept has been proposed. Since the agri-food sector is largely interdisciplinary, we have also demonstrated a method of integrating contributions from multiple disciplines in our proposed model towards achieving a total depollution (zero waste supply chain).     

The selected determinants of manufacturing postponement within supply chain context: An international study

Modern supply chains focus on an ultimate consumer satisfaction and often require essential dynamic reconfiguration. Manufacturing companies constitute important central nodes in supply chains, where almost all physical flows are concentrated.Postponement is the operating concept, which aims at delaying activities until a customer’s order has been received. The growth of interest in the postponement concept partially results from the increased demand for customized products.Data for the analysis has been collected through the survey carried out by researchers in several countries. The main research instrument used for this research was a questionnaire developed by the Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG). The conclusions formulated on the basis of data analysis proved that market and demand characteristics do not seem to be important for the choice between postponement and speculation strategy. The research showed that assembly postponement depends mostly on managerial decisions about the goals of company and the level of acceptance of an assembly postponement strategy on the market. Full postponement strategy is dictated mainly by the level of product customization and capacities of manufacturing and logistics systems. Production postponement has to be accepted on the market and should be associated with excellent forecasting techniques.     

SCOR template—A simulation based dynamic supply chain analysis tool

The supply chain operations reference model model (SCOR) is developed and maintained by the Supply Chain Council (SCC). The SCOR model is a reference model that can be used to map, benchmark, and improve supply chain operations. SCOR template is a simulation based analysis tool, developed to capture the dynamics of supply chain operations. The first version of the SCOR template was presented in a previous article by Persson and Araldi (2009). Since the finalisation of the first article concerning the SCOR template, a second version of the SCOR template has been constructed and tested in at a case company; Alfa Laval at Ronneby, Sweden—a manufacturer of heat exchangers. Version 2 of the SCOR template is more complete than the previous version. More metrics were introduced and the return processes included. Emphasis has been on making supply chain analysis simple with the introduction of a new building block—the metric module. The case study at Alfa Laval has been based on data from a value stream mapping (VSM) and aimed at comparing different scenarios in the production networks for one specific product. The results of the comparison are one of the pieces of data that the company managers will use when deciding where to allocate production resources in the international production network.     

Talented suppliers? Strategic change and innovation in the UK aerospace industry

The 1990s marked the start of extensive re-structuring in the aerospace industry throughout the world. While the ensuing consolidation among prime contractors has been widely researched, the changes affecting the aerospace supplier base have received less attention. This exploratory study focuses on the supplier base and points to extensive re-structuring. Unlike many earlier studies, the lean supply model was found to be a rather powerful influence, with suppliers moving away from subcontractor status and taking on the mantle of 'talented' suppliers. However, the bolder predictions of lean supply, in terms of the dynamics of innovation, were less apparent, although there were signs that some suppliers, who genuinely warranted the title 'talented', were engaging in valuable process innovations.     

The role of elasticity in supply chain performance

This paper develops a model that describes the performance of supply chains based on their elasticities of supply and demand. The model can be used to predict a supply chain's ability to respond to supply interruptions, cost increases, and demand shifts, while also quantifying the degree to which it is prone to the bullwhip effect. The bullwhip effect is a behavioral phenomenon by which orders are distorted as they are transmitted through the chain. Four types of supply chains are identified and their distinct operating characters are examined. The impact of rival firms and the impact of a decoupling point on supply chain performance are also examined.     

Using System Dynamics to assess the impact of RFID technology on retail operations

The application of item-level radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in retail supply chains creates cost savings and promises large potential benefits from revenue growth. However, the economic assessment of the impact on improved store operations, labor utilization, and increased sales is still not fully explored. We propose to use System Dynamics as a structural modeling and simulation approach to integrate conventional return on investment evaluations. Building on previous research about RFID technology in retail supply chains, we developed a model based on the case exploration of a leading Italian apparel retailer. Simulations show that RFID implementations are profitable whenever they contribute to increase sales, especially when a fashion retailer is focused on clerk-assisted sales strategies. Sales growth results from the dynamic and integrated impacts of RFID technology on better inventory control, faster inventory turnover, and longer time available for store personnel to assist consumers as an effect of more efficient backroom operations.     

In Chains? An Empirical Study of Antecedents of Supplier Product Development Activity in the Automotive Industry*

In the literature on interorganizational collaboration in product development, considerable attention is given to supplier role classifications. Such classifications often link to a supplier's position in the overall supply chain, but the claim that this position has a substantial impact on its product development activities has seldom been empirically validated. The results from the present survey among Swedish automotive suppliers demonstrate that supplier product development activity is significantly affected by the position of the supplier in the supply chain and the supplier's strategic focus on innovation. While the latter has a stronger impact on product development activities, there is also an interaction effect implying that the effects of a supplier's innovation strategy are contingent on its supply chain position. Contrary to expectations, customer development commitment does not have any significant direct effect on supplier product development activities. Instead, this relation is fully mediated by supplier innovation strategy. These findings imply that, in contrast to conventional wisdom, product development activities are not strictly organized in “chains.” Although supply chains can be useful metaphors for understanding the distribution of regular production activities between firms, they arguably apply less to the distribution of product development activities.     

Illegal activity in the UK halal (sheep) supply chain: Towards greater understanding

Food supply chain theory and practice assumes that the processes involved are legal and value adding. In this paper, using examples from the UK halal (sheep) meat supply chain, we outline a value extracting value chain through a mixed methods qualitative approach consisting of face-to-face-interviews and a documentary research strategy underpinned by Narrative Inquiry. Building on previous theoretical work on Illegal Rural Enterprise, we present a narrative of an individual rogue-farmer, and explore his involvement in the illegal halal (‘smokies’) trade over a fifteen-year period. The paper provides a compelling story that will enable investigators to better understand illegal enterprise from a supply chain perspective and more adequately address the concerns stated in the UK Fraud Act 2006. The paper will be useful to food standards agencies in that furthers our understanding of entrepreneurial practice and morality in the food industry. The results demonstrate that illegal rural enterprise is a multi-faceted concept that requires an understanding of business practices and processes alongside a multi-agency approach to enterprise orientated crime. Our approach suggests that supply chains can be ‘flipped’ in order to understand illegal processes in addition to conventional legal processes.     

The supply chain manager as political-entrepreneur?

This paper explores the emerging role of the supply chain manager (scm) towards strategic supply chain relationship manager (scrm), where the emphasis moves from managing processes to managing relationships with suppliers. We posit that changes in role require changes in both management approaches and the skill requirement of role players.We review the literature related to both the supply chain manager and the key account manager because of the apparent similarity in the emerging boundary spanning nature of their roles and borrow the concept of the political-entrepreneur from the key account management literature and use this model to explore the emerging role of the scrm within the context of three case studies drawn from the aerospace industry.Our findings support the idea that the scm role is increasingly strategic but in addition we found that the role has moved from being that of boundary connector, to boundary spanner, where less formal mechanisms are employed to resolve problems or create value, using both political and to a lesser degree entrepreneurial skills.We believe that valuable insights are provided into the evolving role of scrms by the study with implications both for managers of scm programmes and for HR departments in terms of recruitment and development of supply chain relationship managers.     

Supply chain risk, simulation, and vendor selection

This paper considers three types of risk evaluation models within supply chains: chance constrained programming (CCP), data envelopment analysis (DEA), and multi-objective programming (MOP) models. Various risks are modeled in the form of probability and simulation of specific probability distribution in risk-embedded attributes is conducted in these three types of risk evaluation models. We model a supply chain consisting of three levels and use simulated data with representative distributions. Results from three models as well as simulation models are compared and analysis is conducted. The results show that the proposed approach allows decision makers to perform trade-off analysis among expected costs, quality acceptance levels, and on-time delivery distributions. It also provides alternative tools to evaluate and improve supplier selection decisions in an uncertain supply chain environment.     

A hub-and-spoke model for multi-dimensional integration of green marketing and sustainable supply chain management

Since the concept of sustainability was transformed into business mainstream, both sustainable supply chain management and green marketing have become key topics of academic research and managerial practices. Great advances have been made in the two areas in parallel. It has been recognized that green marketing and sustainable supply chain management should be seamlessly integrated so that green customer's needs can be better met by the supply chain capabilities. Existing research has explored point-to-point integration approach. This paper proposes a new hub-and-spoke integration model to integrate green marketing and sustainable supply chain management from six dimensions: product, promotion, planning, process, people and project (called the 6Ps). Empirical study has been undertaken with industries to test the 6Ps integration model. Results from the empirical study on integration dimensions, integration strategies, and drivers and obstacles for multi-dimensional integration are presented together with managerial implications. The new integration model allows the flows of resources such as information, materials and funds between green marketing and sustainable supply chain management through multiple direct pathways. It has the potential to achieve better overall business performance against the triple bottom line objectives.     

跨组织系统(IOS)在供应链中的应用模式

21世纪的竞争将不再主要是企业与企业之间的竞争。而主要是以IOS等驱动的供应链与供应链之间的竞争。企业需要和供应链上的其他企业联合起来。才有可能赢得广泛的技术、在质量和可靠性方面的快速反应能力以及持续的成本优势。有鉴于此，本文以供应链上企业之间的关系管理为基础．构建了一个IOS在供应链中应用的四阶段模式，并以此为框架，从IOS的设计、建立、应用和受益的过程来分析其因果关系，探讨影响IOS成功的关键变量和相应措施。我们认为。未来IOS将专注于核心竞争力联盟的建立和在联盟中有效地运用竞争力外取策略。     

Assessing the influence of the organization in the supply chain management using NK simulation

Supply chain management advocates that the whole supply chain (SC) from the material suppliers to the end customers must be managed by adopting an integrated approach. However, different forms of governance can be adopted to pursue integration, ranging from the pure market to the hierarchy. While integration has been extensively investigated in the literature by adopting an operative perspective, the organizational perspective has been less used. However, the way the SC is organized influences the SC performance. This topic is investigated by using a recent tool offered by complexity science, namely the NK simulation model. In the proposed NK model, N represents the decisions that SC firms should make and K the interdependencies among the SC decisions calling for integration. The model reproduces how the different SC forms of governance evolve and adapt to the landscape corresponding to a SC specific integration problem. A simulation analysis is carried out to identify the SC forms of governance appropriate to the SC integration problems.     

Enhancing the business-to-business supply chain: Insights from partitioning the supply-side

A market orientation has long been established as the key to success in supply chain management. A central concept of this orientation is market segmentation. The concept of market segmentation, however, has primarily been focused on the demand side of the supply chain; its potential application on the supply side has not thoroughly been addressed. This paper extends the purview of the concept behind segmentation by presenting the concept of “supply-side partitioning” to refer to the management of heterogeneities on the supplier side of the supply chain. Further, the concept of “transvectional alignment” is proposed for the purpose of simultaneously aligning market segments with appropriate suppliers at all levels of the supply chain by identifying, evaluating, and selecting supply groups that satisfy the demand function(s) of each segment. This paper discusses supply-side partitioning, includes a model for the supply chain utilizing transvectional alignment, and offers implications for the application of supply-side partitioning in the business-to-business marketspace.     

A critique of high-value supply chains as a means of modernising agriculture in China: The case of the beef industry

China has embarked on an agricultural modernisation program with far-reaching implications for rural development, food safety and trade. A major focus of China’s agricultural modernisation program has been to build high-value supply chains and large, modern agro-industrial enterprises. This paper provides a critique of these efforts in the case of the high-value beef supply chain. It finds that interventionist policies to fast-track the development of high-value supply chains have perverse outcomes and that a more incremental and facilitative approach to modernisation should be pursued based around the development of mid-value supply chains.     

Opening the black box of food waste reduction

Surplus food management plays a key role in food waste reduction. This paper addresses the multifaceted concept of food supply chain sustainability by presenting a model of surplus food generation and management (called ASRW, Availability-Surplus-Recoverability-Waste), which encompasses the integrated food supply chain (i.e. business, environmental and social players). The model was developed using a bottom-up approach, by conducting 30 exploratory case studies and iterating theory development and data analysis. Three confirmatory case studies, from different food supply chain stages, are also presented to demonstrate how the model can be used to identify food waste reduction strategies.     

Structuring and contracting in competing supply chains

This paper considers two competing supply chains, each with multiple upstream suppliers producing complementary products and selling to a single buyer (e.g., assembler or retailer), who then sells the finished assembled product to a market that involves both demand uncertainty and competition. Our main research questions focus on what supply chain structure (integration vs. decentralization) and which contracting strategy a business should choose. We find that supply chains that decentralize perform better under strong market competition (i.e., high degree of product substitution between supply chains). However, when a large number of suppliers exist, supply chains that integrate perform better. When decentralized structures are used for both supply chains, a consignment with revenue sharing contract generally outperforms a wholesale price contract from the downstream retailer's point of view. Interestingly, for a supplier, a wholesale price contract, which pushes all demand risks to the downstream retailer, might not be preferred. For the entire supply chain, one contract strategy can outperform another depending on the degree of competition, the cost share of the buyer, and the number of suppliers.