Post-disaster grain supply chain resilience with government aid

Assessing the disruption and resilience of the agricultural grain supply chain is critical to ensure grain supply and stabilize grain price in the final market. This research proposes a quantitative model to analyze how a grain processor regains robustness when supply is disrupted by a natural disaster upstream, and how this disruption affects grain retailers downstream. Two supply chain recovery methods, contingent sourcing and government aid, are considered for grain processor recovery. The results show that (1) a processor prefers timely full recovery, and (2) government aid as an intervention means is indispensable but cannot fully replace the backup supplier.     

The influence of greening the suppliers and green innovation on environmental performance and competitive advantage in Taiwan

Recently, many companies have recognized the concepts of green supply chain management or supply chain environmental management. However, relatively little research attention has been devoted to the consideration of relations between greening the supply chain, green innovation, environmental performance and competitive advantage. Hence, this paper aims to bridge this gap by providing empirical evidence to encourage companies to implement green supply chain and green innovation in order to improve their environmental performance, and to enhance their competitive advantage in the global market. A model is constructed to link the aforementioned constructs. Data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey across 124 companies from eight industry sectors in Taiwan. The data are analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling and the results from the final measurement model are used to evaluate the structural model that verifies the significance of the proposed relationships. A prominent result of this study is that greening the supplier through green innovation contributes significant benefits to the environmental performance and competitive advantage of the firm.     

On the use of RFID in the management of reusable containers in closed-loop supply chains under stochastic container return quantities

This paper studies a closed-loop supply chain that uses containers for transporting products from a supplier to a retailer. At the retailer, used containers are collected and returned to the supplier. The supplier inspects returned containers, and either repairs and reuses or disposes them. This paper studies the case where the fraction of containers that are returned to the supplier is stochastic, and where an RFID system can be used to support the tracking of container positions in the supply chain. The use of RFID leads to improved information on the return of containers and better return predictability as well as higher return rates, which we model as an increase in the mean return rate of containers and a reduction in return variance. The paper first develops a mathematical planning model for this scenario, and it then studies how the use of RFID impacts the performance of the system. In addition, it analyzes under which conditions the use of RFID is economical, and in which situations traditional container systems should be preferred.     

供应链中采购与库存协调的研究

通过对二级供应链中采购和库存协调问题的研究,提出了两阶段协调方法,第一阶段在采购方内部进行协调,制定采购计划;第二阶段由采购方与供应方进行协调,从而降低供应链的总成本,获得更多的总利润,为使采购方能采用协调机制,可通过数量折扣的方法还利于采购方,达到采购方与供应方的双赢。     

Effect of variable transportation and carbon emission in a three-echelon supply chain model

Several industries controls carbon emission during transporting products due to increased transportation for obtaining the best transportation way with reduced cost. This study considers a three-echelon supply chain model where the supplier makes semi-finished products and transports to manufacturer for finished products. The manufacturer transports products by single-setup-multi-delivery policy to multi-retailer. The aim of the model is to reduce the supply chain cost by considering variable transportation and carbon emission costs are considered due to several shipments. An algebraic approach is employed to obtain the closed-form solution. Numerical example, sensitivity analysis, and graphical representations are given to illustrate the model.     

面向电子供应链的企业物流信息系统模型研究

面向电子供应链的企业物流信息系统的开发和建设,有助于实现企业、供应商、销售商之间的协调发展,减少库存,降低操作成本,缩短交易时间等。根据电子供应链的网络环境特点,在研究制造业企业物流一般流程的基础上,根据主、辅制造商物流流程,提出企业物流信息系统的参考模型结构设计。     

基于电子商务的供应链管理集成技术研究

针对传统的供应链管理难以实现企业与合作伙伴间对信息的实时同步共享,不能充分支持和体现供应链管理的战略优势和系统特征的问题,在分析基于电子商务的供应链管理集成模式的基础上,给出以BizTalk为主要开发平台的电子商务供应链管理系统集成的技术架构,使供应链上的节点企业可以真正实现与供应商、经销商和客户的信息共享。     

Lead time aggregation: A three-echelon supply chain model

In this paper, destructive effects of upstream aggregated stochastic lead times on the supply chain (SC) performance are analyzed. For this purpose, a three-echelon SC consisting of one producer, one distributor, and one retailer is modeled. Both the producer and distributor face stochastic lead times, which can be also aggregated to create a long unpredictable lead time. In order to scale down shortages at the retailer site, an incentive scheme is proposed to convince the upstream members to increase their reorder points. Applying the coordinated model considerably increases the total profit earned by the whole SC as well as all SC members.     

Robust optimization for United States Department of Agriculture food aid bid allocations

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) currently uses a bidding system to determine carriers and suppliers that would partner in providing food aid annually in response to global emergencies and famine. We mimic the USDA approach via a robust optimization model featuring box and ellipsoid uncertainty frameworks to account for uncertainties in demand, supplier and carrier bid prices. Through a case study utilizing historical invoice data, we demonstrate our model applicability in improving ocean carrier and food supplier bid pricing strategy and similar supply chain network optimization problems. Through a validation algorithm we demonstrate the value of our robust models.     

Impact of decision sequence on reliability enhancement with supply disruption risks

This paper considers a supply chain that consists of a manufacturer and a supplier who faces disruption risks. We investigate the impact of decision sequence on the supplier’s endogenous reliability enhancement and the firms’ equilibrium pricing strategies. The supply chain reliability achieves a higher level under the supplier–leader game, but this does not always lead to a higher payoff for the supply chain. Each firm prefers to make the decision first, while any decision sequence can become dominant for the supply chain. We also show that the supply chain can achieve coordination via the revenue sharing contract.     

Robust supply chain strategies for recovering from unanticipated disasters

Recovering from unanticipated disasters is critical in today’s global market. This paper examines the effectiveness of popular recovery strategies used to address unpredictable disasters that derail supply chains. We create a formal model to portray dynamic operational performance among supply chain firms facing disruptions caused by natural and man-made disasters. Our analysis shows that a supply chain recovers best if member firms adopt a radical, rapid, costly recovery strategy that immediately resolves the disruption. This observation is robust to various resource consumption requirements. We apply our methodology in the case of Taiwan’s 2011 food contamination scandal and provide managerial insights.     

供应链中基于VMI库存与运输协调问题的研究

通过对1个供应商、N个零售商组成的供应链形式的协调问题研究,提出了在VMI系统中协调库存与运输的配送策略。这种配送策略假设需求是Poisson随机过程,以更新理论为基础,基于供应商有权持有小额定单,直到定单数量到达一定程度时进行一起派送,即通过规模经济运输,达到降低成本的目的。     

Measures to evaluate post-disaster trip resilience on road networks

The resilience of transportation networks, one of the most critical infrastructure in post-disaster situations, will have a significant influence on post-disaster operations, community resilience and business continuity. Consequently, understanding the resilience of transportation networks following a natural disaster is crucial. This research proposes a new Trip Resilience (TR) measure to assess the resilience of trips on road networks following a disaster, integrating all three dimensions of resilience, namely robustness, redundancy, and recovery. The methodological approach includes an analysis of existing transport resilience measures presented in the literature to assess their ability to quantify robustness, redundancy and recovery in terms of the proposed conceptual model. The analytical formulations of the individual component measures are then developed, or adapted from previous research, along with a means of integrating all three into a combined Trip Resilience (TR) measure. A case study methodological approach is then adopted to verify the practicality of the proposed measures using the outcomes from a transportation simulation of a hypothetical Alpine Fault Magnitude 8 (AF8) scenario. A Normalised Trip Resilience (NTR) measure is also proposed that converts the TR to a normalised scale that is easily understandable to decision-makers. Finally, in order to facilitate ranking of the post-disaster impact on districts, a new measure, namely the Equivalent daily number of Impacted Trips (EIT), is proposed. The proposed measure provides an opportunity for decision-makers to estimate and rank the trip resilience between each (group of) Origin-Destination pair(s) using pre- and post-disaster flow and travel time. The resulting measures were capable of being calculated from the outputs produced by the transportation simulation model in the case study, thereby verifying their practicality in real-world situations. The importance of including both robustness (represented by the number of eliminated trips) and redundancy (represented by increased travel time), over the horizon of the post-disaster recovery phase was highlighted. Eliminated trips contributed significantly in areas that were cut off and isolated post-disaster, due to a lack of alternative routes, and increased travel time contributed as more roads were reopened but the alternative routes resulted in increased travel distances and, consequently, travel time.     

Disruption-driven supply chain (re)-planning and performance impact assessment with consideration of pro-active and recovery policies

In this study, an approach to re-planning the multi-stage supply chain (SC) subject to disruptions is developed. We analyze seven proactive SC structures, compute recovery policies to re-direct material flows in the case of two disruption scenarios, and assess the performance impact for both service level and costs with the help of a SC (re)planning model containing elements of system dynamics and linear programming. In the result, an explicit connection of performance impact assessment and SC plan reconfiguration issues with consideration of the duration of disruptions and the costs of recovery has been achieved.     

Truthful multi-unit multi-attribute double auctions for perishable supply chain trading

This paper aims to propose multi-attribute double auctions for perishable supply chain trading (PSCT). We first construct a multi-unit/single-unit multi-attribute double auction (MS-MDA) for PSCT where suppliers can submit bids on a single unit of one item (i.e., single output restriction). We then relax the single output restriction and propose a multi-unit multi-attribute double auction (M-MDA) for PSCT in which each supplier offers multiple units of one item. Both the MS-MDA and M-MDA mechanisms are incentive compatible, individually rational, budget balanced and computationally efficient. The computational study shows that all proposed mechanisms are of high allocation efficiency and practically implementable.     

Sourcing decisions under risks of catastrophic event disruptions

In this paper, a supplier selection problem is studied under risks of supplier failure due to the catastrophic events disruption. An analytical model is developed to determine the optimal number of suppliers considering different failure probability, capacity, and compensation. An algorithm is designed to find the optimal solution and numerical study is carried out to illustrate the model. Results of numerical study and sensitivity analysis provide useful guidelines for managers to select the optimal number of suppliers under the risks of supply disruption.     

The impact of transportation disruptions on supply chain performance

This paper investigates the effect of a transportation disruption on supply chain performance using system dynamics simulation, comparing a traditional supply chain and a vendor managed inventory system (VMI) when a transportation disruption occurs between 2 echelons in a 5-echelon supply chain. The greatest impact occurs when transportation is disrupted between the tier 1 supplier and warehouse. In the traditional structure the retailer, warehouse, and tier 1 supplier experience the greatest inventory fluctuations and the highest goods in transit to their facilities. These impacts are less severe for the VMI structure, although unfilled orders are approximately the same for each.     

The redesign of a warranty distribution network with recovery processes

A warranty distribution network provides aftersales warranty services to customers and resembles a closed-loop supply chain network with specific challenges for reverse flows management like recovery, repair, and reflow of refurbished products. We present here a nonlinear and nonconvex mixed integer programming model for the design of the warranty distribution network of a semiconductor company which is operated by an outsourced third party logistics service provider. The application of the model to the real-life case provides an improved distribution network flow and rearranged warehouse and recovery locations, and resulted in weekly cost savings of 3.4% for the considered item.     

Global supply chain design: A literature review and critique

In this paper, we review decision support models for the design of global supply chains, and assess the fit between the research literature in this area and the practical issues of global supply chain design. The classification scheme for this review is based on ongoing and emerging issues in global supply chain management and includes review dimensions for (1) decisions addressed in the model, (2) performance metrics, (3) the degree to which the model supports integrated decision processes, and (4) globalization considerations. We conclude that although most models resolve a difficult feature associated with globalization, few models address the practical global supply chain design problem in its entirety. We close the paper with recommendations for future research in global supply chain modeling that is both forward-looking and practically oriented.     

A deterministic mathematical model to support temporal and spatial decisions of the soybean supply chain

A novel deterministic mathematical model is presented as part of research into a stochastic optimization model for the soybean supply chain in Brazil. The model was conceived as a tool to aid in the decision-making of any trader involved in this highly complex market. The model is intended to be applied to decisions related to tactical planning over a time span of one year. The major spatial and temporal components of the soybean complex, including transportation mode decisions, are incorporated into the model. The mathematical model is described in detail. Several stochastic parameters are used with fixed values in the deterministic model to construct various scenarios. These parameters are the purchase and sale prices of the grain on the market, the crop failure rate and the volumes of demand. The model was tested using data from a large trade in Brazil with consistent results.