Blurry vision: Supply chain visibility for personal protective equipment during COVID-19

We explore supply chain visibility challenges in the context of our contemporary COVID pandemic, and offer insights, models and potential solutions to remove barriers to clear supply chain visibility. In this paper, we describe how visibility and velocity are the two key attributes that are required to enabling critical decision-making accuracy which will in turn increase the ability of local, state and federal healthcare and public health decision-makers to response to shifts in the U.S. system. We describe the problems in current systems due to the lack of visibility of material in global supply chains, which in turn leads to problems such as the lack of PPE that occurred during the COVID pandemic. We conclude with recommendations on how to render inventory more visible for the future.     

Focus forecasting reconsidered

Focus Forecasting is a popular heuristic methodology for production and inventory control although there has never been a rigorous test of accuracy using real time series. We compare Focus Forecasting to damped-trend, seasonal exponential smoothing using five time series of cookware demand in a production planning application. We also make comparisons using 91 time series from the M-Competition study of forecast accuracy. Exponential smoothing was more accurate in both cases.     

VMI在疫苗冷链物流中的应用研究

从供应链的角度对疫苗冷链的定义及特点进行了阐述,针对疫苗冷链中出现的牛鞭效应,供需失衡等关键问题,运用VMI的相关理论,设计一个基于VMI的疫苗冷链库存管理模式,体现了VMI在疫苗冷链物流中的优越性,并对疫苗冷链系统VMI运作流程和补库策略进行了分析。     

新存货准则对企业纳税的影响

新存货准则与原有的存货准则相比,有了很大变化。这些变化集中体现在存货入账环节、发出环节和期末结存环节。不同环节的存货计价方式对企业纳税会产生不同的影响。     

An Instructional Case Comparing the Accounting Policies and Financial Results of Online Retailers

In the role of financial analyst for a venture capital firm, you are assigned the responsibility of evaluating two online retailers who have applied for financing to build a distribution center in western Canada. Based on your developing knowledge of Canadian accounting standards for private enterprises (ASPE), you evaluate the financial reporting policies and financial results of the two companies to identify the company that is best suited for your firm's support. Through this case, you will refine your understanding of ASPE and you will exercise your reasoning and analytical skills.     

Conceptual modelling for supply chain inventory visibility

Visibility becomes increasingly important for companies that seek to globalise their supply chains due to the increasing complexity involved. This paper contributes to the research on Supply Chain Visibility (SCV) from an inventory perspective with a focus on inventory visibility, which is a critical part of SCV. The characteristics of Inventory Visibility (IV), which are inherited from SCV, are conceptually analysed. A theoretical model in terms of atom, single, and compound visibility, is developed based on the characteristics identified. A method for objectively measuring IV is presented together with a case example to demonstrate its convenience and usefulness.     

The inventory performance of forecasting methods: Evidence from the M3 competition data

Forecasting competitions have been a major driver not only of improvements in forecasting methods’ performances, but also of the development of new forecasting approaches. However, despite the tremendous value and impact of these competitions, they do suffer from the limitation that performances are measured only in terms of the forecast accuracy and bias, ignoring utility metrics. Using the monthly industry series of the M3 competition, we empirically explore the inventory performances of various widely used forecasting techniques, including exponential smoothing, ARIMA models, the Theta method, and approaches based on multiple temporal aggregation. We employ a rolling simulation approach and analyse the results for the order-up-to policy under various lead times. We find that the methods that are based on combinations result in superior inventory performances, while the Naïve, Holt, and Holt-Winters methods perform poorly.     

Coordinated inventory replenishment and outsourced transportation operations

We consider a one-warehouse N retailers supply chain with stochastic demand. Inventory is managed in-house whereas transportation is outsourced to a 3PL provider. We develop analytical expressions for the operating characteristics under both periodic and continuous joint replenishment policies. We identify the settings where a periodic review policy is comparable to a continuous review one. In our numerical test-bed, the periodic policy performed best in larger supply chains operating with larger trucks. We also observed that if the excess utilization charge is less than 25%, outsourcing becomes beneficial even if outsourcing cost is 25% more than the in-house fleet costs.     

Combined fleet deployment and inventory management in roll-on/roll-off shipping

In maritime transportation of automobiles, roll-on/roll-off (ro–ro) shipping companies operate liner shipping services across major trade routes. Large ro–ro shipping companies are well placed to offer end-to-end integrated logistics services to auto manufacturers engaged in international trade of vehicles. Therefore, we present a new mixed integer programming model for fleet deployment including inventory management at the ports along each trade route. Due to the complexity of the problem, a rolling horizon heuristic (RHH) is proposed. The RHH solves the problem by iteratively solving sub-problems with shorter planning horizon. Computational results based on real instances are presented.     

Valuing time in supply chains: Establishing limits of time-based competition

Over the past two decades the growth in international trade and the offshore migration of US manufacturing have created global supply chains with longer lead-times and slower response. This suggests that traditional supply chains have encountered limits to time-based competition in which the cost of faster replenishment exceeds the benefits. This paper explores and quantifies those limits to time-based competition in make-to-stock supply chains for functional products (products with stable demand over relatively long life cycles).