scholarly journals Development of an Optimization Method and Software for Optimizing Global Supply Chains for Increased Efficiency, Competitiveness, and Sustainability

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1610
Author(s):  
György Kovács ◽  
Béla Illés
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Design Constraint ◽  
Use Of Resources

Presently, an increasing human population, customer consumption, and global market competition result in the reduction of natural resources and growing environmental damage. Therefore, the current practice in the use of resources is not sustainable. The production companies have to focus not only on cost-effective and profitable operation, but at the same time environmentally friendly and sustainable production in order to increase competitiveness. New innovative technologies are required, improving the efficiency of the processes and the optimization of global supply chains (GSC) in order to establish sustainability in environmental, social, and economic aspects. The aim of the study is the GSCs’ optimization, which means forming the optimal combination of the chain members (suppliers, final assemblers, service providers) to achieve cost-effective, time-effective, and sustainable operation. This study introduces an elaborated single- and multi-objective optimization method, including the objective functions (cost, lead time) and design constraints (production and service capacities; volume of inventories; flexibility and sustainability of the chain members). Based on the elaborated method, software has been developed for the optimization of sustainable GSCs. The significance and novelty of the developed method and software is that the chain members have been required to fulfill the sustainability design constraint built into the software. A real case study is introduced, for the optimal design of a sustainable GSC, to confirm that our developed optimization method and software can be applied effectively in practice for the optimization of both profitable and sustainable GSCs.

scholarly journals Economic Development Based on a Mathematical Model: An Optimal Solution Method for the Fuel Supply of International Road Transport Activity

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2963
Author(s):  
Melinda Timea Fülöp ◽  
Miklós Gubán ◽  
György Kovács ◽  
Mihály Avornicului
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Optimal Decision ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Fuel Cost

Due to globalization and increased market competition, forwarding companies must focus on the optimization of their international transport activities and on cost reduction. The minimization of the amount and cost of fuel results in increased competition and profitability of the companies as well as the reduction of environmental damage. Nowadays, these aspects are particularly important. This research aims to develop a new optimization method for road freight transport costs in order to reduce the fuel costs and determine optimal fueling stations and to calculate the optimal quantity of fuel to refill. The mathematical method developed in this research has two phases. In the first phase the optimal, most cost-effective fuel station is determined based on the potential fuel stations. The specific fuel prices differ per fuel station, and the stations are located at different distances from the main transport way. The method developed in this study supports drivers’ decision-making regarding whether to refuel at a farther but cheaper fuel station or at a nearer but more expensive fuel station based on the more economical choice. Thereafter, it is necessary to determine the optimal fuel volume, i.e., the exact volume required including a safe amount to cover stochastic incidents (e.g., road closures). This aspect of the optimization method supports drivers’ optimal decision-making regarding optimal fuel stations and how much fuel to obtain in order to reduce the fuel cost. Therefore, the application of this new method instead of the recently applied ad-hoc individual decision-making of the drivers results in significant fuel cost savings. A case study confirmed the efficiency of the proposed method.

scholarly journals Global supply chains, institutional constraints and firm level adaptations: A comparative study of Chinese service outsourcing firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingqi Zhu ◽  
Glenn Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Global Supply Chain ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Lead Firm

The focus on inter-firm governance relations within global supply chains analysis has left social relations at workplaces as a ‘black box’ and relatively underdiscussed. Through an in-depth, comparative study of two Chinese IT service providers for Japanese clients, this article explores how the work and employment relations in the supplier firm are shaped by the institutional contexts of both the supplier firm and the lead firm as well as by the nature of the global supply chain in which they are located. The article shows how the intersection of global supply chains and local institutional environments creates potential gaps between what is required by the lead firms and what is feasible within the supplier firms. Therefore, managers in the supplier firm have to negotiate ways of managing these expectations in the light of their own institutional constraints and possibilities. We identify three forms of adaptation made by the suppliers that we describe as wholesale adaptation, ceremonial adaptation and minimal adaptation to lead firms’ expectations. We argue that these interactions and forms of adaptation can be extended and explored more generally in global supply chains and provide the basis for a fruitful integration of institutional approaches with global supply chain analysis.

The changing dynamics in the worldwide mobile phone market: creating excellence through innovation management and collaborative relationships

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pankaj Kumar Medhi ◽  
Sandeep Mondal
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
World Market ◽  
Global Market ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Market Dominance

Subject area Supply chain management (SCM). Study level/applicability Graduate students. Case overview In recent times, the world market of mobile phone is in a flux due to many phenomena of importance like strong emergence of smartphones, Nokia losing market share in all segments of market and fast technological and supply chain innovation by players like Apple and Google. Elements of SCM and the way technology is acquired have assumed a place of importance to compete in the global market. A new standard of innovation and SCM is emerging together as the rules of market dominance are re-written all-over again. Expected learning outcomes After completion of the case study, the students will understand: role of technological innovation in high-tech industry and global supply chains in changing the consumer behavior world over; the classic battle for market dominance with a new way of innovation management in technology and processes to create most efficient global supply chains; importance of SCM practices of collaboration like tighter partner integration, use of power asymmetry and contract by dominant players to create efficient supply chains; and how visionaries like late Steve Job are shaping the new era of technology. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email: [email protected] to request teaching notes.

scholarly journals Decisions of Supply Chain Considering Chain-to-Chain Competition and Service Negative Spillover Effect

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yucai Wu ◽  
Jiguang Wang ◽  
Changhong Li
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Spillover Effect ◽  
Network Externality ◽  
Sustainable Competitive Advantage ◽  
Equilibrium Solutions ◽  
Negative Spillover

In today’s complex market competition environment, a high quality and high level of service plays a critical role in obtaining and maintaining long-term sustainable competitive advantage for enterprises and supply chains. Considering the service negative spillover effect, this paper investigates the horizontal Stackelberg competition and optimal service decision in two competing manufacturer-led supply chains. Four competitive structure models are constructed and the corresponding equilibrium solutions are obtained. By comparing the equilibrium results of four different structures, it is found that the service negative spillover effect and competition between supply chains have negative incentive effect on service providers and their supply chains. However, the chain-to-chain competition will benefit the supply chain that does not provide services from free-riding effect, which will be intensified with the intensification of competition. In addition, from the perspective of supply chain network and externality, we find that when the structure of one supply chain remains fixed and the other changes from centralized to decentralized, there will be a “double marginalization” effect. At the same time, the structural change from centralized to decentralized has certain “altruism”, that is, positive network externality, so as to improve the rival’s performance significantly.

A Matchmaking Methodology for Supply Chain Deployment in Distributed Manufacturing Environments

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhad Ameri ◽  
Debasish Dutta
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Formal Representation ◽  
Service Description ◽  
Description Language ◽  
Labeled Trees ◽  
Modern Manufacturing ◽  
Manufacturing Environments ◽  
Selection Of

In modern manufacturing era, supply chains are increasingly becoming global and agile. To build agile global supply chains, companies first need to have access to a large supply base and secondly need an efficient mechanism for cost-effective and rapid location, evaluation, and selection of suppliers. This work introduces a matchmaking algorithm for connecting buyers and sellers of manufacturing services based on their semantic similarities in terms of manufacturing capabilities. The proposed matchmaking algorithm operates over Manufacturing Service Description Language (MSDL), an ontology for formal representation of manufacturing services. Since MSDL descriptions can be represented as directed labeled trees, a tree matching approach is implemented in this work.

Horse Trading: Food Sourcing in the Twenty-First Century

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Russell Walker
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Food Service ◽  
First Century ◽  
Class Discussion ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Beef Products ◽  
Beef Burgers

In January 2013, Irish authorities were the first to uncover the year's first food sourcing scandal: horsemeat sold as beef on supermarket shelves. It was not long before regulators and retailers realized the problem was truly a continental one. The incident involved French exporters, Luxembourger production facilities, Cypriot and Dutch meat traders, British and Swedish retailers, and Romanian horsemeat. Food service providers and retailers were forced to test beef products to ensure they were horse-free, pulling products that contained traces of equine meat. British supermarkets alone disposed of an estimated 10 million “beef” burgers in the wake of the scandal. This case is an example of the challenges of managing the complex global supply chains that make up the modern food industry. In this class discussion, students will use concepts from management, economics, and public policy to assess the damage of this event and to analyze strategies for preventing similar incidents in the future.

Fuzzy Reform and Optimization of Design Task in Concurrent Engineering

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Zhao ◽  
Jianzhong Cha ◽  
Junfeng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Concurrent Engineering ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Dynamic Change ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Production Cycle ◽  
Cycle Period ◽  
Design Task

Abstract With the increasing of global market competition and dynamic change of market environment, consumer needs are more personal and diversified, enterprise production is more flexible. At present, the production cycle period of traditional manufacturing industry is long, delivering goods is not in time, product quality is not good and resource are not used in reason. Because of the phenomena, products are not met the requirements of market and lack of market competition ability. For changing the situation, the development direction is building concurrent agility dynamic alliance of product development. So this paper puts forward an improved fuzzy reform optimization method of design task in Concurrent engineering (CE). Using this method, enterprise can develop product rapidly to satisfy consumer requirements and have high quality, low cost, reasonable price and good service, that is because it can assign right task to right person in right time for shortening development time of product.

New Paradigm for State Department of Transportation Environmental Initiatives: New York State’s Guidelines and Procedures

2000 ◽  
Vol 1702 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary McVoy ◽  
Mark Sengenberger ◽  
Elizabeth Novak
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York State ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
State Department ◽  
Regulatory Compliance ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
York State Department ◽  
Department Of Transportation ◽  
New Paradigm

Public-works agencies have an obligation to enhance the environment as opportunities arise. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has developed an environmental initiative to make an affirmative contribution to the environment, using the department’s organizational strengths. The environmental initiative is a paradigm shift applicable to all departments of transportation (DOTs). Conventional reactive regulatory compliance can reduce unnecessary environmental damage and sometimes gain grudging regulatory agency cooperation; however, it is not a positive, satisfying way of doing the people’s work. Through proactive steps, NYSDOT has become an important part of the state’s environmental solution (often at little or no additional cost) and has changed its working relationships with environmental agencies and groups. As these agencies and groups have become partners, instead of adversaries, permit-approval times have improved, mitigation costs have declined, morale has improved, and cost-effective environmental benefits are being realized. Procedures are outlined to apply the engineering capabilities of a DOT to the environmental-stewardship responsibilities shared by all governmental organizations.

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