Logistics Operations, Supply Chain Management and Sustainability

As an analysis of demographic trends in the world, Europe and Poland clearly indicates, the elderly people’s share of total population has been steadily expanding, just as the generation born at the turn of the millennium grows up. These two demographics are going to immensely influence the future supply chain. The present chapter analyses the behaviours and attitudes of Generation Y (Millennials)—in their roles as present and future customers and employees—against the background of other selected social groups. The changing economic and business environments are discussed, along with new approaches to interactions within the supply chains, e.g. through coopetition (“cooperative competition”). Using the example of Poland’s lead logistics provider (LLP), Lean Management is presented as an approach where intergenerational differences can be tapped for the purpose of efficient supply chain management.

Complex systems of supply chains need to be integrated. Such integration is essential in order to achieve sustainable logistics of the system. This chapter presents an approach to this issue based on DEMATEL methodology. This chapter presents an approach to this issue based on identifying the barriers in supply chain integration and understanding their cause effect relationships using the DEcision MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology. A total of 17 barriers affecting the integration of business entities in the supply chain were identified through a survey addressed to experts from Poland and Canada. The results of the study show Lack of Resource sharing (integration), Lack of Organisational compatibility, Lack of Information sharing, Lack of Responsibility sharing, and Lack of Planning of supply chain activities as top five barriers in supply chain integration. Therefore, organizations should investigate causes behind these barriers and take appropriate measures to resolve them to ensure seamless integration across their supply chains.

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the issue of integration in supply chains and in reverse supply chains. The Authors specify the factors key to integration and examine their impact on the process. The first part addresses the issues affecting forward flows and the benefits offered by a close cooperation between the links in the supply chain. In the second part the Authors discuss the factors which may contribute to a more seamless operation of backward flows. The third part presents the outcome of a survey into the measures taken by companies with a view to developing closer relationships with business partners in individual chains. These results provided the grounds for selecting the most crucial integration factors and highlighted the similarities and differences in integration-oriented activities taken in supply and reverse supply chains. In the last part of the chapter the Authors investigate the issue of barriers to building close relationships between supply chain partners.

Environmental awareness keeps growing and comes to be viewed as an integral part of the management process in companies. We should keep in mind that the waste generated by a company (one of the participants in the supply chain) is part of the total waste generated by the entire chain. Moreover, environmental awareness of individual companies does not mean that the principles of sustainable development are adhered to. What is needed is an integration of companies across the entire chain. Their management should be therefore approached from a holistic perspective. The main goal of this article is to identify integration factors that take into account process and structural changes in the entire supply chain in terms of secondary raw materials. Each of the factors comes with a detailed characteristics of individual levels of integration. The universal character of factors enables the study of chains in various sectors of business practice. In order to achieve the goal of this article a survey was conducted among companies operating on the Polish market. On the basis of these studies the key barriers to the supply of secondary raw materials have been identified. The chapter contains an overview of these barriers, taking the selected channels of supply into account. It should be noted that the focus of individual elements on ecology affects the evaluation criteria associated with the level of integration of the entire chain.

This article presents a system for measuring the level of integration of a forward and backward supply chain and its use in modeling the structure and processes occurring in the management of the flow of goods. A supply chain involves both forward and backward flows and is related to S&OP model. The paper features also the methodology for developing a system for evaluating and validating the measurement system along with its application guidelines. It also presents selected results of a study into the barriers to integration and operational metrics to evaluate the performance of the supply chain and the specificity of their use in the simulation model. The main part of the article contains a description of integration categories. A comprehensive list of 19 integration categories subject to evaluation is supplemented with the description of the integration levels pertaining to selected categories. The last section discusses principles for evaluation and determining the level of integration of the supply chain and guidelines for its transformation in order to improve its efficiency.

Green supplier selection (GSS) criteria arise from an organization inclination to respond to any existing trends in environmental issues related to business management and processes, so GSS is integrating environmental thinking into conventional supplier selection. This research is designed to determine prevalent general and environmental supplier selection criteria and develop a framework which can help decision makers to determine and prioritize suitable green supplier selection criteria (general and environmental). In this research we considered several parameters (evaluation objectives) to establish suitable criteria for GSS such as their production type, requirements, policy and objectives instead of applying common criteria. At first a comprehensive and deep review on prevalent and green supplier selection literatures performed. Then several evaluation objectives defined to assess the green supplier selection criteria include: frequency, compatibility, quantifiable, easy to understand and assessment. By developed framework suitable criteria can be selected using multi attribute decision making methods. The main contribution of this research is developing a framework to help managers for creating their green supplier criteria list.

Product recall appears as a nightmare for manufactures as it may lead to bankruptcy. Recent product recalls stimulated manufacturers to enhance product safety in their supply chain. Implementation of traceability system now becomes necessary part of product safety strategies. Product recall crisis dramatically affect the revenue of firms which may lead to serious outcomes. Large recall induces great recall cost such as cost of notification and destroying or repairing recall products. Effective design of traceability system may turn out to be significant tool for managing recall crisis and product safety issues in production system. Traceability systems are widely used to minimize the probability and quantity of recalls however literature shows that manufacturers still not getting substantial results. This chapter develops a model to optimize the traceability based on batch dispersion methodology in order to minimize the expected recall cost and other operational cost aiming to increase shareholder profit. The simulation analysis is also carried out to test the various production strategies and its impact on profit. The analysed result show that expected shareholders profit reduces with reduction in level of traceability. It is also concluded that manufacturers should not only depended on operational costs for batch size optimization but shareholders profit should also be considered during recall crisis.

The advancement in information technology has significantly changed the operations of supply chain management, and promoted efficiency and effectiveness which directly had a positive impact on market competitiveness. The grocery retail sector is probably one of the largest business sectors in many countries and it is one of the sectors that witnessed the applications of evolving supply chain technologies over the past few years such as radio frequency identifications (RFID), quick response codes (QR codes) and more. Therefore, this paper will provide a critical analysis and emphasis on the idea of adopting the virtual supply chain (VSC) concept by the large grocery retail stores in Egypt in order to investigate the grocery retail sector readiness towards applying the VSC. Research approach: The research is based on the qualitative analysis using a case study approach applied on the top two grocery retail chains in Egypt which are; Carrefour and Fathallah. Semi structured interviews were conducted with Fathallah’s IT manager, and the receiving manager of Carrefour Alexandria and with subject matter experts (SMEs) to collect the necessary information for a SWOT analysis that would emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of both chains towards applying VSC in addition to the opportunities and threats that may encourage or hinder the application of VSC. Findings and Originality: According to the literature reviewed, it was found that there is a significant gap in literature regarding the application of technologies in supply chain in emerging and developing countries in general, which renders this research important to the discipline. This research is considered the first in investigating the application of the VSC in the Middle East, especially in Egypt. The findings of this research showed that the grocery retail chains are rather ready for the application of the VSC, and it was shown that such application can support them in improving and developing their supply chain processes. Research impact: This research will bring the topic to the attention of researchers to further investigate and exploit the area of technology in supply chain in Egypt and it will contribute to close the existing gap in the literature. Practical impact: Applying the concept of VSC will increase the retailers’ efficiency, responsiveness, market coverage and accessibility and consequently its profit which will impact the economy as well. Additionally, customers will also benefit from the convenience and ease of access.

It is not clear how to evaluate radio frequency identification (RFID) potential for use in production companies supply chains (internal and external). We propose Assessment of RFID Technology (ART) modular method (strategy, tactics, operations, evaluation) and elaborate tactical module (ART-T). ART-T application in a manufacturing company is illustrated. We apply TOPSIS (technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution), SCOR (supply chain operations reference) model, linguistic scales, fuzzy sets and questionnaires to answer the question “

which processes should be chosen for RFID

-

based reengineering and/or improvement

”. Research output shows ART-T flexibility and ease of use at factory level.

Effective supply-chain management is an ever greater requirement in modern enterprises. In addition to optimising operating costs, companies are looking for ways to be more flexible and to cut time-to-market in a new and rapidly changing economic environment. Enterprises that have numerous business partners are involved in many different supply chains. This means using a number of different sets of technologies grouped around highly sophisticated services. These services can provide access to real-time document exchange and can be articulated with financial institutions’ internal ERP systems and other marketplaces. This case study is largely about the Comarch Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) platform, which has been providing an effective solution to meet all B2B needs for over 10 years. The main purpose to meet in this document is to describe potential services, which can be developed after reaching some critical mass of documents turnover and customers. Those services can influence boosts in performance in supply-chain management between suppliers and large multiple retailers and show how a common environment (technology and business) could create added value for enterprises.

This chapter presents the concept behind a simulation model reflecting the functioning of a supply chain in the context Sales and Operations Planning (SOP) working in business in practice. The methodology assumed by the authors was based on: the analysis of integration models of planning processes, with a particular focus on the concept of Sales and Operations Planning, accompanied by the analysis of the surveys findings. Literature on the subject features SOP mainly as a business tool based on a collective decision making on the tactical level. The solution put forward in this article represents a systemic approach to the planning process integration. It includes the mechanisms of coordination put in place in a wide process planning structure, applied both in companies and within the supply chain. The model serves as a point of departure for further works related to the simulation of the material flow within a supply chain in the context of integrated planning. The final results of whole research will be employed in defining the impact of integrated process planning on the functioning of the supply chain, in particular on the coordination of the material flow and achieved results, as measured by economic and logistics metrics.

The aim of this chapter is to present and investigate the main concepts of supply chain vulnerability and resilience. Thus, the fundamental differences between vulnerability and resilience definitions are discussed. General aspects of supply chain vulnerability understanding are presented and some problems with vulnerability assessment are underlined. The main issues on vulnerability and resilience assessment are discussed, and the case study of production system resilience estimation is investigated.

The purpose of this chapter is to present selected aspects of organizational risk management in an engineering and manufacturing-to-order enterprise, particularly these focused on the importance of material flow management in a supply chain. The authors reviewed selected well known methodologies of risk management in terms of their usefulness in systems with a high level of customization. They also reviewed norms and standards of 31,000 series in order to distinguish some characteristics of risk. The diagnosis included its division according to the likelihood of being suppressed by the system, when the frequency of its appearance and its influence on the considered system is taken into account. The analysis of companies, focused on production dedicated to the individual customer’s order, made it possible to categorize the types of risk connected with the implementation process. Suggesting the different approach to managing risk occurring on various operational level is the final effect of the chapter.

There are a lot of research works as well as books written about SCM strategy, but few books are based on strategic theory of management in a pure sense. As a result, theories themselves are shallow and not in depth. In other words, SCM focuses on a strategic area of supply chain activities while, however, there are few books written on a basis of the theoretical or traditional articles of management strategy in a pure sense. The aims of this article are to review the theoretical strategy formulation concepts out of 50 books published in 2004 through 1990 while we had made logistics literature studies in the middle of 1995 with almost same approach and contributed to academic journals in Japan. This type of SCM literature study is a brand new research and the first attempt of research activity in Japan. As a survey result, it has made clear that most of books paid little attention to structural aspects of SCM strategy formulation as a state of art SCM model linked with management strategy theory. Therefore, we have reviewed the contents of SCM strategy written in fifty books and finally proposed our own SCM strategy structure and formulation based on strategic theories extracted from traditional international management theory as well as strategic theory of classical management.

Supply chain involves the procurement structure, logistics, and inventory management from the point of origin to the end user of a product or service. In this chapter, Single Forward and Reverse Supply Chain (SFRSC) system is introduced where it is assumed that stores receive products from a single warehouse with a fixed lead times. Moreover, orders are assumed to have identical sizes and that they occur at equivalent time intervals which suggest that the natural inventory policy at warehouses and retailers is Economic Order Quantity (EOQ). Different types of costs are considered beside other social and environmental welfare costs that are outlined in this chapter. We, hence; extend the lagrangian relaxation approach that simulates the planning of supply chain to capture environmental and social factors along with economic ones.

This study aims to examine the degree to which a large international fashion company—H&M—has improved corporate environmental sustainability using the principle of eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness. Case study method is employed and data are collected from its corporate annual reports and websites. The strategy and practices relating to product design, purchasing, manufacturing, transportation, retail operation, and product usage and recycling are examined. Based on the data, the study examines the extent to which cradle to cradle approach has been applied to design and manage H&M’s operations. This study also explores the possibility of integrating eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness in improving corporate environmental sustainability.

Traditionally, chemicals are sold to customers, who become owners of the substances and they will be responsible for its remaining whole life cycle. Here the chemical suppliers have only an economic interest at increasing the volume of chemicals sold, which is finally related to negative releases to environment. Compared to this approach of constant increase in sales volume of chemicals, the concept of Chemical Leasing (ChL)-originated by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)—aims at a shift towards a much more service and value-added approach. In this new ChL business model customer pays only for the benefits obtained from chemicals, but not for the quantity of substance, hence economic success of supplier is not linked with product turnover anymore. So chemical consumption becomes a cost rather than a revenue factor for chemicals supplier, where supplier always compelled to reduce the amount consumed, which intern reduces environmental pollution. During last few years, ChL business models have been successfully applied by UNIDO in several industrial sectors worldwide such as cleaning, coating, greasing and coloring. Results obtained have clearly shown that implementation of ChL has significantly reduced the harmful emissions to environment where chemical manufacture works closely with user to meet all three sustainability dimensions of Economical, Social and Environmental. In year 2012 a study was conducted to apply the chemical leasing concept in building painting sector in Sri Lanka where the paint manufactures produced about 56,876 kl of paints annually. Here the responsibility of paint producer ends with selling of these chemicals to user, where user is totally responsible for its application and remaining whole life cycle. In this existing system observed various types of chemical wastes and complications at user’s end, such as—spills during transfers to mixing containers, remains in containers, escapes to surrounding during application processes, inconsistent quality of mixed paints, high absorption of paints into walls, insufficient technical know-how on painting surface preparation, insufficient technical know-how on paint handling equipment, coagulation of excess paints in containers, need of more water, electricity and labor on equipment cleaning, unsatisfied labor attitudes on difficult working conditions they faced, release of many empty containers to surrounding by creating severe environmental and health hazard—are some of them. Therefore to break this vicious circle I designed and consulted the world first “

Building Painting Project on Chemical Leasing Concept

”—between Chemical Supplier—Madushika paints Industries Private Ltd and Chemical User—Sri Lanka Broadcasting. Corporation. In this new ChL methodology I arranged site visits for paint supplier to paint users sites—in order to collect technical details of the surfaces to be painted and to decide on the chemicals to be supplied. Discussions were held between paint user and paint supplier on preparation of walls, labor utilization and suitable equipment to optimize the paint usage. A new basis of service oriented payment calculated on area painted is developed to pay by chemical user to chemical supplier which was clear to check at any time. Further a new Spherical Container was designed to handle mixed paint in-between supplier and user—in order to prevent environment pollution by thrown out empty containers to surrounding. The results of this study shows that about 12 % of paint consumption, 20 % of waste generation, 15 % of water consumption, 20 % of labor involvement and 5 % of energy consumption has reduced by application of ChL concept. Finally it has brought economic advantages for both parties involved thus providing concrete solutions in sustainability of efficient chemicals management in global paint industry through Chemical Leasing Concept.

The big issue in disaster logistics such as transport relief supplies in the affected or later has been pointed out. In addition, an enormous amount of waste caused by the tsunami left in the coastal areas. It is necessary to visualize the mechanism to efficiently handle disaster waste. In this chapter, from the point of view of urban regeneration with the environment in mind, introducing previous studies, anti—disaster city planning focused on logistic parks is discussed. Firstly, the existing research of disaster logistics/SCM is introduced. In this chapter, the concept of urban planning focused on logistics parks with the environment in mind is considered. To the lessons to Sendai, which became the central areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, Kobe taken up as an example. These considerations above lead the conclusions.

Regarding the lifecycle of wastes/valuable materials, the efficiency of a strategic flow, including collection, transportation, intermediate treatment, and final disposal/recycle is expected to improve from the viewpoint of environmental symbiosis. A forward logistics network is constructed mainly of physical distribution enterprises. In the case of reverse logistics, however, collection, transportation, and intermediate treatment enterprises, elements that are not involved in forward logistics play the main roles in the network’s construction. Industrial wastes discharged from factories or similar facilities are collected and transported to intermediate treatment facilities for recycling. Therefore, a network that covers forward and reverse logistics is difficult to construct. Moreover, although the efficiency of forward logistics has greatly improved recently, no noteworthy progress has been seen in the efficiency of reverse logistics, even though there are several differences in the characteristics and constraint conditions between forward and reverse logistics. In this chapter, the possibility of constructing a reverse logistics network over a wide area is examined. As the example for this study, the chapter analyzes the current issues and to propose an effective reverse logistics system for used personal computers. An effective system to collect used personal computers over a wide area with a correct time window is required. The computer simulation includes a collection system algorithm with cluster-first/route-second method and local search method. This procedure consists of three factors. The first is the collection of used personal computers and their transportation to the logistics centers. The second is the improvement of the actual reverse logistics system for used personal computers. The final factor is the design of the improved reverse logistical system. This chapter clearly points out the importance of collection of used personal computers over a wide area with a correct time window with a numerical experiment.

In this chapter, which focuses on used motor vehicle tires, the possibility of constructing a reverse logistics network over a wide area and the integration or aggregation of logistical bases is examined. This simulation includes a collection system algorithm and cluster-first/route-second method, and we use local research. This procedure consists of three factors. The first is the collection of used motor tires and their transportation to factories as thermal fuels. The second is the improvement of the actual reverse logistics system for used motor vehicles. The final factor is the design of the improved reverse logistical system. Here, the possibility of integrating the reverse logistical bases through a computer simulation with a collection system algorithm and cluster-first/route-second method is discussed using local research.

Regarding the lifecycle of wastes/valuable materials, the efficiency of a strategic flow, including collection, transportation, intermediate treatment, and final disposal/recycle is expected to improve from the viewpoint of environmental symbiosis. A forward logistics network is constructed mainly of physical distribution enterprises. In the case of reverse logistics, however, collection, transportation, and intermediate treatment enterprises, elements that are not involved in forward logistics play the main roles in the network’s construction. Industrial wastes discharged from factories or similar facilities are collected and transported to intermediate treatment facilities for recycling. Therefore, a network that covers forward and reverse logistics is difficult to construct. Moreover, although the efficiency of forward logistics has greatly improved recently, no noteworthy progress has been seen in the efficiency of reverse logistics, even though there are several differences in the characteristics and constraint conditions between forward and reverse logistics. In this chapter, the possibility of constructing a reverse logistics network over a wide area is examined. As the example for this study, the chapter analyzes the current issues and to propose an effective reverse logistics system for used personal computers. An effective system to collect used personal computers over a wide area with a correct time window is required. The computer simulation includes a collection system algorithm with cluster-first/route-second method and local search method. This procedure consists of three factors. The first is the collection of used personal computers and their transportation to the logistics centers. The second is the improvement of the actual reverse logistics system for used personal computers. The final factor is the design of the improved reverse logistical system. This chapter clearly points out the importance of collection of used personal computers over a wide area with a correct time window with a numerical experiment.

The life cycle of products has become much shorter because of the rapid technological development. When the products are out of market, it can be attributed to not only the physical deterioration but also the functional obsolescence. Therefore, product recovery remains valuable. Nowadays, take-back legislation based on extended producer responsibility is critical to a company. Moreover, the business models have gradually changed from traditional product selling to functional sales. Leasing is an example of functional sales that provides an alternative business strategy to cope with the uncertainty in quantity, quality, and time for the returned products. In this chapter, we propose an analytical model, namely Periodical Leasing Model (PLM), to solve the reutilization planning problem under a Closed-loop Supply Chain (CLSC) system which includes multiple products with common components in multiple-periods. The PLM is divided into two phases. The first phase is a pricing model in the form of Integer Non-linear Program (INLP), and the second phase is a production model in the form of Integer Linear Program (ILP). According to the different characteristics of the components, the model can be used to support the manager’s decision regarding the optimal combinations of components from different products for reuse and upgrade possibilities. Finally, numerical results are presented to illustrate the procedure and the validity of the proposed model with the sensitivity analysis.

This chapter presents an efficient evolutionary algorithm, called multi-objective differential evolution algorithm (MODE) to find a Pareto front for multi-objective flexible job shop scheduling problems. The objective is to simultaneously minimize makespan and total tardiness of jobs. The MODE framework adopts the idea of the Elite group to store solutions and utilizes those solutions as the guidance of the vectors. Five mutation strategies with different search behaviors are proposed in MODE algorithms in order to search for the good quality Pareto front. The performances of the MODE algorithms with different mutation strategies are evaluated on a set of benchmark problems and compared with results obtained from an existing algorithm. The experimental results demonstrated that the MODE algorithms are highly competitive approaches which are capable of providing a set of diverse and high-quality non-dominated solutions.

This chapter proposes a farm harvest scheduling to provide cane equity among growers while maximizing the total sugar yield over the entire mill area. A heuristic algorithm, called two-phase cane harvest scheduling (CANEHAS), was developed to solve a practical large-size problem. In Phase I, the CANEHAS algorithm was developed to maximize the total sugar yield. In Phase II, the growers’ equity, in terms of cane quality, was proposed. The solutions of both phases were improved using Tabu search. The mill could use the proposed algorithms, either Phase I or Phase II, to make decisions when providing the queue cards to the contracted grower groups in order to increase profitability.

In this chapter, a scheduling problem of a freezing process in frozen food industry has been addressed. Freezing times of products are not uniform. Every time that the freezer is interrupted due to freezer-door open either for loading or unloading product trolleys, the freezer temperature will increase caused by the heat transfer. The freezing time of jobs being processed in the freezer need to be extended to cover the temperature loss. Therefore, the loading and unloading schedule of product trolleys in the freezing station affects to the production time and cost. A mathematical model and a heuristic algorithm were developed to determine the suitable production scheduling. The objective function was the minimization of the total cost, including cost of jobs waiting before freezing process, cost of extended processing time due to freezer-door opening, and cost of jobs that need to be delay in the freezer after freezing process has been done. The performance of the developed heuristic was assessed under various scenarios. The results were optimal for all small-size problems and outperformed the traditional First-In First-Out (FIFO) method in practical size problems.

Once identified the bottleneck process, that one that limits the total capacity of the system, the following logical step is tied to the decision of how to optimize it. It will be necessary to know all the tasks that influence the speed of the process. The limitations can appear as materials, information, persons, machinery or any another aspect. It is very usual to connect the limitation of the process to aspects that, though indirectly if they determine the same one, they are not really those on which it is necessary to work hard. Therefore, the efficiency in the redesign of the process does not have the desired result. The detailed analysis of the procedure of each task that takes part in the process at some point of its accomplishment, allows knowing with accuracy the proper restrictions as well as the critical points on which it is necessary to work. This article provides a guide to the implementation of process improvements (regardless of the process in question) by identifying the constraints and solving them. The solutions are intended to increase the process speed, which is converted to a capacity increase of the whole organization. In the business of transformation of structural steel we meet the process of cutting as the common bottleneck of different organizations located in this sector. The standard product supplied by the manufacturers of steel is characterized by standard lengths. For the construction of structures, where the lengths are variable, it needs additional cutting to obtain specific lengths. This transformation of the base product is habitually done by appropriate machinery, and the capacities of cutting are based with the own process time of cutting. The optimization of this one task, measure as the increase of the number of hours of effective cutting, is obtained reducing to the maximum all the restrictions that limit the speed of the process. In our practical case, the solution to the bottleneck of cutting to allow the increase of sales could be solved by subcontracting, buying new tangible fixed assets or optimizing the process. The latter aspect is the developed one in this case of study. The cutting program is subordinated to the optimization of the bottleneck. We took measurements before the redesign of the process as well as after the changes. The result is cutting capacities much better than the initial values. This case of study is used in different degrees and master class as an example of the steps to identify, to analyze and to re-design a process. In addition, we emphasize the importance of measuring to understand the successfulness of the changes. For the real organizations, the redesign is fundamentally based on the learning and growth perspective. People who take part in the process are instructed in order to obtain a coherent adjustment with the needs of the new way of processing.

This research examines the impact of just-in-time purchasing (JITP) implementation on firms’ performance in Jordan using structural equation modeling (SEM). A structural model is proposed that relates JITP with firm performance. JITP is then measured by six dimensions while firm performance is measured by three dimensions. The data is collected from 250 firms. SEM results showed that top management commitment, employees’ training, and employees’ relations positively influence the JITP implementation and firms’ performance. However, supplier value-added practices, transportation practices, and quantities delivered practices have insignificant effect on both JITP and firms’ performance. These results indicate that Jordanian firm have taken the first steps in JITP implementation, however they need to develop action plans to implement JITP practices to improve their performance. In conclusion, this research provides decision makers a valuable feedback about their route of JITP implementation and assesses to what extent JITP dimension influence firms’ performance.

Analysis of tasks in given job position is essential to develop employee competence profile. In this section of the article the main stages of the analysis and improvement of Process Engineer competency levels were presented. Technical competences can be examined in terms of quality and quantity, it is far more difficult to analyze engineer’s social competences. Using a 360 degree method competency profile for the engineer was developed and then an improvement plan for competency gaps was presented.

European economies have been deeply affected by different crises. The impact of the economic crisis on enterprises is now recognized by everybody. Enterprises need to reorganize in order to be better adapted to this situation and to integrate new dimensions in their development. Reduction of cost is not the only way for making enterprises more efficient. It is now clear that a mono-criterion analysis is not adapted to the actual enterprise situation. Enterprises need a multi-criteria analysis by combining quality, cost, lead time but also carbon management, social societal and environmental dimensions. If QCD criteria are already considered as necessary for obtaining the optimum enterprise system, it remains difficult to convince the enterprise management of the opportunity to integrate social, societal and environmental dimensions for improving cost. This need still needs to be clearly demonstrated. This chapter introduces concepts for showing that enterprises would be more efficient, better-organized and adapted to the new changes in society. The reduction of cost is necessary, the increase in enterprise turnover too, but it is also indispensable to change the structure of enterprises. Enterprise modeling (GRAI Methodology) and a tool will be used for illustrating the concepts presented through a detailed case study.

Despite technical and organizational progress, energy weighs heavily in the fixed costs for industrial enterprises. With the depletion of fossil resources and the inexorable rise of the resulting price, we are now at a crucial time when saving strategies and “best consumption” will be crucial for companies, especially in a period of recession where industrial plants have become improperly sized. In this article, the process of industrial energy audit based on reference standards and best practices is broken down into three main stages: (1) Developing a global energy balance of the company. (2) Identifying and modeling the main consumption, quantifying the potential savings. (3) Defining the actions and investment plan necessary to achieve these savings Through the example discussed, it is described how the energy management system has been implemented and what the results were after one year in the manufacturing sector of sailboats and powerboats of BENETEAU Group (11 production sites in France and 1 in Poland).

In most Make-To-Order manufacturing, work-in-process (WIP) inventory is usually piled up at almost every station in the factory in order to quickly meet the urgent request from the immediate downstream station. Depending on the station network configuration and lead time at each station, some of the WIP inventories do not contribute to reducing the manufacturing lead time of the final product at all. Therefore, it is important to identify the minimum set of stations to hold WIP inventory such that the total inventory holding cost is minimized, while the required due date for the final product is met. In this study, we present a model to determine the optimal position and quantity of WIP inventory for a given bill of material using the actively synchronized replenishment (ASR) lead time; and present a solution procedure using genetic algorithm.

This warehouse has two main problems: long cycle time of receiving process and poor accuracy of inventory location. Therefore, the objective of this research is to improve the process in the warehouse by using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. There are four steps in this research. First of all, the current of the receiving process is studied. Second is to give the guideline for RFID application. Third is to implement of RFID in this warehouse. The last one is to compare the result of the current process and the proposed process. The passive ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID is selected for used in this warehouse. The RFID readers are attached on forklift trucks, the warehouse entrance and loading dock area. The system used RFID tags in two forms: one used to identify pallets and another to indicate the locations of shelves on which pallets are stored. After using RFID in receiving process, the results showed that the cycle time decreases from 66 min to 47 min which is down to 28.79 %. Moreover, accuracy of inventory location increased from 72.8 % to 100 %.

This chapter deals with the modelling of forklift truck work efficiency in logistic warehouse systems. So far (Bangsow

2012

; Bednarz et al.

2011

; Makris et al.

2006

; Ören

2011

) truck work efficiency has been modelled with only kinetic energy taken into account. In this chapter, mathematical formulas supplementing the existing energy efficiency model with the potential energy connected with the lifting and lowering of the unit load in storage processes are derived. The derived kinematic formulas and energy relations enable the proper modelling and simulation of forklift truck work efficiency. Work efficiency is highly important considering the wastage of the energy supplied to the logistic system for handling unit loads.

In recent decades, academic and corporate interest in sustainable supply chain management has increased substantially due to international levitation efforts toward minimizing the greenhouse gas emissions. These international determinations to combat climate change have encouraged countries to put mechanisms in place ranging from taxes, permits and voluntary incentives to required regulatory policies, which have created a challenge for companies of all sizes when it comes to managing their supply chain. To establish the field further, this research aims to integrate environmental foot-printing strategies to efficient supply chain design. This can be done using a two-fold approach. The first is to consider the closed-loop supply chain theory in designing the supply chain and the second is to incorporate carbon trading schema into the costs aspects of the design. To manage a supply chain that is not only efficient, but encourages sustainability we propose a capacitated warehouse location problem with risk pooling (CLMRP), which experiences stochastic demand for a single product, to be the backbone for our closed-loop model with carbon trading schema. This green tactical-operational level scheme is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear mathematical program and solved using the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS). The computational results and the sensitivity analysis are provided to verify our design.

This research aimed to present mathematical model for warehouse storage assignment to optimize total traveling distance. In this study, traveling distance was a three-axis traveling distance considering horizontal and vertical distance. The objective function of the model was to minimize the total traveling distance in order-picking process. To formulate the objective function, parameter of warehouse layout as width of aisle and storage row, length and height of storage block were included. The proposed model was tested by solving the numerical example of 3 products with 48 storage blocks and 3-level racks using Lingo software. The results showed that the total distance was 623.59 m. Product 2 had the highest ratio of number of pickings and storage blocks needed comparing among three products, thus this product was assign to the locations near I/O point. The results can ensure that the proposed model was able to give a valid solution and practical to apply for the real case problem in further study.

The purpose of this research is to develop an algorithm using Differential evolution algorithm in order to explore solutions of a Multi-Objective, Source ans Stage Location-Allocation Problem (MOSS-LAP). The development process was started from the design of standard DE and extended it into modified DE which the recombination process has been modified by using the advantages of CR constant randomization by determining two random values. The result obtained from this improvement came up with three solutions consisting of the initial solution, the best solution and the final solution then continued developing using the advantages of PSO to support the recombination process. Its outstanding qualification is the acceleration which helps in finding the best solution faster. With the new algorithm, it determines only the value of CR then selects the initial solution or the final solution to be used in the calculation according to the acceleration formula of PSO. When applying these three developed algorithms in solving problems of the case study, the result showed that DE-PSO gave better solution and took times in solving problems faster than the standard DE and the modified DE either small, medium or large problem. DE-PSO was 6.5 % better than the standard DE and 2.8 % better than the modified DE.

Many post offices can be seen in Thailand and most Thai people use post offices to send their packages. However customers do not get good service from post offices as expected and many problems can be found, such as the big problem of package lateness. Therefore, the post offices in Thailand are required to think of a new system of effective delivery to bring back reliability from customers. In order to find a solution of these problems, the central post office is focused on in this study and to achieve this study of purposes, the travelling salesman problem will be applied in this chapter.

The irreversible environmental harm caused by various industrial operations, along with the newly enacted environmental regulations, shifts the focus of governments and corporations in the direction of sustainable supply chains rather than the traditional ones. One of the main ways this can be done is by introducing a reverse supply chain, in addition to the traditional forward supply chain, to create the so-called closed-loop supply chain. We extend a capacitated warehouse location model with risk pooling (CLMRP) by adding a reverse supply chain where recovered products are sorted and collected by collection centers (CCs) and sent to remanufacturing centers (RCs). The products are then either sent back to the forward supply chain or sent to recycling centers or disposal sites. The objective of the closed loop capacitated warehouse location model with risk pooling (CLCLMRP) is to minimize the sum of the fixed facility location, transportation, and inventory carrying costs for both the forward and reverse supply chains. The model will also determine distribution centers (DCs) and remanufacturing centers’ (RCs) locations, shipment sizes and frequency from plant to DCs and RCs, working inventories and safety stock levels at DCs and RCs and assignment of retailers’ demand to the DCs and returns to the RCs. Results showed that an increase in both shipping costs and inventory holding costs result in moving the supply chain towards a decentralized supply chain. An increase in both level of returns from the retailers to the CCs and from the CCs to the RCs leads to an increase in the total cost of the closed-loop supply chain.

This chapter develops a green supply chain design model that incorporates the cost of carbon emissions into the objective function. The goal of the model is to simultaneously minimize logistics costs and the environmental cost of CO

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emissions by strategically locating warehouses within the distribution network. A multi-echelon joint inventory-location model that simultaneously determines the location of warehouses and inventory policies at the warehouses and retailers is developed. The supply chain design model also integrates published experimental data to derive nonlinear concave expressions relating vehicle weight to CO

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emissions as a transportation costs. The objective function determines the number of warehouses to establish, their location, the sets of retailers that are assigned to each warehouse, and the size and timing of orders for each facility to minimize the sum of inventory, shipping (including the CO

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emissions effect), ordering, and location costs, while satisfying end-customer demand. The developed model is Mixed Integer Nonlinear model solved by using CONOPT solver in GAMS.

It has become increasingly important to have both visible and accurate real-time inventory management tools when managing merchandising/logistics in the clothing industry. A comprehensive, sophisticated, and company-wide inventory management system, which can integrate incoming inventory, logistics center inventory, store inventory and return goods inventory is required. The capability to deal with and analyze massive amount of sales data for thousands of stores, for each store, area, and brand in a short period of time, by unit control (e.g. color, size), is also a requirement. In order to meet these requirements to control and manage inventory, an expensive and heavily-featured warehouse management system (WMS) is being conventionally used today. However, an ever-more sophisticated clothing market, with a shortened fashion cycle and diversified trends and tastes, has increased the demand for more advanced and inexpensive IT-driven logistics services. The ability to promptly introduce and upgrade state-of-the-art IT logistics systems is essential, not only for establishing actual physical stores, but also for developing web-based clothing stores. Using case studies, this chapter will discuss the possibilities for a Cloud Computing based WMS and services in the fashion and apparel industry and business.

Cross-docking is a warehousing strategy that involves moving of products from pickup nodes to delivery nodes through cross-dock in a short amount of time. This study proposed a simulated annealing heuristic (SA) to solve the vehicle routing problem with cross-docking introduced by Lee et al. (

2006

). The objective of the problem is to determine the number of vehicles and the best vehicle routes that minimize the sum of the operational cost of vehicles and transportation cost. Computation results show that SA can obtain better results in terms of objective function value at a slightly longer computational time.

A major aspect in inventory routing problems (IRP) is the CO

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emissions from vehicles and its impact on the environment. Vehicle emissions depend on various factors such as vehicle’s weight, traveling speed, etc. This chapter presents the Pollution-Inventory Routing Problem with perishable goods (PPIRP), which is an extension of the Inventory Routing Problem with perishable goods (PIRP) that account not just for the transportation and inventory costs, but also for the cost due to greenhouse emissions. We develop a mathematical model for the PPIRP and solve it using GAMS. Through extensive computational experiments, we evaluate the impact of vehicle emissions on the results and find that our model achieves approximately 61 % reduction in carbon emissions and a 23 % decrease in empty vehicle trips compared to PIRP model. The objective of this chapter is to shed light on the trade-off between emission costs and total costs, and make the model more environmental friendly with a potential for pareto-improvements.

Under growing concerns with sustainable society, green or low carbon logistic optimization is becoming a keen interest to provide a plausible solution aiming at qualified service in global and competitive distribution system. As a key technology for such deployment, this chapter proposes a hybrid method of simultaneous pickup and delivery VRP aiming at rational framework available for real world applications. In its general procedure, the initial solution is derived from a modified saving method that consider the cost accounting known as Weber model or a bi-linear model of distance and weight. Then, it is updated by a modified tabu search to improve the tentative solution as much as possible. The idea is further extended to a non-linear or generalized Weber model. Numerical experiments are taken place to validate effectiveness of the proposed method through comparison.

Greenhouse gases emission is a major concern globally since they are key players in global warming. Some countries have signed the Kyoto Protocol, and set up some regulations to reduce their CO

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emissions. Optimizing inventory and routing decisions can help in the reduction of CO

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emissions if these emissions are taken into account by the decision makers. In the formulation, CO

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emitted by transporting the product is modeled. The chapter investigates the effect of CO

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emissions on the inventory and routing decisions determined over a given time horizon. The model is coded and solved in GAMS. The test results are used to indicate that emission costs should be considered when deciding the routing and inventory decisions.