This book lays the foundations for quality modeling and analysis in the context of supply chains through a synthesis of the economics, operations management, as well as operations research/management science literature on quality. The reality of today's supply chain networks, given their global reach from sourcing locations to points of demand, is further challenged by such issues as the growth in outsourcing as well as the information asymmetry associated with what producers know about the quality of their products and what consumers know. Although much of the related literature has focused on the micro aspects of supply chain networks, considering two or three decision-makers, it is essential to capture the scale of supply chain networks in a holistic manner that occurs in practice in order to be able to evaluate and analyze the competition and the impacts on supply chain quality in a quantifiable manner. This volume provides an overview of the fundamental methodologies utilized in this book, including optimization theory, game theory, variational inequality theory, and projected dynamical systems theory. It then focuses on major issues in today's supply chains with respect to quality, beginning with information asymmetry, followed by product differentiation and branding, the outsourcing of production, from components to final products, to quality in freight service provision. The book is filled with numerous real-life examples in order to emphasize the generality and pragmatism of the models and tools. The novelty of the framework lies in a network economics perspective through which the authors identify the underlying network structure of the various supply chains, coupled with the behavior of the decision-makers, ranging from suppliers and manufacturers to freight service providers. What is meant by quality is rigorously defined and quantified. The authors explore the underlying dynamics associated with the competitive processes along with the equilibrium solutions. As appropriate, the supply chain decision-makers compete in terms of quantity and quality, or in price and quality. The relevance of the various models that are developed to specific industrial sectors, including pharmaceuticals and high technology products, is clearly made. Qualitative analyses are provided, along with effective, and, easy to implement, computational procedures. Finally, the impacts of policy interventions, in the form of minimum quality standards, and their ramifications, in terms of product prices, quality levels, as well as profits are explored. The book is filled with many network figures, graphs, and tables with data.

This book provides a detailed overview of various parameters/factors involved in inventory analysis. It especially focuses on the assessment and modeling of basic inventory parameters, namely demand, procurement cost, cycle time, ordering cost, inventory carrying cost, inventory stock, stock out level, and stock out cost. In the context of economic lot size, it provides equations related to the optimum values. It also discusses why the optimum lot size and optimum total relevant cost are considered to be key decision variables, and uses numerous examples to explain each of these inventory parameters separately. Lastly, it provides detailed information on parameter estimation for different sectors/products. Written in a simple and lucid style, it offers a valuable resource for a broad readership, especially Master of Business Administration (MBA) students.

Straight to the Bottom Line will enable senior corporate executives to turn the enormous top-line and bottom-line potential of supply chain and procurement into reality. Key Features: Provides a clear understanding of the performance improvement opportunities, and what is at stake if these opportunities are overlooked, written by and for senior corporate executives Outlines a powerful and logical approach for assessing the state-of-the-art in their organization Offers ways to estimate the specific opportunities related to implementing a change in strategy and practices Details a comprehensive framework for organizing the transformation plan, across multiple dimensions Gives advice on which areas to focus on first, in order to build and ensure success WAV offers free downloadable resources such as a presentation detailing how modern supply management can improve ROIC and a lost opportunity calculator to quantify the impact of ""maverick buying"" - available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center

This book maps the latest developments in public procurement of innovation policy in various contexts and analyzes the evolution and development of the various policy solutions in broader institutional contexts. In doing so, it addresses significant theoretical and practical gaps: On the one hand, there is an emerging interest in public procurement as a policy tool for spurring innovation; yet on the other hand, the current theory, with some notable exceptions, is guided and often constrained by historical applications, above all in the defence industries. By carefully examining the cases of eleven countries, the book points to the existence of much more nuanced public procurement on the innovation policy landscape than has been acknowledged in the academic and policy debates to date.

This book deals with collaborative planning, an approach to supply chain planning which aims to coordinate planning tasks of independent supply chain partners while respecting their local decision authority. It gives an introduction to collaborative planning, shows how it is embedded in the broader subject matter of supply chain management, and reviews findings of related literature. At its core, it provides a step-by-step description of a negotiation-based, practice-oriented approach to collaborative planning at the medium-term level of master planning between two supply-chain partners, a supplier and a single customer. Subsequently, this basic concept is extended to cover supply chains with multiple partners and planning on a rolling basis. Implications of collaborative planning on supply contracts are sketched out, and incentives for cooperative behavior by the supply-chain partners are analyzed by applying concepts of game theory.

In February 2002, the Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) De partment at the University of Florida hosted a National Science Founda tion Workshop on Collaboration and Negotiation in Supply Chain Man agement and E Commerce. This workshop focused on characterizing the challenges facing leading edge firms in supply chain management and electronic commerce, and identifying research opportunities for de veloping new technological and decision support capabilities sought by industry. The audience included practitioners in the areas of supply chain management and E Commerce, as well as academic researchers working in these areas. The workshop provided a unique setting that has facilitated ongoing dialog between academic researchers and industry practitioners. This book codifies many of the important themes and issues around which the workshop discussions centered. The editors of this book, all faculty members in the ISE Department at the University of Florida, also served as the workshop's coordinators. In addition to workshop participants, we also invited contributions from leading academics and practitioners who were not able to attend. As a result, the chapters herein represent a collection of research contributions, monographs, and case studies from a variety of disciplines and viewpoints. On the aca demic side alone, chapter authors include faculty members in supply chain and operations management, marketing, industrial engineering, economics, computer science, civil and environmental engineering, and building construction departments.

Quantitative Methods in Supply Chain Management presents some of the most important methods and tools available for modeling and solving problems arising in the context of supply chain management. In the context of this book, "solving problems" usually means designing efficient algorithms for obtaining high-quality solutions. The first chapter is an extensive optimization review covering continuous unconstrained and constrained linear and nonlinear optimization algorithms, as well as dynamic programming and discrete optimization exact methods and heuristics. The second chapter presents time-series forecasting methods together with prediction market techniques for demand forecasting of new products and services. The third chapter details models and algorithms for planning and scheduling with an emphasis on production planning and personnel scheduling. The fourth chapter presents deterministic and stochastic models for inventory control with a detailed analysis on periodic review systems and algorithmic development for optimal control of such systems. The fifth chapter discusses models and algorithms for location/allocation problems arising in supply chain management, and transportation problems arising in distribution management in particular, such as the vehicle routing problem and others. The sixth and final chapter presents a short list of new trends in supply chain management with a discussion of the related challenges that each new trend might bring along in the immediate to near future. Overall, Quantitative Methods in Supply Chain Management may be of particular interest to students and researchers in the fields of supply chain management, operations management, operations research, industrial engineering, and computer science.

In recent years, supply chain planning has emerged as one of the most challenging problems in the industry. As a consequence, the planning focus is shifting from the management of plant-speci?c operations to a holistic view of the various logistics and productionstages, that is an approach in which suppliers, productionplants and customers are considered as constituents of an integrated network. A major dr- ing force behind this development lies in the globalization of the world economy, which has facilitated the co-operation between different partners working together in world-wide logistics networks. Hence, considerable cost savings can be gained from optimizing the structure and the operations of complex supply networks li- ing plants, suppliers, distribution centres and customers. Consequently, to improve the performance of the entire logistic chain, more sophisticated planning systems and more effective decision support are needed. Clearly, successful applications of supply chain management have driven the development of advanced planning systems (APS), which are concerned with s- porting decision-making activities at the strategic, tactical and operational decision level. These software packages basically rely on the application of quantitative methods, which are used to model the underlying complex decision problems c- sidering the limited availability of resources and the need to react on time to customer orders. The core module at the mid-term level of APS comprises op- ational supply chain planning. In many industries, productionstages are assigned to differentplantsand distribution centreshave been established at geographicallyd- persed locations.

The subject of this book is supply chain logistics planning optimization under multiple uncertainties, the key issue in supply chain management. Focusing on the strategic-alliance three-level supply chain, the model of supply chain logistics planning was established in terms of the market prices and the market requirements as random variables of manufactured goods with random expected value programming theory, and the hybrid intelligence algorithm solution model was designed. Aiming at the decentralized control supply chain, in which the nodes were unlimited expansion, the chance-constrained stochastic programming model was created in order to obtain optimal decision-making at a certain confidence level. In addition, the hybrid intelligence algorithm model was designed to solve the problem of supply chain logistics planning with the prices of the raw-materials supply market of the upstream enterprises and the prices of market demand for products of the downstream enterprises as random variables in the supply chain unit. Aimed at the three-stage mixed control supply chain, a logistics planning model was designed using fuzzy random programming theory with customer demand as fuzzy random variables and a hybrid intelligence algorithm solution was created. The research has significance both in theory and practice. Its theoretical significance is that the research can complement and perfect existing supply chain planning in terms of quantification. Its practical significance is that the results will guide companies in supply chain logistics planning in the uncertain environment.

Those who have successfully managed product information for mass customization carefully avoid disclosing how these esoteric systems work in practice. This is the first book to provide a holistic recognition of the essential aspects of an IT-supported product configuration system. In doing so, it reveals the basic building blocks of these systems, how they support mass customization, how these systems are selected and implemented, what alternative options there are, and lastly, what the operational and strategic implications of these systems are.

The aim of the book is to present the emerging environmental issues in organization and management of complex supply chains. The book includes set of solutions which show different stakeholders' viewpoints on sustainability. The scope of book takes into consideration how the emerging environmental regulation might be transformed into business practices. Therefore, the authors present the innovative approach to eco-friendly organization and coordination of logistics processes and supply chain configuration. A broad scope of practical solutions from different countries and industries is provided

'Securing Web Services' investigates the security-related specifications that encompass message level security, transactions, and identity management.

Our rapidly changing world has forced business practitioners, in corporation with academic researchers, to respond quickly and develop effective solution methodologies and techniques to handle new challenges in supply chain systems. Supply Chain Optimization, Management and Integration: Emerging Applications presents readers with a rich collection of ideas from researchers who are bridging the gap between the latest in information technology and supply chain management. This book includes theoretical, analytical, and empirical research, comprehensive reviews of relevant research, and case studies of effective applications in the field of SCM. The use of new technologies, methods, and techniques are emphasized by those who have worked with supply chain management across the world for those in the field of information systems.

The book provides an introduction to logistics and supply chain management and the application of evolutionary computation, focusing on specific fields related to supply chain issues, from strategic sourcing decisions, and production planning and control to inventory to logistics and its application using evolutionary / heuristics techniques. Bridging the gap between management research, decision-making and computer analysis, this interdisciplinary book features state-of-the-art descriptions of the corresponding problems and advanced methods for solving them.

The world of logistics has considerably changed due to globalization, modern information technology, and especially increasing ecological awareness. Large Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems are developing to global logistic networks. This book reflects major trends of the recent decade in SCM and, additionally, presents ideas and visions for logistic networks of the 21st century. Among the various aspects of SCM, emphasis is placed on reverse logistics: closing the loop of a supply chain by integrating waste materials into logistic management decisions.  

This book provides a systematic framework for effectively creating value through engineering in global business networks, and contributes to an increasingly important branch of engineering operations. By updating the traditional disciplines of engineering and operations management and addressing challenges and opportunities in building global network capabilities, this study offers a contemporary guide for developing effective industrial policies to enhance the global competitiveness of engineering sectors, which will be extremely useful to engineering companies and policy-makers. Themes discussed include main trends and driving forces, state-of-the-art knowledge in relevant subject areas, new technologies and leading practice. This timely book will help researchers, managers and students to gain an overall understanding of the pioneering research occurring in this field and it will enable companies to benefit from global engineering networks.

The book describes the application of hierarchical planning techniques to all the major functional areas of supply chain planning, including production, distribution, warehousing, transportation, inventory management, forecasting and performance management. In particular, the book provides a comprehensive review and understanding of how hierarchical planning techniques and principles can contribute to the effective and efficient management and planning of supply chain activities. The book begins with a review of some well-known, original hierarchical production planning techniques and implementations dating back several decades. Building on this historical base, it then reviews numerous more current hierarchical planning methods and applications covering a wide array of supply chain activities. Additionally, the book offers a number of new and original hierarchical planning techniques and algorithms covering different components of supply chain planning. These algorithms range from simple algebraic calculations to mathematical optimization models. The book also offers an original approach to hierarchical supply chain performance measurement and monitoring techniques. It further offers an original approach for integrating supply chain performance measurements into measurement systems such as the balanced scorecard which evaluate total firm performance. The book is written to cover the interests of a wide variety of audiences ranging from private industry practitioners, to academic researchers, to students of operations, logistics and supply chain management and planning. It features numerous graphical illustrations highlighting both methods and requirements for integrated hierarchical supply chain planning.

Supply Chain Optimization captures the latest results in a segment of current research activity in supply chain management. This research area focuses on applying optimization techniques to supply chain management problems. The research papers that make up the volume provide a snapshot of state-of-the-art optimization methods within the field. This book presents rigorous modelling approaches for supply chain operations problems with a goal of improving supply chain performance (or the performance of some segment thereof). It contains high-quality works from leading researchers in the field whose expertise fits within this scope. The book provides a diverse blend of research topics and novel modelling and solution approaches for difficult classes of supply chain operations, planning, and design problems.

Sustainable Operations Management applies the issues of sustainability to all strategic decisions of operations: capacity management, supply network, process technology, and development and organisation. This book extends the existing literature of operations management that for years has been paramount in creating economic value with little consideration of environment and social dimensions. Whilst based on robust theoretical frameworks, some developed by its own authors, the book is enriched by international case studies and real-world illustrations throughout, to demonstrate how this theory translates to practice. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with a summary, activity, and questions for discussion. Readers will gain a comprehensive and in-depth knowledge on how to manage operations for sustainability. They will learn the ways to formulate a sustainable operations strategy and the elements involved in managing tactical and operational activities to enhance sustainability performance over time. The book covers all aspects of the new business sustainability paradigm from an operations perspective, including sustainable development goals, the circular economy and digital transformation. With international agreements and national policies in place around themes such as climate change, ocean plastic pollution, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity, and zero landfill targets, this book will be a must for any university abiding to the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRIME). The text is suitable mostly for MSc and MBA students on sustainable supply chain and operations management modules as well as broader Operations Management courses, but it can also be used for final-year Undergraduate students as part of advanced operations management modules. Online resources include chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides and a test bank of questions.

Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) are a massive subset of the healthcare industry that negotiate lower costs for healthcare supplies by buying for several hospitals at once. "Group Purchasing Organizations" provides an analysis and critique of this industry.

This book focuses on sustainability in fashion retail, which is fast becoming the pivot point of future fashion retail strategies. Chapters in the book provide theoretical and practical insight on how going green may positively influence the strategy of fashion retailers and marketers, who have to react to the changing society and customer needs. Structured in four main parts, and based on distinct research questions, readers will be able to dig deep into the individual levers for possible adaptions. It thus provides a solid understanding on how to integrate green aspects into any fashion retailers business model.

Sharing accurate and timely supply and demand information throughout a supply chain can yield significant performance improvements to all members of the supply chain. Despite the benefits, many firms are reluctant to share information with their supply chain partners due to an unequal distribution of risks, costs, and benefits among the partners. Thus, incentive mechanisms must be in place to induce communication, cooperation, and collaboration among all members of a supply chain. The issue of Information exchange/sharing has been examined by various researchers over the last 15-20 years. However, there is no research book that compiles various approaches, analyses, key implications, as well as future development of this area. This book will serve as a handbook for researchers who are interested in learning the state of the art of the line of research in this area and explore open research topics in this area. Contributors, all leading researchers, have committed to delivering 18 chapters, broken into four distinct sections covering the Value of Information Sharing, Contracting and Information, Information Signaling, and Incentives for Information Sharing.

This book reconciles two divergent worlds for the beleaguered quality manager. The first is that of quality and managerial fads, promoted by quality professionals and the quality 'industry' - with its seminars, certification programs and the pressures of an ever increasing number of international standards, state and national legislation and powerful corporations. The second is a virtual antithesis to this world of mission statements, quality policies, procedures and statistical techniques, and is embodied in the international phenomenon that is the Dilbert (TM) cartoon strip. Across America and Europe millions of ordinary employees revel in the truths that are exposed concerning corporate absurdities and a blind reliance upon acronym-laden quick-fixes.
Here you will find the gap bridged between the vast literature of quality fads (including the recent tranche of international standards) and that more humorous portrayal of these worlds. The origins of today's quality ideology and industry is traced, followed by a description of how the quality profession popularizes, promotes and ultimately benefits from the fads that come and go. Finally it is shown that despite the propaganda of the profession, there is a separate reality to "quality" and that management principles in this field can only ever be a small limiting factor in corporate success.
Addresses a vital aspect of Supply-chain Management, one of todays hottest management topics
From a widely and internationally published quality author and professional
The "Emperors Clothes" for the Quality profession

Channel coordination is a core subject of supply chain management. Over the past decade, much research effort has been devoted to exploring the detailed mechanisms for achieving supply chain coordination under uncertainty, generating many fruitful analytical and empirical results. Despite the abundance of research results, there is an absence of a comprehensive reference source that provides state-of-the-art findings on both theoretical and applied research on the subject. In addition, with the advance of knowledge and technologies, many new topics on supply chain coordination under uncertainty have appeared in recent years. This handbook extensively examines supply chain coordination challenges with a focal point on discovering innovative measures that can help tackle the existing and emerging challenges. The book is organized into five parts, which include chapters on innovative analytical models for coordination, channel power and bargaining, technological advancements and applications, empirical analysis, cases studies and review. This handbook provides new empirical and analytical results with precious insights, which will not only help supply chain agents to understand more about the latest measures for supply chain coordination under uncertainty, but also help practitioners and researchers to know how to improve supply chain performance based on innovative methods.

This pioneering book on food study pursues an interdisciplinary approach to service science and the service engineering field. Further, it highlights a range of experiments conducted at actual business sites to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methodologies and theories. In modern society, food study has become more complex, as it involves multiple fields of science. For instance, a long-lived society entails a number of problems for human beings. A balanced intake of nutrients is important for a healthy life, but in many cases, healthy food is not the most enjoyable. As such, it is important for the food industry to provide foods that are both tasty and wholesome, based on the sciences of gastronomy and nutrition. Conventional food study proceeds along the lines of a specific field such as nutrition, agriculture, or gastronomy, though it should be conducted in an interdisciplinary manner. This book covers multifaceted research on food study to respond to today's societal demands, based mainly on the natural and social sciences. It addresses a wide range of topics, including: food production management using mathematical modeling, operations research, and production engineering; evaluation of food products based on big data analysis; psychological experiments and ethnography; food products based on consumer behavior; organoleptic assessment and health improvement; design of physical dining environments using virtual reality, pedestrian debt recognition (human indoor position measuring), and observation of behavior. Reporting on and assessing many studies conducted at actual business locations, the book offers a unique and highly practical resource.