This work encapsulates the essential developments in this field into a single resource, as well as to set an agenda for further development in the field. This brief focuses on the demand flexibility in supply chains with fragmented results distributed throughout the literature. These results have strong implications for managing real-world complex operations planning problems. This book exploits dimensions of demand flexibility in supply chains and characterizes the best fit between demand properties and operations capabilities and constraints. The origins and seminal works are traced in integrated demand and operations planning and an in-depth documentation is provided for the current state of the art. Systems with inherent costs and constraints that must respond to some set of demands at a minimum cost are examined. Crucial unanswered questions are explored and the high-value research directions are highlighted for both practice and for the development of new and interesting optimization models and algorithms.
Is it possible to be repetitive and flexible at the same time? Using proven examples and quantifiable evidence, Lean RFS (Repetitive Flexible Supply): Putting the Pieces Together demonstrates that repetitive flexible supply (RfS) is not only possible, but that its implementation can help you reach a new level of improved performance in manufacturin
An expert offers a set of rules that will help managers achieve dramatic improvements in operations performance. In recent years, management gurus have urged businesses to adopt such strategies as just-in-time, lean manufacturing, offshoring, and frequent deliveries to retail outlets. But today, these much-touted strategies may be risky. Global financial turmoil, rising labor costs in developing countries, and huge volatility in the price of oil and other commodities can disrupt a company's entire supply chain and threaten its ability to compete. In Operations Rules, David Simchi-Levi identifies the crucial element in a company's success: the link between the value it provides its customers and its operations strategies. And he offers a set of scientifically and empirically based rules that management can follow to achieve a quantum leap in operations performance. Flexibility, says Simchi-Levi, is the single most important capability that allows firms to innovate in their operations and supply chain strategies. A small investment in flexibility can achieve almost all the benefits of full flexibility. And successful companies do not all pursue the same strategies. Amazon and Wal-Mart, for example, are direct competitors but each focuses on a different market channel and provides a unique customer value proposition—Amazon, large selection and reliable fulfillment; Wal-Mart, low prices—that directly aligns with its operations strategy. Simchi-Levi's rules—regarding such issues as channels, price, product characteristics, value-added service, procurement strategy, and information technolog—-transform operations and supply chain management from an undertaking based on gut feeling and anecdotes to a science.
Supply Chain Logistics Management is exciting and promises to bolster traditional logistics courses and invigorate supply chain management courses, by examining traditional logistics issues within the context of the supply chain. Supply Chain Logistics Management integrates technology and provides a solid foundation that clearly describes the role of logistics within the supply chain, portraying a complete view of the subject and going farther to show how all the pieces fit together.The most current trends in process integration, relationship management, supply chain security and sustainability, globalization, and the impact of the new consumer economy on supply chain management and design are featured in the Second Edition.
New technologies are revolutionising the way manufacturing and supply chain management are implemented. These changes are delivering manufacturing firms the competitive advantage of a highly flexible and responsive supply chain and manufacturing system to ensure that they meet the high expectations of their customers, who, in today's economy, demand absolutely the best service, price, delivery time and product quality.To make e-manufacturing and supply chain technologies effective, integration is needed between various, often disparate systems. To understand why this is such an issue, one needs to understand what the different systems or system components do, their objectives, their specific focus areas and how they interact with other systems. It is also required to understand how these systems evolved to their current state, as the concepts used during the early development of systems and technology tend to remain in place throughout the life-cycle of the systems/technology. This book explores various standards, concepts and techniques used over the years to model systems and hierarchies in order to understand where they fit into the organization and supply chain. It looks at the specific system components and the ways in which they can be designed and graphically depicted for easy understanding by both information technology (IT) and non-IT personnel.Without a good implementation philosophy, very few systems add any real benefit to an organization, and for this reason the ways in which systems are implemented and installation projects managed are also explored and recommendations are made as to possible methods that have proven successful in the past. The human factor and how that impacts on system success are also addressed, as is the motivation for system investment and subsequent benefit measurement processes.Finally, the vendor/user supply/demand within the e-manufacturing domain is explored and a method is put forward that enables the reduction of vendor bias during the vendor selection process.The objective of this book is to provide the reader with a good understanding regarding the four critical factors (business/physical processes, systems supporting the processes, company personnel and company/personal performance measures) that influence the success of any e-manufacturing implementation, and the synchronization required between these factors.· Discover how to implement the flexible and responsive supply chain and manufacturing execution systems required for competitive and customer-focused manufacturing· Build a working knowledge of the latest plant automation, manufacturing execution systems (MES) and supply chain management (SCM) design techniques· Gain a fuller understanding of the four critical factors (business and physical processes, systems supporting the processes, company personnel, performance measurement) that influence the success of any e-manufacturing implementation, and how to evaluate and optimize all four factors
The managed flow of goods and information from raw material to final sale also known as a "supply chain" affects everythingâ€"from the U.S. gross domestic product to where you can buy your jeans. The nature of a company's supply chain has a significant effect on its success or failureâ€"as in the success of Dell Computer's make-to-order system and the failure of General Motor's vertical integration during the 1998 United Auto Workers strike. Supply Chain Integration looks at this crucial component of business at a time when product design, manufacture, and delivery are changing radically and globally. This book explores the benefits of continuously improving the relationship between the firm, its suppliers, and its customers to ensure the highest added value. This book identifies the state-of-the-art developments that contribute to the success of vertical tiers of suppliers and relates these developments to the capabilities that small and medium-sized manufacturers must have to be viable participants in this system. Strategies for attaining these capabilities through manufacturing extension centers and other technical assistance providers at the national, state, and local level are suggested. This book identifies action steps for small and medium-sized manufacturersâ€"the "seed corn" of business start-up and developmentâ€"to improve supply chain management. The book examines supply chain models from consultant firms, universities, manufacturers, and associations. Topics include the roles of suppliers and other supply chain participants, the rise of outsourcing, the importance of information management, the natural tension between buyer and seller, sources of assistance to small and medium-sized firms, and a host of other issues. Supply Chain Integration will be of interest to industry policymakers, economists, researchers, business leaders, and forward-thinking executives.
Communication is the glue that binds the diverse elements of the national economy. A flexible supply chain system creates postal communication agility and adaptability to respond to the changing technologies of the modern era. This book uses a systems-based approach of the tools and techniques of Industrial Engineering applied to a new concept of flexible supply chain systems, patterned after well-known and successful flexible manufacturing systems. It focuses on how Industrial Engineering can be used to achieve flexibility, resiliency, and efficiency in response to the needs of the global postal system. Flexible Supply Chain: Industrial Engineering Optimization Modeling of the Postal Service System provides an understanding of the techniques of using flexibility to improve operations. It capitalizes on a framework of Industrial Engineering and focuses on a global chain of non-commodity products and services. By using flexibility as the foundation for efficiency, it ties in with the digital revolution of communication and retains an affiliation with community involvement. The book uses the DEJI Systems Model and the Triple C Model as a structure of system productivity and creates a template through which other supply chains can be improved. The global supply chain is presently stressed and in need of new ideas and operational strategies. This book is an ideal read for engineers working in manufacturing production, civil, mechanical, and other industries. It will be of interest to engineering managers and consultants as well as those involved with business management. University students and instructors will also find this book useful.
This book identifies accounting-based management control system practices for managing integrated and flexible supply chains and increasing customer satisfaction. It further explores how a company can enhance its supply chain integration. The book considers the effects of allocating supply chain's joint profit and incentive alignment as managerial instruments to facilitate integration and cooperation among partners. Furthermore, the book examines how to flexibly manage integrated supply chains from the perspectives of the product/service lifecycle, partner switching, and strategic flexibility. It also examines the use of management accounting systems to improve customer satisfaction in supply chains. Management accounting practices examined in the book involve balanced scorecard, switching cost, target costing, value-based pricing, target-pricing, and quality costing.The book also investigates the different types of supply chains: fabless supply chains, an inter-firm network comprising of parts suppliers and assemblers, non-profit supply chains.
Stories from Nokia, Dell, UPS, Toyota, and other companies show how firms can reduce their vulnerability to high-impact distributions, from earthquakes to strikes, from SARS to terrorism, and use them for competitive advantage. What happens when fire strikes the manufacturing plant of the sole supplier for the brake pressure valve used in every Toyota? When a hurricane shuts down production at a Unilever plant? When Dell and Apple chip manufacturers in Taiwan take weeks to recover from an earthquake? When the U.S. Pacific ports are shut down during the Christmas rush? When terrorists strike? In The Resilient Enterprise, Yossi Sheffi shows that companies' fortunes in the face of such business shocks depend more on choices made before the disruption than they do on actions taken in the midst of it—and that resilience benefits firms every day, disaster or no disaster. He shows how companies can build in flexibility throughout their supply chains, based on proven design principles and the right culture—balancing security, redundancy, and short-term profits. And he shows how investments in resilience and flexibility not only reduce risk but create a competitive advantage in the increasingly volatile marketplace.Sheffi describes the way companies can increase security—reducing the likelihood of a disruption—with layered defenses, the tracking and analysis of “near-misses,” fast detection, and close collaboration with government agencies, trading partners, and even competitors. But the focus of the book is on resilience—the ability to bounce back from disruptions and disasters—by building in redundancy and flexibility. For example, standardization, modular design, and collaborative relationships with suppliers (and other stakeholders) can help create a robust supply chain. And a corporate culture of flexibility—with distributed decision making and communications at all levels—can create a resilient enterprise.Sheffi provides tools for companies to reduce the vulnerability of the supply chain they live in. And along the way he tells the stories of dozens of enterprises, large and small, including Toyota, Nokia, General Motors, Zara, Land Rover, Chiquita, Aisin Seiki, Southwest Airlines, UPS, Johnson and Johnson, Intel, Amazon.com, the U.S. Navy, and others, from across the globe. Their successes, failures, preparations, and methods provide a rich set of lessons in preparing for and managing disruptions. Additional material available at www.TheResilientEnterprise.com.
