This book offers an introduction to various models and methods for green supplier evaluation and selection (GSES) within different information settings. As such, it provides valuable knowledge, useful GSES methods and practical examples that can be considered by manufacturers in selecting appropriate green suppliers to improve their environmental performance and customer satisfaction. This book is useful for practitioners and researchers working in the fields of supply chain management, operation management, information science, industrial engineering, and management science. It is also useful as a textbook for postgraduate and senior undergraduate students.
Sustainable Procurement is an emerging concept in supply chain and operations management. Manufacturing industries have made improvements in moving from cost-based to quality-based, and customer-focused supply chain management strategies. This is becoming an integrated component in the supply chain system, with players becoming aware of the regulations and needs of the customer. It is imperative for production firms to look at the procurement activity as one of the strategic enablers for sustaining the business in the competitive global environment. This book will provide industries with an understanding of the concepts related to sustainable procurement policies and its implementation. Provides decision and theory development models in sustainable procurement supply chains Includes contributions in all three major analytics: descriptive, predictive, and perspectives in the context of sustainable procurement supply chain Discusses new business models with suppliers and opportunities for co-branding Covers how to develop new tools to measure and allocate the gains from sustainable practices among stakeholders Analyses the science of translating data into meaningful and actionable insights
Many real-world decision problems have multiple objectives. For example, when choosing a medical treatment plan, we want to maximize the efficacy of the treatment, but also minimize the side effects. These objectives typically conflict, e.g., we can often increase the efficacy of the treatment, but at the cost of more severe side effects. In this book, we outline how to deal with multiple objectives in decision-theoretic planning and reinforcement learning algorithms. To illustrate this, we employ the popular problem classes of multi-objective Markov decision processes (MOMDPs) and multi-objective coordination graphs (MO-CoGs). First, we discuss different use cases for multi-objective decision making, and why they often necessitate explicitly multi-objective algorithms. We advocate a utility-based approach to multi-objective decision making, i.e., that what constitutes an optimal solution to a multi-objective decision problem should be derived from the available information about user utility. We show how different assumptions about user utility and what types of policies are allowed lead to different solution concepts, which we outline in a taxonomy of multi-objective decision problems. Second, we show how to create new methods for multi-objective decision making using existing single-objective methods as a basis. Focusing on planning, we describe two ways to creating multi-objective algorithms: in the inner loop approach, the inner workings of a single-objective method are adapted to work with multi-objective solution concepts; in the outer loop approach, a wrapper is created around a single-objective method that solves the multi-objective problem as a series of single-objective problems. After discussing the creation of such methods for the planning setting, we discuss how these approaches apply to the learning setting. Next, we discuss three promising application domains for multi-objective decision making algorithms: energy, health, and infrastructure and transportation. Finally, we conclude by outlining important open problems and promising future directions.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Technology Systems and Management, ICTSM 2011, held in Mumbai, India, in February 2011. The 47 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 276 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on computer engineering and information technology; electronics and telecommunication; as well as technology management.
This book is the first in the literature to present the state of the art and some interesting and relevant applications of the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). The AHP is a conceptually and mathematically simple, easily implementable, yet extremely powerful tool for group decision making and is used around the world in a wide variety of decision situations, in fields such as government, business, industry, healthcare, and education. The aim of this book is to study various fuzzy methods for dealing with the imprecise and ambiguous data in AHP. Features: First book available on FAHP. Showcases state-of-the-art developments. Contains several novel real-life applications. Provides useful insights to both academics and practitioners in making group decisions under uncertainty This book provides the necessary background to work with existing fuzzy AHP models. Once the material in this book has been mastered, the reader will be able to apply fuzzy AHP models to his or her problems for making decisions with imprecise data.
Industrial revolutions have impacted both, manufacturing and service. From the steam engine to digital automated production, the industrial revolutions have conduced significant changes in operations and supply chain management (SCM) processes. Swift changes in manufacturing and service systems have led to phenomenal improvements in productivity. The fast-paced environment brings new challenges and opportunities for the companies that are associated with the adaptation to the new concepts such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber Physical Systems, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, cyber security, data analytics, block chain and cloud technology. These emerging technologies facilitated and expedited the birth of Logistics 4.0. Industrial Revolution 4.0 initiatives in SCM has attracted stakeholders’ attentions due to it is ability to empower using a set of technologies together that helps to execute more efficient production and distribution systems. This initiative has been called Logistics 4.0 of the fourth Industrial Revolution in SCM due to its high potential. Connecting entities, machines, physical items and enterprise resources to each other by using sensors, devices and the internet along the supply chains are the main attributes of Logistics 4.0. IoT enables customers to make more suitable and valuable decisions due to the data-driven structure of the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Besides that, the system’s ability of gathering and analyzing information about the environment at any given time and adapting itself to the rapid changes add significant value to the SCM processes. In this peer-reviewed book, experts from all over the world, in the field present a conceptual framework for Logistics 4.0 and provide examples for usage of Industry 4.0 tools in SCM. This book is a work that will be beneficial for both practitioners and students and academicians, as it covers the theoretical framework, on the one hand, and includes examples of practice and real world.
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.
Supply Chain Management Under Fuzziness presents recently developed fuzzy models and techniques for supply chain management. These include: fuzzy PROMETHEE, fuzzy AHP, fuzzy ANP, fuzzy VIKOR, fuzzy DEMATEL, fuzzy clustering, fuzzy linear programming, and fuzzy inference systems. The book covers both practical applications and new developments concerning these methods. This book offers an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners in supply chain management and logistics, and will provide them with new suggestions and directions for future research. Moreover, it will support graduate students in their university courses, such as specialized courses on supply chains and logistics, as well as related courses in the fields of industrial engineering, engineering management and business administration.
Designed for students, young managers and seasoned practitioners alike, this handbook explains the nuts and bolts of the modern logistics and distribution world in plain language. Illustrated throughout, this second edition includes new chapters on areas previously not covered, such as: intermodal transport; benchmarking; environmental matters; and vehicle and depot security.
