Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Lean supply chain strategy'

Abstract Manufacturing companies have reorganised their value chains and outsourced their non-core activities at an increasing rate during the last two decades. The importance of subcontractors has grown both from the economic and production point of view. The new manufacturing paradigm that emphases outsourcing, co-operation, networking and agility is much discussed on the general level, but very little empirical research has been done on these issues. The main aim of the study is to increase the understanding of the evolution process of subcontracting chains and explain the managerial aspects connected with the subcontractors' evolution. In the theoretical part I of the study, the concepts of subcontracting are clarified. The forms to classify subcontractors are discussed as the structure and development of subcontracting systems. The lean supply philosophy and manufacturing strategy concept are presented as a basis for the study. The manufacturing strategy framework for subcontractors is presented. The empirical findings of this study are based on longitudinal case studies covering the time period from the early 1980's to the late 1990's. Three cases from the metal and electronics industry including an OEM and a few subcontractors are presented. The studies focuses on the factors affecting the evolution of subcontracting, especially the impacts of subcontractors' manufacturing strategy on supply chain decisions. The implications of the case studies allow a number of conclusions to be drawn. The main differences from the lean supply theory was in supplier development and supply chain management practices The production volume, product structure and supplier base were the most important points affecting the subcontracting chain structure. The process of assigning manufacturing to subcontractors happened gradually and included critical points, which should be evaluated. The evolution process of subcontractors from a part supplier towards a system supplier is discussed. The competitiveness of the subcontractors evolves gradually starting from quality and adding other capabilities. In order to develop the subcontracting chain the stage of evolution of subcontractors should be recognised. A conceptual model for four different stages, part, component, specialist and system supplier, was also created in this study.

The reverse part of the supply chain becomes more and more important due to the legislation, environmental concerns, higher volumes of returns, etc. As a result, companies cannot see the reverse supply chain as the additional costs only and have to think strategically. The right strategy for the reverse supply chain can help to achieve the competitive advantage. However, there are not so many researches made about strategies for the reverse supply chain yet, contrarily to the forward supply chain. Therefore, the need to adopt strategies for the reverse supply chain appears.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the applicability of the Lean and the Agile concepts in the Reverse Supply Chain strategy, and to investigate the driving forces and challenges for the implementation of the strategy in the Reverse Supply Chain.

The inductive research approach was applied in this thesis. The qualitative study was the most suitable for the better understanding of the point of view, the attitudes, the perceptions of the interviewed participants regarding a wide range of issues related to the choice, and the implementation of the strategy for the reverse supply chain. Multiple case studies as the research strategy was chosen, thus data was collected from 13 interviews conducted at four companies: Fläkt Woods, Systemair, Swegon and Rettig ICC.

The main conclusions from the analysis of the applicability of the lean and the agile concepts in the reverse supply chain are that the design of the reverse supply chain depends on the characteristics of the returns: the size, the volume, the life cycle, the B2B or the B2C returns; as well the reasons for the returns: the guarantee service/ after warranty service. When weighting the results about the lean and the agile concepts implementation in the reverse supply chain, it appears relatively more likely that none of the companies implement either only the lean or only the agile approach. Due to various reasons, there are different material flows and they require different strategic approaches. The agility is implemented close to the customer in order to ensure speed and high responsiveness. Lean flows are implemented from the manufacturer to the supplier or the third party (recycler, etc.). Even more, the companies seek to find the optimal combination of both strategies, or as it called – leagile. Two different approaches for leagile concept’s implementation are used: preponement and de-coupling point. Driving forces for the strategy implementation are green forces, increasing the demand for improving customer service level, cost reduction, and the new retail marketing strategies. Main challenges for the strategy implementation are the lack of formal operating procedures, the lack of information sharing with the suppliers, ‘false alarm’ returns, the lack of local competence, and the lack of forecasting possibilities.

Title: A case study for LORAMAX on supply chain strategy & production efficiency.  Limitations: Due to the sensitive nature of the information in this thesis, a non-disclosure agreement was signed, and some data cannot be disclosed.  Background: LORAMAX, the case company for this thesis produces differentiated products on the basis of quality. They are faced with the challenge of making a product that they recently launched, HERO, more competitive in the market. Even though they have chosen a differentiated strategy, the company understands that cost reduction could as well provide them a competitive advantage and is therefore crucial to the survival of the new product.  Research questions:                How can the production cost and lead time be reduced for HERO? How would the choice to either buy pre-assembled modules or manufacture them in-house influence the profit margin of HERO? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to use relevant theories and practical tools in order to help the company identify potential opportunities and areas where to reduce assembly costs and lead-times.  Method: The empirical data used to draw conclusions was collected through a mixed research method (both qualitative and quantitative) carried out on site at LORAMAX with the help of the purchasing and production manager, through interviews, questionnaires and observations. This thesis is written from a positivistic perspective with a deductive approach.  Conclusions: Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) are effective tools for cost and lead time reduction and can be used to support a make-or-buy decision. In this thesis, we arrive at the conclusion that LORAMAX will improve its profit margins on HERO if it buys already assembled modules.

Problem- Sweden is for the moment one of the countries in the world that is most dependent on the automotive industry. Significant companies within this industry at a global level move parts of, or entire operations abroad which increase the competition for Swedish companies. This fact conveys problem for the Swedish SMEs suppliers, as if a supplier only focus on the national market will not match the requirements from the OEMs such as integrated product development and delivery of complete systems on a JIT- basis. Considering these fact, SME suppliers in Sweden need to look for new opportunities on new markets, and create an understanding for how to act accordingly to the new market’s particular business conditions.

Purpose- The main purpose of this thesis is to examine business conditions and prerequisites that applies for the buyers and the suppliers in the supply chain in the Mexican auto-motive industry, and further to develop an understanding of the logic of the interaction and integration between them. Derived from the obtained knowledge, a sub-purpose of this thesis is to present recommendations for how Swedish suppliers should enter and act accordingly on the new market.

Method- In this thesis we have applied a case study method. We have conducted semi-structured interviews with four of the largest OEMs and five suppliers, all of whom have production in Mexico. We have in addition to the interviews with OEMs and suppliers supported the collected information with one interview with a representative of a trade association within the Mexican automotive industry and one representative from a governmental institution.

Results- Our analysis indicates that the conditions for Swedish automotive suppliers to enter the Mexican market are favorable. Factors such as Free Trade Agreements, the positive attitude towards Foreign Direct Investments and skilled but low labor costs all imply for opportunities for Swedish suppliers. Secondly, our analysis indicates that the OEMs are today doing supply base rationalizations. We consider that this is based on the fact that the OEMs are changing their ordering basis from purchasing single parts to complete systems in order to reduce costs and increase the efficiency. Thirdly, our analysis indicates that it is the buyer, no matter on what level in the supply chain it is acting, who forms the strategy of its suppliers. If the buyer has a lean approach, its suppliers are forced to use the same thinking and apply it to their suppliers in order to meet the pressures on costs reductions, product development and JIT delivery. This we entitle as a continues correlation, which permeate in the complete supply chain.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado.
In Peru, companies within the textile sector encounter problems such as a decrease in the contribution to an industrial gross domestic product from 10.6 to 7.5%, a decline in financial credits by about 0.7% p.a., and the direct competition of Central American countries across the textile chain. The finishing of fabrics shows the worst performance, with losses of a 38.8% variation in industrial production and a 7.5% growth rate per textile industrial sector. In this scenario, a strategic lean procurement model based on 5S and supplier approval was designed. The lean objective is to streamline workflow in the raw material warehouse that generates excessive lead time to production and leads to unplanned downtime. In addition, supplier approval boosts procurement efficiency and provides strategic value in assessing and planning raw materials to ensure efficient supply. The model is validated through a case study involving a textile small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), and drastic improvements are made. These improvements address the problem of unplanned downtime by reducing its incidence and making economic contributions to the company.
Revisión por pares

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Industrial
The success of an organization depends on the effective control of its supply chain. It is important to recognize new opportunities for organization and its supply chain. In the last few years the approach to lean, agile, resilient and green supply chain paradigms has been addressed in the scientific literature. Research in this field shows that the integration of these concepts revealed some contradictions among so many paradigms. This thesis is mainly focused on the lean and green approaches. Thirteen different management frameworks, embodied in awards, standards and tools were studied to understand if they could contribute for the modelling process of a lean and green approach. The study reveals a number of categories that are common in most management frameworks, providing adequate conditions for a lean and green supply chain transformation. A conceptual framework for the evaluation of a lean and green organization`s supply chain was proposed. The framework considers six key criteria, namely, leadership, people, strategic planning, stakeholders, processes and results. It was proposed an assessment method considering a criteria score for each criterion. The purpose is to understand how lean and green supply chain can be compatible, using principles, practices, techniques or tools (i.e. elements) that support both, a lean and a green approach, in all key criteria. A case study in the automotive upstream supply chain was performed to understand more deeply if the elements proposed for the conceptual framework could be implemented in a real-scenario. Based on the conceptual framework and the case study, a roadmap to achieve a lean-green transformation is presented. The proposed roadmap revealed its contribution to the understanding on how and when an organization`s supply chain should apply the lean and green elements. This study is relevant to practice, as it may assist managers in the adoption of a lean and green supply chain approach, giving insights for the implementation of a hybrid supply chain.
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - (PhD fellowship: SFRH/BD/60969/2009); Project entitled "Lean, agile, resilient and green supply chain management" (LARG_SCM) which facilitated the development of case study and make possible the submission of papers at several International Meetings and Conferences

Today's world is characterized by volatility and uncertainty. Cooperation is needed to survive in this harsh business climate. Cooperation in supply chains are practiced and well known but in today's tough and volatile environment it is simply not enough. Wastes and unnecessary processes have to be eliminated to secure a competitive advantage. Incorporating lean in supply chains get more and more attention and embrace in the modern literature and media. Lean implemented in supply chains is praised to create a proactive supply chain that successfully eliminate waste and create efficiency. In the thesis the negative aspects, the angle that is very seldom described in the literature, of incorporating lean in supply chain is researched. I will view lean from the management perspective and research the negative aspects, their cause and impact on the entire supply chain. Being aware of the criticism of lean from the employee and society perspective this research serves to find if lean from the management perspective is a flawless story. To achieve the aim of this thesis I conducted a survey research where 100 supply chain executives from different countries, different industries and of different designations within supply chain management were asked to share their lean experience. The summary of my research show that lean incorporated in supply chains is not only a sunshine story. I can conclude problems, even a mismatch, with the lean concept incorporated in supply chains- the time sensibility lean brings. In my research it became obvious that lean supply chains are very sensitive to delays and that the consequences of the delays will strike very hard - hence the lean supply chain can also be seen as more vulnerable and fragile compared to ordinary supply chains. There is no question about the fact that any company, any network of companies or a supply chain for that matter, are better off without delays. A delay will always be negative. In a lean environment, where time aspects such as Just-In-Time and a pull scenario are present, a delay will immediately ruin the entire execution and the consequences will naturally spread in the supply chain. In today's volatile and ever changing world I believe that leanness in supply chains are indeed needed but to an extent where the time factors are viewed realistically in order to avoid drastic consequences. My conclusion is that supply chains should be realistically lean, bearing the time factors of lean in mind, to avoid being mean. I encourage every supply chain to identify their lean level in order to avoid a mean result.

The aim of this thesis is to enhance the management of supply systems in construction industry using lean principles. This study is an attempt to identify what kind of activities causes’ construction process delay and how to perform lean concept into supply chain in practice. The objective is to assure on-time delivery of information and materials to construction sites at lowest cost and maximum value for the customer. These study problems have been analysed from a lean construction supply chain perspective, concentrating on decreasing and eliminating non-value adding activities in order to maximum the value for the customer. Supply complexity in construction in order to better understand which sections are easy to generate non-value adding activities. In the thesis, literature review is the main research method to support analysing and finding, including Ohno Taiichi identified seven wastes from Toyota Production System; five lean principles described by Womack and Jonas; Theory of constraint illustrated from Goldratt Eliyahu M.

In today's competitive manufacturing environment supply chains are spread across the oceans. For a large number of companies lean effort means closely examining the factory floor processes to pull the work. In reality the work on floor is triggered by demand from customer and lean goes well beyond four walls of the company. Today there is more reliance on the suppliers and contract manufactures for shorter lead times and quick responses to any changes in customer demand. Lean supply chain ontology proposes a model to achieve these goals of shorter lead times and faster response. The process adopted in this research to come up with the ontology starts with listing the terms related to a lean supply chain followed by classification of these terms in to various classes based on their importance to the core subject. One these two steps are completed the terms are defined and a model is proposed to come up with a lean supply chain. This model also can help to maintain a low level of inventory across the supply chain since inventory build up is avoided and parts are not built to forecast.
Thesis (M.S.)--Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
"December 2007."

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-113).
There are two basic schools of thought regarding how to approach a Lean transformation. Either start with introducing Lean tools or start with driving a Lean cultural change. Academic researchers like Steve Spear (Harvard/MIT), Lean experts such as James Womack (Lean Enterprise Institute), and many Lean practitioners within the company believe that a "culture first" approach is more likely to create a sustainable Lean transformation rather than a "tools first" approach. So, who is responsible for this "culture?" The leaders of an organization are responsible for the culture. Leaders drive cultural change through incentive systems, performance management, and role modeling. One critical tenant of Lean is the concept of kaizen, or making change for the better. Kaizen and continuous improvement applies to everyone, everywhere, everyday. This paper proposes that if one's approach to Lean is "culture first," then the leaders who own driving cultural change should hansei (personal introspection and reflection) and kaizen his or her own leadership behaviors and practices to ensure a successful Lean cultural shift for the organization. Supply Planning Operations (SPO) decided to begin its own Lean journey in July 2007, and the transformation is still in its infancy. As part of the journey, the leadership team is reflecting on and comparing the group's leadership and management practices with those advocated by Lean experts. The team found that Toyota's leaders built an enabling bureaucracy to foster a high-performing learning organization. "Leading Lean" requires new approaches and behaviors that challenge existing group norms. This paper summarizes the gaps between SPO's current leadership norms and those identified by Lean experts.
For example, SPO needs to continue developing their "people value stream" based on Lean organizational capabilities and healthy relational contracts between employees and management. These recommendations are not a prescription for success nor are they necessarily directly applicable to other groups. The intent of this thesis is yokoten (Toyota term for the horizontal transfer of information and knowledge) to share SPO's current understanding of its leadership problems with others on the Lean journey.
by Daniel Andres Walsh.
S.M.
M.B.A.

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial
In the existing global economic context it is crucial that companies understand the importance of the supply chain, so that they can maintain their respective competitive advantage. Several of the supply chain’s approaches consider the customer and the definition of value as key features. One easily associates the Lean philosophy to supply chains, with its basis of continuous improvement and elimination of waste. Companies which employ this philosophy begin with lean thinking, which highlights the customer and the definition of value. Therefore it is vital that companies identify what constitutes added value to the customer. Thus we arrive at the reasons which have led to the creation of this dissertation. The motivation concerns the small amount of data found upon reviewing the existing literature of the application of Lean philosophy to the Wood-Plastic Composite Industry (WPC). Consequently the study’s main goal is the identification of Lean performance measures. This dissertation contains concepts of Lean philosophy and strategy to provide background for its practical part, after which, we explain the applied methodology: identification of the performance measures, application of strategy analysis tools, the development of a survey and its statistical treatment and finally interviews to management. The results of the surveys have provided results which have helped identify the most important categories: time and flexibility; and the most relevant performance measures. The interviews’ results provided input on management’s knowledge and expectations of Lean, and the discovery of possible areas for improvement. The major conclusion of this study is the importance given to Lean performance measures in the WPC industry’s context, which can help in the implementation of Lean.

Market globalization and steep competition are increasing the need for more efficient and effective strategies in meeting evolving market demands. Adopting a more integrated approach to supply chain relationship management has been increasingly viewed as a way of meeting changing customer needs. This thesis work explores lean and agility frameworks as tools for achieving supply chain integration. Different aspects of the concepts of lean and agility and their applications in the supply chain are presented based on theoretical literature. Thus, this thesis seeks to point out the impact that the concepts of lean and agility can have on the supply chain as a whole. Four companies have been investigated in connection to the level of awareness, perception, and practical application of these tools in their supply chain. To this end, information was collected in a survey questionnaire from these four companies and supported by an interview. The results show that lean and agility are important tools to achieve supply chain integration, but respondents are yet to fully achieve the transition to lean/agile enterprise. It could be said that lean/agile supply chain is still more in theory than in practice. The level of awareness to market changes is high but there seem to be no specific way in achieving integration in the supply as there is wide variation in the way one company achieves it with respect to another. Generally, respondents are implementing lean/agile principles in cooperation and collaboration with suppliers and customers, demand pull system, and using combination of strategies. However, it is clear that adequate market information is required when trying to fit lean/agile principles into supply chain strategy. Furthermore, all respondent recognise the need for change to satisfy customer need, but the respond to change vary from one company to another. Also, there is a gradual shift from traditional focus solely on cost and profit to customer relation relationship management and customer satisfaction. Consequently, companies are organizing themselves around the customer who pulls goods and value from the producer of the goods.

Lean is a management philosophy that enhances customer value through waste elimination and continuous improvement in a system by applying lean principles, practices, and techniques. The focus on lean implementations and research had been typically a single company without extension to the entire supply chain. When the concept of lean is implemented across the entire supply chain, however, it is referred to as lean supply chain. The purpose of this thesis is to create a structure from theory and practice of lean in the supply chain, which will enhance understanding of the field.  The thesis is based on a comprehensive review of articles on lean in the supply chain using structured content analysis approach. The reviewed articles are classified based on the articles’ basic characteristics and contextual issues or ideas. Also, a case study of an aerospace industry was conducted in order to gain insight on lean in supply chain from a practice perspective.  Lean in the supply chain as a supply chain management strategy aims at applying the lean concepts to the whole functions within the entire supply chain members: suppliers, focal organisations, distributors, and customers. From the literature review and the case study, it is found that researchers and practitioners view lean in the supply chain as a transformation process in the supply chain which results in a transformed and competitive supply chain called lean supply chain. The studies show that the attributes and outcomes of the major result of lean in the supply chain (lean supply chain) help in better understanding of the field. Lean supply chain is found to be linked to the following benefits: improved quality reduced cost, improved delivery, high flexibility, reduced shortage, etc. Also, it is distinguished from the traditional supply chain by the following attributes: Long-term relations with suppliers, effective communication and information sharing, integrated supply chain members, continuous improvements, and predictability. The transformation and the benefits are linked to the implementation of lean principles, practices and techniques in the supply chain. There is no rigorous and general purpose process in the implementation of lean in the supply chain; however, general and adaptable steps can be followed. Choice and order of implementation of lean tools and techniques depends on suitability, situations, preference and familiarity. It is found that from the literature review that the research approach on lean in the supply chain is structured towards gaining in-depth knowledge of the field. The emphasis on the supply chain members; suppliers and focal organisations by the authors of the reviewed articles shows their importance in the supply chain.

More than forty years has passed since the start of the North Sea oil and gas developments. On the managerial side of the projects there have been large cost overruns, project planning and control measures developed to avoid these, initiatives to improve the industry’s competitiveness in the North Sea, as well as measures to improve the supply chains contribution in the projects. We have seen a focus first and foremost on the CAPEX side of the projects, which still is the public measure of a ‘project’s’ success as seen in medias coverage. However, the operation side of the project has been given extended focus, especially through life-cycle cost measures, and life cycle value measures trying to balance out the CAPEX, OPEX and income sides of the project to obtain the most commercial value enhancement from each project. At the same time there has been an increasing focus on the core business among the project demand and supply chain actors in this industry as in most other industries.

Our belief is that this necessitates an enhanced focus on the project demand and supply chains of the industry, both for the projects development and operations phases. A question is whether the project demand and supply chain developments are approached appropriately according to the characteristics of the industry’s project context?

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-87).
Since the signing of NAFTA in 1993, North American automotive OEMs have moved final assembly and other manufacturing operations from domestic locations to international locations. Mexico provides a relatively inexpensive labor force and is within geographic proximity of the US. Tier One suppliers have also relocated some operations to Mexico, such as American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) and its Guanajuato Gear & Axle (GGA) facility, where this study was performed. While the proportion of GGA's inbound material sourced in Mexico has increased, this still represents a small fraction of GGA's supply base. Numerous efforts have been made at localization of suppliers to Mexico, both through existing suppliers relocating and the development of Mexico-based suppliers. For the suppliers remaining in the US and Canada, there are numerous possible transportation solutions, including FTL, stacktrain, LTL, and milkruns. The crux of this thesis lies in the hypothesis that GGA would be better able to optimize logistics, if it had the ability to choose mode and frequency on a real time basis after having a more precise understanding of inbound material flow. A case study was then performed on the optimal manner in which to ship empty returnable containers to suppliers, which is established to be per container demand at the supplier site. Then, a model is developed and tested that takes as input the forecast of raw material shipments from GGA's entire supply base and outputs a set of packing lists that minimizes logistics cost while meeting supplier demand for empty containers.
(cont.) The model outputs are tested on a limited basis, but full implementation has not been conducted at the time of writing. Based on preliminary calculations, it is expected that implementation would have a significant impact on GGA logistics expense.
by Peter Frys.
S.M.
M.B.A.

Vårt moderna samhälle är idag beroende av dagliga transporter som både är en stor kostnad för producerande företag och dessutom har en stor miljöpåverkan. Främst eftersom klimatfrågan idag debatteras flitigt men också för att det finns stora incitament för företagen att minska sina transportkostnader kommer vi, med största sannolikhet att se stora effektiviseringar av denna bransch inom en snar framtid. I detta arbete behandlas därför i vilken utsträckning två välkända teorier, Lean och Supply Chain Management, kan användas för att optimera transporterna främst vad gäller kostnad och miljöpåverkan. Efter att ha analyserat ett flertal rapporter som behandlat dagens transporter, transporttyper av olika slag och pågående miljöregleringar samt intervjuer med två svenska industribolag har vi kommit fram till att dessa två teorier inte lämpar sig i alla situationer. Lönsamheten i användandet av dessa två teorier beror på vilken teknisk grad företagets produkter har samt hur stor företagens produktion är. I framtiden tror vi dock att implementering av dessa teorier kommer öka men då i form av samarbeten flera företag emellan på grund av ökade kostnader i och med kommande miljöregleringar.
Our modern society is currently dependent on daily transportation that is both a major cost for manufacturing companies and that also have a big impact on our environment. Mainly because the climate today is heavily debated but also because there are great incentives for companies to reduce their transport costs, we will, in all likelihood, see major rationalization of this industry in the near future. This work therefore addresses the extent to which two well-known theories, Lean and Supply Chain Management, can be used to optimize transport primarily in terms of cost and environmental impact. After analyzing several reports dealt with today's transport, transportation of different kinds and ongoing environmental regulations and interviews with two Swedish industrial companies, we have concluded that these two theories are not suitable in all situations. Profitability in the use of these two theories depends on the technical level the company's products, and how big the company's production is. In the future, we believe that implementation of these theories will increase but then in form of collaboration between several companies due to increased transportation costs and future environmental regulations.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado.
This research analyzes the Peruvian organic production coffee industry, the relationship between Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Supply Chain Integration (SCI) concerning the performance of the Cooperatives and the Coffee Associations in Junin Region of Peru. It also analyzes the current scenario of the Coffee Sector and the participation of the Supply Chain (SC) in the processing and distribution of Organic Coffee in Junin, Peru. A diagnosis was made to the certified organizations from the market. The diagnosis and the surveys indicated that they do not have a correct flow of information, shared goals and objectives, strategic decisions, and sourcing materials among the different parties demonstrating the lack of interrelationship among the members. The final objective of this research is to improve the competitiveness of these organizations through the increase in the performance of the SC, for which a model of supply chain integration is proposed.
Revisión por pares

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-118).
by Eric A. White.
S.M.
M.B.A.

[ES] La Gestión de la Cadena de Suministro se define como un conjunto de acciones que permiten a las empresas gestionar, planificar y controlar sus operaciones como una forma de facilitar la colaboración entre los miembros de la Cadena de Suministro. Para ser más eficaces y eficientes, las empresas están cada vez más dispuestas a rediseñar sus estrategias de Gestión de la Cadena de Suministro y a adoptar prácticas de gestión. Esta tesis doctoral analiza cómo se interrelacionan algunas variables relacionadas con la eficacia y la eficiencia en la Gestión de la Cadena de Suministro, y el posible impacto de estas interrelaciones en los resultados empresariales. Específicamente, profundizamos en las relaciones entre Cloud Computing, Integración de la Cadena de Suministro, Flexibilidad de la Cadena de Suministro, Personalización en Masa y Lean Production (que son variables asociadas con la eficacia y eficiencia de la Cadena de Suministro) y su papel en los resultados empresariales. En esta tesis, inicialmente consideramos dos factores importantes para conseguir eficacia y eficiencia en la Cadena de Suministro. Así, un primero factor estaría formado por la interrelación entre el uso de Cloud Computing, un nuevo paradigma en la interpretación de las Tecnologías de la información, y la Integración de la Cadena de Suministro. Bajos niveles en este factor permitirán a las empresas conseguir sus objetivos (ser eficaces) pero empleando muchos más recursos (menos eficientes) que altos valores en este factor. Un segundo factor recoge la interrelación de la Flexibilidad de la Cadena de Suministro y la Personalización en Masa. De forma similar al factor anterior, bajos niveles en este factor estarían asociados a una menor eficiencia (aun siendo eficaces), mientras que altos niveles, estaría asociados a una alta eficiencia. Ambos factores son consideradas en esta tesis, en primer lugar, de forma aislada, mediante revisiones sistemáticas de la literatura que permiten identificar qué se sabe en la literatura sobre la relación existente entre las variables que conforman cada factor. En segundo lugar, en esta tesis, se realiza un análisis explicativo en que se considera el efecto de Lean Production, y su relación con cada uno de los factores, lo que estaría asociado a unos altos niveles de eficiencia en la Cadena de Suministro, y se analiza cómo el efecto conjunto de Lean Production y cada uno de los factores (variables) consideradas afecta a los resultados de la empresa. Finalmente, en esta tesis se consideran todas las variables de forma conjunta (ambos factores y el efecto de Lean Production, actuando sobre los resultados empresariales), en un modelo holístico que utiliza la simulación para analizar el comportamiento del modelo. El valor de esta tesis es que académicos y gerentes de negocios pueden tener evidencia de apoyo sobre el papel que juegan Cloud Computing, Integración de la Cadena de Suministro, Flexibilidad de la Cadena de Suministro, Personalización en Masa y Lean Production, vinculadas operativa y estratégicamente, y cómo esta combinación podría transformarse en un mejor desempeño empresarial. El mejor conocimiento de estas relaciones puede afectar la manera en que investigadores y directivos abordan estos recursos de gestión, siendo más conscientes del importante papel de la Cadena de Suministro en la competitividad. Este trabajo se diferencia de los aportes anteriores por proporcionar enfoques teóricos y empíricos de las posibles interrelaciones entre las variables antes mencionadas. Los resultados de este estudio, por lo tanto, podrían ser muy útiles en el diseño de futuros esfuerzos de investigación en esta área.
[CAT] La Gestió de la Cadena de Subministrament es defineix com un conjunt d'accions que permeten a les empreses gestionar, planificar i controlar les seues operacions com una manera de facilitar la col·laboració entre els membres de la Cadena de Subministrament. Per a ser més eficaços i eficients, les empreses estan cada vegada més disposades a redissenyar les seues estratègies de Gestió de la Cadena de Subministrament i a adoptar pràctiques de gestió. Aquesta tesi doctoral analitza com s'interrelacionen algunes variables relacionades amb l'eficàcia i l'eficiència en la Gestió de la Cadena de Subministrament, i el possible impacte d'aquestes interrelacions en els resultats empresarials. Específicament, aprofundim en les relacions entre Cloud Computing, Integració de la Cadena de Subministrament, Flexibilitat de la Cadena de Subministrament, Personalització en massa i Lean Production (que són variables associades amb l'eficàcia i eficiència de la Cadena de Subministrament) i el seu paper en els resultats empresarials. En aquesta tesi, inicialment considerem dos factors importants per a aconseguir eficàcia i eficiència en la Cadena de Subministrament. Així, un primer factor estaria format per la interrelació entre l'ús de Cloud Computing, un nou paradigma en la interpretació de les Tecnologies de la informació, i la Integració de la Cadena de Subministrament. Baixos nivells en aquest factor permetran a les empreses aconseguir els seus objectius (ser eficaços) però emprant molts més recursos (menys eficients) que alts valors en aquest factor. Un segon factor recull la interrelació de la Flexibilitat de la Cadena de Subministrament i la Personalització en massa. De forma similar al factor anterior, baixos nivells en aquest factor estarien associats a una menor eficiència (fins i tot sent eficaces), mentre que alts nivells, estaria associats a una alta eficiència. Tots dos factors són considerades en aquesta tesi, en primer lloc, de forma aïllada, mitjançant revisions sistemàtiques de la literatura que permeten identificar què se sap en la literatura sobre la relació existent entre les variables que conformen cada factor. En segon lloc, en aquesta tesi, es realitza una anàlisi explicativa en què es considera l'efecte de Lean Production, i la seua relació amb cadascun dels factors, la qual cosa estaria associat a uns alts nivells d'eficiència en la Cadena de Subministrament, i s'analitza com l'efecte conjunt de Lean Production i cadascun dels factors (variables) considerades afecta als resultats de l'empresa. Finalment, en aquesta tesi es consideren totes les variables de forma conjunta (tots dos factors i l'efecte de Lean Production, actuant sobre els resultats empresarials), en un model holístic que utilitza la simulació per a analitzar el comportament del model. El valor d'aquesta tesi és que acadèmics i gerents de negocis poden tindre evidència de suport sobre el paper que juguen Cloud Computing, Integració de la Cadena de Subministrament, Flexibilitat de la Cadena de Subministrament, Personalització en massa i Lean Production, vinculades operativa i estratègicament, i com aquesta combinació podria transformar-se en un millor acompliment empresarial. El millor coneixement d'aquestes relacions pot afectar la manera en què investigadors i directius aborden aquests recursos de gestió, sent més conscients de l'important paper de la Cadena de Subministrament en la competitivitat. Aquest treball es diferencia de les aportacions anteriors per proporcionar enfocaments teòrics i empírics de les possibles interrelacions entre les variables abans esmentades. Els resultats d'aquest estudi, per tant, podrien ser molt útils en el disseny de futurs esforços d'investigació en aquesta àrea.
[EN] Supply Chain Management is defined as a set of actions that allow companies to manage, plan and control their operations as a way to facilitate collaboration between Supply Chain members. To be more effective and efficient, companies are increasingly willing to redesign their Supply Chain Management strategies and adopt management practices. This doctoral thesis analyses how some variables related to effectiveness and efficiency in Supply Chain Management are interrelated, and the possible impact of these interrelations on business performance. Specifically, we delve into the relationships between Cloud Computing, Supply Chain Integration, Supply Chain Flexibility, Mass Personalization and Lean Production (which are variables associated with the effectiveness and efficiency in the Supply Chain) and their role in business performance. In this doctoral thesis, we initially considered two important factors to achieve effectiveness and efficiency in the Supply Chain. A first factor would be the interrelation between the use of Cloud Computing, a new paradigm in the interpretation of Information Technologies, and Supply Chain Integration. Low levels in this factor will allow companies to achieve their goals (be effective) but using many more resources (less efficient) than high values in this factor. A second factor is the interrelationship of Supply Chain Flexibility and Mass Personalization. Similar to the previous factor, low levels of this factor would be associated with lower efficiency (even if effective), while high levels would be associated with high efficiency. Both factors are considered in this thesis, in the first place, in an isolated way, by means of systematic literature reviews that allow identifying what is known in the literature about the existing relation between the variables that conform each factor. Secondly, an explanatory analysis is made in which the effect of Lean Production is considered, and its relation with each one of the factors, which would be associated with high levels of efficiency in the Supply Chain, and it is analysed how the joint effect of Lean Production and each one of the factors (variables) considered affects business performance. Finally, this thesis considers all variables together (both factors and the effect of Lean Production, acting on business performance), in a holistic model that uses simulation to analyse the model's behaviour. The value of this doctoral thesis is that academics and business managers can have supporting evidence on the role played by Cloud Computing, Supply Chain Integration, Supply Chain Flexibility, Mass Personalization and Lean Production, operationally and strategically linked, and how this combination could be transformed into better business performance. The better knowledge of these relationships can affect the way researchers and managers approach these management resources, being more aware of the important role of the Supply Chain in competitiveness. This work differs from previous contributions in that it provides theoretical and empirical approaches to the possible interrelations between the variables mentioned above. The results of this study, therefore, could be very useful in the design of future research efforts in this area.
This doctoral thesis has been developed thanks to the support of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) of Brazil and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Research Project ECO2015-65874-P.
Romualdo Novais, L. (2019). CLOUD COMPUTING, SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION, SUPPLY CHAIN FLEXIBILITY AND MASS PERSONALIZATION: INTERRELATIONSHIPS WITH LEAN PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/121460
TESIS

In humanitarian aid organisations, due to increasing pressure from donors, there is an urge to professionalise and optimise the way supply chains are managed. In the commercial companies there is strong evidence that focusing more on supply chain management can improve efficiency and lead to major cost savings which makes it very interesting for humanitarian aid organisations to adopt practices from the commercial world. The concepts of agility and leanness are said to prepare organisations to respond quickly to fluctuating customer demand (agility) and to increase efficiency through waste elimination and process optimisation (leanness), two properties which are required by humanitarian and commercial organisations likewise. In the commercial context agility and leanness are often combined as a le-agile strategy which is also applicable for humanitarian supply chains where the distinct humanitarian supply chain stages – preparedness, response, and reconstruction – follow different objectives and operate in different environments. Based on existing literature, this thesis identifies and examines the combination of lean and agile strategies with the different humanitarian supply chain stages. The combination possibility for a le-agile strategy is based on the base-surge demand approach from commercial literature. Moreover, agile and lean supply chain characteristics as well as practices how to achieve these characteristics are identified and illustrated in a theoretical framework. The empirical, qualitative research using a single-case study strategy further explores the supply chain practices of the Georgia Red Cross Society (GRCS) during the armed conflict in 2008. These lean and agile practices were studied by looking at preparedness, response and recovery stages related to the event, as well as the new preparedness phase, emerged after the armed conflict. The key findings indicate that lean practices are performed by the case organisation in the preparedness stage and to some lower extent in the reconstruction stage. Agile practices were evidenced in the response stage of the armed conflict. Overall, the findings support the theoretical propositions made prior to the empirical research. However, in the case of the studied organisation, the findings indicate that not all lean practices, identified from the commercial supply chain literature, were applied in the preparedness and reconstruction stages likewise. Nevertheless, in general there was a tendency for using lean practices in both stages of humanitarian supply chain. Another finding indicates that lean and agile practices are strongly linked and support each other. This was clearly reflected in an interconnection between preparedness and response stages, whereas implementation of efficient lean practices during the preparedness stage supported a quick and agile reaction to the armed conflict in the response stage. Additionally, it was found out that the reconstruction and preparedness stages of the GRCS humanitarian supply chain are connected through an iterative process of continuous learning and improvements. This thesis contributes to existing literature by providing empirical proof for the existence of lean and agile strategies in the preparedness, response, and reconstruction stages of the case organisation’s humanitarian supply chain. These results also support the possibility to use the commercial base and surge demand model for combining lean and agile strategies with the different humanitarian supply chain stages, which represents an under-investigated field in existing humanitarian supply chain literature.

Thesis: M. Eng. in Supply Chain Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Supply Chain Management Program, 2017.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 51-52).
High volatility in order patterns leads to supply chain wide inefficiencies and high operational costs. This issue is particularly common in the consumer goods industry due to large numbers of SKUs under management and frequent promotions. By leveling out the number of weekly shipments (containing constant quantitates of top selling SKUs), a company can potentially boost operational performance while reducing costs. The research question of this thesis was therefore "Will a consistent, pre-determined customer shipment profile based on the lean leveling principle reduce variability and enable improvements in transportation cost, service level and cash (i.e. reduce working capital tied up in inventory)?" In academic literature, lean principles have been applied extensively in manufacturing settings, while the logistics domain remains a relatively unexplored lean frontier. In this thesis the team sought to realize lean-based gains by replacing large, infrequent batch deliveries with frequent small shipments, as derived from lean theory. The team created a customer shipment profile based on historical shipping data, consumption data and forecast information. The top selling items, which were the core products of subsequent analysis, were derived from a SKU segmentation. The number of required units was calculated based on the service promise. The team simulated two inventory policies: a Fixed scenario (orders are derived from historical averages) and a hybrid scenario (a fixed component based on a percentage of the historical average and a variable component). The model was validated by comparing calculated transportation cost, service level and cash with the values derived from the actual company records. The study suggests that applying the lean leveling concept may lead to reduced shipment variability. Placing orders on a fixed shipment schedule can lead to lower transportation costs and higher service levels. Cash requirements for inventory may be higher with increasing implementation of lean leveling. The optimal result for buyer and seller could be obtained with the hybrid model: At 75% fixed orders, the benefits of transportation cost, cash and service level were equally balanced. Other companies across different industries may find the thesis model useful to possibly improve operational performance while reducing costs through lean leveling.
by Melissa Botero Aristizabal and Fabian Brenninkmeijer.
M. Eng. in Supply Chain Management

Unibrands is a small company that has implemented a postponement strategy without knowing it. However, they have not implemented completely because they do not know the theories behind it. This report is an attempt to understand and analyze the problems of the implementation of postponement in the supply chain of Unibrands, in terms of examining the theoretical succeeds factors of postponement implementation in the case of Unibrands.The purpose is to determine what type of postponement strategy the supply chain use and what factors can hinder the use of postponement strategy in a SME fashion supply chain by applying an qualitative research approach. The collection of empirical data was through the interview guide approach in which we used meetings and telephone interviews with people representing Unibrands and their contact trading company. The results of this research can be concluded in few perspectives. Unibrands is imple-menting postponement in an improper format, with the results of several gaps in the supply chain related to the success factor in postponement. The request for the fully customization in colors and materials, the bottleneck of relationship developing which is caused by factory manager,  complicated procedures for sample testing, and lack of knowledge of different relationships in the supply chain. Postponement is never perfect, but for Unibrands some problems could very well hinder the efficiency in the supply chain. Solutions are proposed to solve the problems in chain. The proposals suggest re-lationship improvement and information sharing. In addition, culture adaptation by in-volving the right people in the right process.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [41]-[42]).
Introduction: Partners In Health (PIH) is an international, non-profit healthcare organization with operations in several countries on multiple continents. PIH focuses on providing healthcare treatment to people living in some of the poorest places in the world, and has been operating in Haiti since 1985. At that time, PIH established a small community clinic in the central Haiti village of Cange. Today that facility has grown to become an entire medical complex, featuring a 104-bed, full-service hospital with two operating rooms, adult and pediatric wards, and clinics treating a variety of diseases and issues, from women's health to infectious diseases. In addition, Zamni Lasante ("Partners In Health" in Haitian Creyeol) has also expanded its operations to 11 other sites across Haiti's Central Plateau and beyond (Figure 1). Today, ZL ranks as one of the largest nongovernmental health care providers in Haiti - serving a catchment area of 1.2 million across the Central Plateau and the Lower Artibonite. ZL employs over 4,000 people, almost all of them Haitians, including doctors, nurses and community health workers (Zamni Lasante/ Haiti). From its beginnings 25 years ago, PIH/ZL has grown tremendously, and recent years have been no exception. Since 2004, patient encounters have increased almost threefold, from 0.9 million to 2.6 million, and the number of clinical sites has almost doubled. This growth has corresponded to an increase in drugs and supplies. In 2006, approximately 1000 m3 of drugs and supplies were moved through the system. Only two years later, in 2008, that number had more than doubled to 2200 m3 . This significant increase has greatly strained the underlying supply chain.
by Scott C. Alexander.
M.Eng.in Logistics

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-95).
Cisco and its four contract manufacturing partners are collaborating to implement a lean replenishment methodology across their supply chain. The new system is expected to result in minimized inventory exposure, increased supply chain flexibility, and improved speed to customer. Implementation of such a large standardized initiative requires close collaboration within and between multiple companies which makes it even more complex. Understanding the current state of collaboration within such a large initiative will enable improvements for future inter-company initiatives. This work analyses how Cisco and Flextronics collaborate within this large joint initiative. The analysis utilizes a combination of process mapping and known frameworks for organizational and cross company collaboration analysis. In addition, a dynamic supply chain simulation addressing a particular concern within the initiative is provided. Based on this characterization recommendations for how Cisco and Flextronics can improve collaboration for future joint initiatives are made.
by Maria Ritums Mentzer.
S.M.
M.B.A.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2002.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-75).
This thesis describes the work performed over a six and a half month internship at Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, NY. The thesis focuses on the implementation of a lean manufacturing system, modeled after the Toyota Production System, in the Kodak color film business. The goal of the system is to systematically eliminate all forms of waste from the production process in an attempt to reduce costs and inventory. This thesis approaches the problem from two different points of view. On the one hand, it takes a high level view of the entire supply chain and describes how material and information should flow through the supply chain. It highlights where inventory buffers should be located and which operations should be improved in order to reduce the size of these buffers. Finally, this thesis highlights the importance of leveling the customer demand signal in order to implement a true pull system using Kanbans. On the other hand, this thesis describes the implementation of lean manufacturing tools such as Kanban systems and Heijunka boards in some Kodak operations. This work includes the use of tools such as visual signals, cellular manufacturing, Kanbans, Heijunka boards, etc. The work performed over the internship sets the foundation for the transformation of the Kodak supply chain into a lean supply chain capable of dealing with uncertain demand. Additionally, the work can easily be transferred and applied to other Kodak businesses such as paper and photochemicals.
by Emanuele F. Gillio.
S.M.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 179).
Expanding Lean principles beyond the manufacturing floor, ultimately to entail a comprehensive Lean Enterprise, has gained increasing attention among corporations. This thesis entails a detailed case study of initiating a Lean Transformation in the Supply Chain department of a technology center for engineering, integration and final assembly of directional drilling equipment. This technology center is part of Schlumberger, a global corporation and industry leader in directional drilling and other oilfield technologies and services. Initiating the Lean Transformation in this Supply Chain department is detailed and used as the central theme throughout the thesis. The rapid, successive applications and results of conventional Lean principles are evaluated. Due to the near relative proximity of the several initiatives undertaken, in both time and within the organization, this case is used to evaluate the Autocatalytic Nature of Lean Principles within the Supply Chain department. Concurrently, the dynamics involved with the interactions of personnel within the department are evaluated. As a Lean Transformation is so heavily dependent upon the personnel participating in the change, tactics for initiating a Lean Transformation are treated in reference to the several initiatives of this case study. These three components, Lean principles, their autocatalytic interaction, and relevant human interactions, are all combined to comprehensively address the most influential aspects of affecting a Lean Transformation in a Supply Chain department.
by Bryan Gardner.
S.M.
M.B.A.

The concept of the ‘supply chain’, rather than a set of independent functions, has been around for more than 25 years. Despite its theoretical longevity, many organisations still struggle to make the supply chain a reality. The supply chain is an integral part of business strategy and is the means by which customer demand is fulfilled. Alignment between marketing and supply chain strategy is critical to fulfilling customer demand in a cost-effective way. This is the primary objective of customer responsive supply chain strategy (CRSC). Over the last 10 years, research into CRSC strategy has primarily been focused on two different academic perspectives: the synthesis of lean and agile thinking, and strategic alignment. The resulting frameworks are prescriptive in their nature and not sensitive to the context-specific nature of supply chain management; a field of study that is hindered by a lack of consensual definition, limited empirical evidence, and studies limited in scope to dyadic relationships. The opportunity therefore exists to carry out empirical research that reaches beyond the dyad, looking at the development of CRSC strategy − the basis for this study being the relationship between market segmentation and supply chain strategy. The research design that was developed to address this opportunity was a multiple case study design. This provides the opportunity to look for theoretical replication of the guiding principles and generative mechanisms that underpin the development of CRSC strategy. The rigour of the research design was improved by the use of a five stage (define research parameters, instrument development, data gathering, data analysis, dissemination & theory development), three phase research design (pilot case, core cases, cross-case comparison). The research was based on the study of three contrasting supply chains, from the perspective of the focal firm. The focal firms included a small UK manufacturer of toiletry and detergent products, a large leading logistics provider (LLP) managing the European supply chain operations for a global electronics manufacturer, and a large UK retailer of health and beauty products. An important aspect of the research design is its boundary spanning nature. It crosses a minimum of two organisational boundaries and includes at least three different organisations within a given supply chain. A process-orientated unit of analysis is used based on the supply chain operations reference (SCOR ® ) model to consider the conversion of demand into supply across the supply chain. The primary research instrument is semi-structured interviews with secondary documentary sources being used for data triangulation where appropriate. The research concluded that traditional methods of segmentation (e.g. by sales value) do not provide a natural link to supply chain strategy and limit customer responsiveness. The challenge for management is to identify the right bases for customer segmentation that enable it to drive supply chain strategy. The primary output of the research was a framework for developing CRSC strategy. Concepts key to developing CRSC strategy and included within the model are: contextual drivers, supply chain strategy drivers and internal mechanisms.

It is of vital importance never to forget that the world is ever changing. Therefore, it is crucialfor organizations not to only alter but also to improve their performance in order to becomemore competitive on the market. One way of achieving this is to work with continuousimprovements. However, this requires that the employees receive the needed training for thispurpose. In multinational corporations they must also all receive the same training in order tocreate a common culture throughout the whole organization. This study therefore aims toinvestigate how a multinational corporation can organize an Improvement ManagementTraining. Which are the main areas that are desirable to have knowledge in when leading animprovement work? In order to identify the areas of interest, a case study has been performedat Ericsson Supply Site Borås. The investigation was conducted as a combination of aqualitative and a semiquantitative study in order to determinate the empirical data. The resultsrevealed that the following five major areas are essential for an Improvement ManagementTraining: Leadership, Lean¸ Organizational Behavior, Project Management and StrategicManagement.
Program: Bachelor of Science with a Major in Industrial Engineering – Work Organization and Leadership

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.
This exercise aimed at developing a sustainable supply chain strategy that was adopted by Exxaro Resources (Pty) Ltd. The focus of the approach was to assess the status of Exxaro’s supply chain sustainability compared to that of competitors operating in South Africa and the supply chain dimensions applicable to Exxaro’s scope (i.e. green inventory management, green warehouse/storage management, sustainable procurement or sourcing, sustainable supplier management and sustainable transport/business travelling). The strategy framework used includes a review of supply chain sustainability relating to Exxaro and the requirements thereof, depicting gaps, recommended actions or initiatives to close the gaps, an implementation approach and a schedule. The strategy sets out to distinguish Exxaro in supply chain sustainable development through the setting of guidelines, reporting standards and commitments to economic, labour, human rights as well as social and environmental well-being. The approach envisages collaborating with suppliers and Exxaro’s sustainable development department to continuously improve and embed positive sustainability practices within Exxaro’s supply chain processes. This research report highlights the progress already made with high-level sustainable supply chain management implementation by selected Exxaro competitors, relevant schools of thought and theories with the emphasis on bringing a link to opportunities for Exxaro to progress into supply chain sustainability. The relationship between supply chain practices, environmental performance, social and economic impacts was studied. The mining sector, with its history of negative impacts on societies and the environment, is continuously challenged by the increasing emphasis to demonstrate ethical, social and environmental performance and accountability throughout its business practices. The use of Exxaro as a practical case study limits the extent to which the recommended strategy can be generalised to any mining environment or company. Findings mentioned may be subject to further research by augmenting the scope to include mines operating outside of South Africa or additional mining entities and theories. The approach of the research included empirical studies in the form of in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys on various internal stakeholders. Some information was obtained from the annual reports of Exxaro and a selected number of South African mining companies that are mining similar products to Exxaro. The data was analysed using statistical methods for social sciences with both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2001.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70).
by Qian Wu.
S.M.
M.B.A.

Dissertação para obtenção de grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial (MEGI)
Supply Chain Management has become a tactic asset for the current global competition situation. Innovative strategies such as Lean, Agile, Resilient and Green emerged as a response, requiring high levels of cooperation and of great complexity. However, the strategic alignment of operations with partners in supply chains is affected by lack of interoperability. The present work provides a framework to enhance SC competitiveness and performance by assessing interoperable SCM Practices applied in automotive industry. Through a pragmatic interoperability approach, this methodology describes in detail the form of application using analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and Fuzzy sets as support decision making models, ensuring a systematic approach to the analysis of interoperability with appropriate criteria for assessment of situations that require high levels of collaboration between partners. Through a case study in a Portuguese automaker, it was possible to test the methodology and analyse which areas lack interoperability in the implementation of SCM practices.

Today’s dynamic and increasingly competitive market had expanded complexities for global businesses pressuring companies to start leveraging on Big Data solutions in order to sustain the global competitions by becoming more data-driven in managing their supply chains.The main purpose of this study is twofold, 1) to explore the implications of applying analytics designing supply chain networks, 2) to investigate the link between operational and strategic management levels when making strategic decisions using Analytics.Qualitative methods have been applied for this study to gain a greater understanding of the Supply Chain Analytics phenomenon. An inductive approach in form of interviews, was performed in order to gain new empirical data. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with professional individuals who hold managerial roles such as project managers, consultants, and end-users within the fields of Supply Chain Management and Big Data Analytics. The received empirical information was later analyzed using the thematic analysis method.The main findings in this thesis relatively contradicts with previous studies and existing literature in terms of connotations, definitions and applications of the three main types of Analytics. Furthermore, the findings present new approaches and perspectives that advanced analytics apply on both strategic and operational management levels that are shaping supply chain network designs.

Problemet som avhandlats i detta projekt är plockkvalitén på DHL Supply Chain i Örebro som opererar som ett distributionscenter för Ford och Volvo. Fokus i detta projekt har varit på plockprocessen på Fords avdelning. Med stigande reklamationskostnader utan vidare ökning av omsättning av varor, har detta problem varit i fokus i syfte att identifiera orsakerna samt presentera lönsamma och implementeringsbara förbättringsförslag. Problemet att avhandla har därmed varit: ”På vilket sätt kan orderprocessen effektiviseras för att minska reklamationskostnader?” De tre reklamationstyperna som varit aktuella på grund av att de är mer vanligt förekommande är: • Fel kvantitet levererat • Fel artikel levererad • Skadad artikel levererad Dessa reklamationstyper har behandlats med hjälp av olika verktyg, samt Lean-principer. Jidoka låg till grund för att bygga in kvalitet i processen genom Poka Yoke för att försvåra potentialen att plocka fel i lagret. Även Paretodiagram har varit av stor vikt för att identifiera reklamationstypen som hade störst inverkan på processen. Resultatet av detta arbete är bl.a. förbättringsförslag i form av implementering av streckkodsläsare eller pick to voice. Även förbättringsförslag i form av en modifiering av en algoritm för att försöka minska felen i val av emballage för plocket har presenterats.
The problem that was studied in this project is the pick quality in DHL Supply Chain in Örebro, which operates as a distribution center for Ford and Volvo. This project focuses entirely on the processes of the Ford department. With rising claim costs without further increase in turnover of goods, this problem has been the focus in order to identify the causes to this condition and present profitable and implementable improvement proposals to enhance the current state. The main research question that is analyzed in this thesis has thus been “How can the efficiency of the ordering process be enhanced to reduce the claim costs?”. The three types of claims that have been relevant because of their higher occurrence rate are: • Wrong quantity delivered • Wrong item delivered • Damaged item delivered These types of claims have been processed using various tools and Lean principles. Jidoka was the basis for building quality in the process through Poka Yoke, to raise the difficulty of potential picking errors in the warehouse. Even Paretodiagram have been of great importance to identify the type of claim that have the greatest impact on the process. The result of this project is, among other things, improvement suggestions that include the implementation of handscanners and pick to voice. Even improvements in the form of a modification of an algorithm to try to reduce the errors in the selection of packaging for the picking process have been presented.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2007.
Thesis research directed by: Business and Management: Logistics, Business & Public Policy. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1998.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-68).
by Jay Clark Burkholder.
M.S.

Thesis: M. Eng. in Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2014.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 57).
The concept of using different supply chain strategies for different products or product families is a fairly simple component of supply chain management. This practice, known as SKU segmentation, is widely used by many companies. However, most research and success stories involve a relatively stable portfolio of brands and products, and products with easily identifiable attributes such as profit margins and demand. This thesis attempts to determine if and how a SKU segmentation can be conducted when product mix is constantly changing and many key variables used in traditional segmentations are not known in advance. To explore this problem, we analyze one year of purchase order data and shipment data provided by our sponsor company. The objective is to use data from purchase orders to predict which items are candidates for different supply chain configurations (i.e. an expedited supply chain for time-sensitive products or an efficient supply chain if there is opportunity to reduce cost and still meet demand). We start by mapping the current supply chain process using historical data and interviews with employees. The key piece of the process we want to understand is how early or late products arrive at destination in relation to when those goods are expected in retail stores (a metric we refer to as "destination dwell time"). We then use visualization and statistical analysis to determine what PO information is related to the destination dwell time. After testing various multi-factor regression models to predict the length of this dwell time, we conclude that a neural network regression model predicts this time most accurately. We then assess whether or not it is feasible for the sponsor company to use this model to "speed up" or "slow down" the supply chain for different products as needed.
by Huiping Jin and Brad Gilligan.
M. Eng. in Logistics

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-78).
Sun Microsystem's Network Storage (NWS) Division provides computer network storage hard disk arrays to accompany Sun's core server products. In recent years, all of the incumbent network storage providers, including Sun, have been squeezed by the combination of competitors encroaching on the low-end of the business and the increased commoditization of storage products. As a result, these incumbents are under pressure to reduce costs significantly, and are scrutinizing their supply chain to identify opportunities to improve performance. Most of the production of these storage products is outsourced through either OEM relationships or contract manufacturing, creating numerous challenges for managing the supply chain. This thesis sets forth a framework for improving supply chain performance, and applies it to the Sun's Network Storage group. The supply chain analysis framework used in this thesis suggests improving a supply chain by analyzing six key elements: Metrics, Benchmarking, Inventory Management, Cycle-Time, Design for Supply Chain, and Supply Chain Structure. Metrics were developed to improve supplier delivery. Benchmarking revealed Sun's competitive position.
(cont.) Inventory management was improved with the implementation of a min-max inventory scheme to select products. Cycle-time was investigated via a direct shipment initiative and test time investigations. The upstream component led to product development recommendations. And the supply chain strategy of postponement of customization concept was developed. Key learnings include the relevance of metrics, the difficulty of moving down market, and a greater understanding of the impact product development has on operations. The research for this thesis was conducted during an internship at Sun Microsystems, within the Worldwide Operations group, in affiliation with the Leaders for Manufacturing program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
by John M. Clemens.
S.M.
M.B.A.

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT.
Thesis: S.M. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2016. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 97-99).
This thesis presents an optimization framework to model the trade-offs in strategic supply chain decision-making for a new product introduction in a real-world setting. The focus of the thesis is on a consumer medical device that Johnson & Johnson's Calibra business will launch in the future. As with any new product introduction, the launch exposes the J&J business to risk and uncertainty. We develop a mixed-integer optimization model to guide the optimal design of a global consumer medical device supply chain network comprising component suppliers, assembly facilities, sterilizers, and distribution centers. The model evaluates strategic decisions over a seven-year time horizon related to the location and capacities of various supply chain facilities and partners, transportation costs, and strategic inventory required to satisfy global demand. We developed a stochastic optimization extension of the model to protect the supply chain decision maker from demand uncertainty. Comparison of the output of the model assuming deterministic demand to a managerial heuristic resulted in total supply chain network cost reductions of 19% - 27%, amounting to hundreds of millions in present-value dollars. The stochastic optimization solution reduces infeasibility related to either not meeting the demand or transportation lead time constraints. The two models presented in this thesis enable J&J supply chain decision makers to gauge the additional costs and benefits of different network design concepts, develop a network strategy that can adapt to uncertain demand, and create a strong strategic foundation for future tactical and operational decisions.
by Samer Haidar.
M.B.A.
S.M. in Engineering Systems

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-45).
This thesis explores a variety of logistics strategies for Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions (QWBS), focusing on the OmniTRACS system and MVPc display. I develop and apply a model that considers the interactions of inventory processing and inventory movement in the context of total supply chain costs. My goal is to minimize purchased product inventory while reducing product lead-times. Without a formal model, supply chain organization decisions tend to replicate existing designs because it is difficult to find a better solution by trial and error due to the numerous alternatives and the number of variables involved. To develop an understanding of the issues at QWBS, I began by researching technology manufacturing supply chains. I also developed a cost model for analyzing QWBS's supply chain. The final form of this model is a series of spreadsheets which accepts cost data, lead times, and variable demand as key inputs, and produces overall supply chain cost distributions. The supply chain is modeled as a series of processing nodes and transfer links. The model derives its results by simulating variable demand and summing the cost contributions of the nodes and links for each trial. The supply chain research and the cost model provide Qualcomm with a realistic and usable tool to compare both intra- and inter-company supply chain designs in terms of overall channel costs. Furthermore, my results suggest that QWBS should focus its direct shipping supply chain efforts on customers whose demand variation is smaller than QWBS's overall customer average.
by John Creighton.
S.M.
M.B.A.

One of the main objectives of a firm is to add value to the firm and to earn more profit; therefore, the financial performance of a firm in a supply chain has to be managed and modelled properly. The aim of this thesis is to devise a payment strategy to improve the financial performance of a firm in a supply chain through evaluating the effects of the supply chain operation including demand variation, delivery time, customer satisfaction and horizontal and vertical integration on the financial performance of the firm. In fact, it aims to develop an optimisation mathematical model to maximise the aggregated cash flow of a firm within a time horizon through prioritising the cash outflow invoices and optimising the payment strategy parameters such as penalty rate and customer discount. To represent the cash flow of a firm as well as the movement of customers through the firm in different time periods, a cascade diagram is developed where the cash flow of a firm in each period is the summation of cash available from the previous period received from the satisfied customers plus the amount of cash received from the new customers minus the amount of cash which has to be paid to the upstream partners. Since the cash inflow of a firm in each time period is directly related to the number of satisfied customers in the previous period; therefore, the firm tries to ensure that the maximum number of satisfied customers are transferred to the next period in order to have the maximum amount of cash inflow in each period. In addition, the effects of demand variation and delivery time as a result of the supply chain operation, usually known as logistic bullwhip, on the financial performance of a firm in a supply chain are investigated in different time periods. In fact, the effects of the supply chain operation on the financial performance of a firm are formulated through introducing additional costs to the firm in each period. However, the cash outflow invoices in each period are scheduled and prioritised based on the available amount of cash in the firm and the penalty rate is applied to the customers who receive the invoices and suppose to pay the amount of invoices in each period on late payments, while the optimum penalty rate in each period is correlated to the amounts supposed to be received in the next periods and the penalty rate of the competitors. Additionally, the optimum customer discount can be applied to compensate the cost of customer dissatisfaction due to the late delivery of products to the customers. Also, horizontal and vertical integration between supply chain partners can improve the supply chain operation and, consequently the financial performance of a firm in a supply chain.

This submission for PhD by publication consists of a portfolio of nine peer reviewed and published papers. The research presented in the portfolio contributes to theory, knowledge and discussion in the area of retail marketing. The common theme of the papers is competition in grocery retailing, and specifically the way that retail marketing strategy and supply chain relations affects retail competition and outcomes for consumers. While the nine papers share a common approach in how grocery retailers compete through pricing and product choices along with their trading terms with suppliers, each individual paper addresses a distinctive central question: How does pricing competition change in the wake of a major merger in the retail grocery sector? How do grocery retailers respond in their pricing, promotion and advertising to the onset of a macro-economic crisis? Do grocery retailers encourage excessive consumption of alcohol by under-shifting excise duty increases on cheap alcohol? Why do retailers use value size pricing and offer bargain prices on jumbo-sized sugary drinks that encourages harmful excessive consumption? Is retail buyer power over suppliers detrimental to competition? In what circumstances might the development and promotion of brands and private labels be deleterious to consumers interests? How should competition authorities and practitioners assess the extent of competition between brands and private labels? How can the development of copycat private labels directly mimicking leading brands result in higher overall prices for consumers? Do retailers manipulate grocery prices to favour private labels over brands? Beyond their academic research contribution, the findings and insights provided in the papers both individually and collectively have relevance to retailers, suppliers, consumers, regulators and policymakers in desiring to see an efficient, well-functioning and dynamic grocery retail sector.

Después de Alemania, España es el segundo mayor productor de cerdos entre los 25 países de la Unión Europea. El consumidor tiene una importancia relevante debido a la tradición cultural del consumo de carne, reflejada en la gastronomía de todas las regiones de España. Cataluña forma parte de las seis regiones Europeas más productoras de cerdos y representa aproximadamente un tercio de la producción Española. El presente trabajo analiza las características y comportamiento de varios agentes que conforman la cadena de abastecimiento porcina en Cataluña, con el objetivo de valorar si estas operan de acuerdo a los parámetros de una cadena de abastecimiento Lean. Inicialmente un modelo de cadena Lean se propone como herramienta para llevar a cabo la valoración. Los resultados llevan a determinar si la situación en la cadena porcina Catalana se asemeja a una cadena tipo Lean.
After Germany, Spain is the second largest producer of pigs in the 25 European Union countries. The domestic consumer is highly relevant due to a cultural tradition of fresh meat consumption which is reflected in the gastronomy of all the regions of Spain. None more so than in Catalonia which is one of the six main European production regions accounting for approximately one third of Spanish production. This research analyses the characteristics and the performance of the various supply chain agents which make up the Catalan pork supply chain, with the objective being to assess whether these operate according to the parameters of a lean supply chain. First a lean supply chain model is proposed as a tool to carry out this assessment. Then, the performance of the Catalan pork supply chain is assessed to ascertain whether it resembles that of a lean supply chain.

Dissertação para a obtenção de Grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial
In modern business environments, an effective Supply Chain Management (SCM) is crucial to business continuity. In this context, Lean, Agile, Resilient and Green (LARG), are advocated as the fundamental paradigm for a competitive Supply Chain (SC) as a whole. In fact, competition between supply chains (SC) has replaced the traditional competition between companies. To make a supply chain more competitive, capable of responding to the demands of customers with agility, and capable of responding effectively to unexpected disturbance, in conjugation with environmental responsibilities, and the necessity to eliminate processes that add no value, companies must implement a set of LARG SCM practices and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure their influence on the SC performance. However, the selection of the best LARG SCM practices and KPIs is a complex decision-making problem, involving dependencies and feedbacks. Still, any decision-making must be supported by real and transparent data. This dissertation intends to provide two integrated models to assist the information management and decision-making. The first is an information model to support a LARG SCM, allowing the exchange and storage of data/information through a single information platform. In this model three types of diagrams are developed, Business Process Diagram (BPD), Use Cases Diagram and Class Diagram to assist the information platform design. The second is a decision-making model, designated LARG Analytical Network Process (ANP) to select the best LARG SCM practices/KPI to be implemented in SCs. Both models are developed and validated within the automotive SC, namely in Volkswagen Autoeuropa.

Orientador: Eduardo Guilherme Satolo
Resumo: A cadeia de produção do leite é composta por diversos agentes que integram a cadeia de suprimentos desde a aquisição da matéria-prima até a distribuição do produto para o cliente final. Esta cadeia tem importância em termos de contribuição econômica e social para o país ou região. Desta forma, a obtenção de produtividade não está relacionada apenas aos benefícios para o produtor, como aumento de lucratividade, competitividade no mercado, eficiência na gestão das propriedades, mas em aspectos que geram impactos na sociedade, como por exemplo geração de novos postos de trabalho. Este trabalho tem como objetivo geral, analisar quais os principais gargalos na gestão da cadeia de suprimentos leiteira de pequenos produtores da região de Tupã/SP. Desta forma, é indispensável explorar os impactos sofridos pelos produtores, a falta de apoio e orientação para que os mesmos consigam conduzir e realizar uma gestão eficiente em sua propriedade. Tal estudo apresenta a metodologia aplicada em forma de pesquisa de campo de caráter descritiva, com abordagem qualitativa, do tipo survey com aplicação de questionário com questões predominantemente fechadas com uso da escala Likert. O resultado da coleta foi apresentado por meio da análise de correspondência. Tais resultados demostraram os gargalos na cadeia de suprimentos, baseado nos oito pilares da abordagem LSCM, sendo: Gestão da Tecnologia da Informação, Gestão de Fornecedores de Insumos, Eliminação de desperdícios, Produção, Gestão de Relac... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)
Abstract: The milk supply chain is made up of products that integrate the supply chain from the raw material to the final distribution of the product to the end customer. This organization has an economic and social building base for the country or region. Thus, a strategy option is not only an advantage for the producer, such as the increase of profitability, market competitiveness, management performance of companies, but also the managerial impact on society, such as the generation of new jobs. This paper aims to analyze what are the main bottlenecks of the milk and milk industry of small farmers in the Tupã / SP region. Therefore, is necessary It is necessary to explore the impacts suffered by the producers, the lack of support and guidance for them to be able to conduct and efficiently manage their property. The study presents the applied method in the search fields, descriptive, with a qualitative approach, on the survey form, of general studies predominated closed to use the scale of Likert. The result of the collection was presented through the correspondence analysis. These results demonstrated bottlenecks in the supply chain, based on the eight pillars of the LSCM approach, namely: Information Technology Management, Input Supplier Management, Waste Disposal, Production, Customer Relationship Management, Logistics Management, Owners Commitment, and Continuous Improvement. Stands out the result of data collection for the need to improve quality, the implementation of technologi... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)
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