Search results for "Operations"
showing 10 items of 1692 documents
Inventory policies and information sharing in multi-echelon supply chains
2011
The aim of this article is to show how to modify a replenishment rule in relation to the operational information shared by suppliers. More specifically, we present a model of an Automatic Pipeline Variable Inventory and Order-Based Production Control System rule for a multi-echelon supply chain characterised by different increasing levels of shared information. A numerical study is presented to underline the performance differences for three variants of the smoothing order rule in terms of bullwhip reduction, inventory stability and operational and customer responsiveness. Results show how the effectiveness of a smoothing replenishment rule depends on the level of information sharing.
Formulations for an inventory routing problem
2014
In this paper, we present and compare formulations for the inventory routing problem (IRP) where the demand of customers has to be served, over a discrete time horizon, by capacitated vehicles starting and ending their routes at a depot. The objective of the IRP is the minimization of the sum of inventory and transportation costs. The formulations include known and new mathematical programming formulations. Valid inequalities are also presented. The formulations are tested on a large set of benchmark instances. One of the most significant conclusions is that the formulations that use vehicle-indexed variables are superior to the more compact, aggregate formulations.
Capturing citizens — Emerging needs: Using social networks in smart cities
2017
In order to reach its objectives, smart cities (or whatever kind of smart urban environment) should be underpinned by complex cyber physical systems (CPS) able to discover needs and services and "smartly" combine them. Services may be thought as services offered by software components, of whatever nature, for instance software, bot, robot, app and so on. Searching for the best service depends on the need of the citizen(s) and also on the type of (smart) environment the citizens are in. Analysis and design of CPSs are more challenging than the only physical or the only cyber system. We propose a design paradigm shift towards runtime for identifying requirements of cyber physical systems for …
Is the French mobile phone cartel really a cartel?
2009
International audience; France Telecom (FT), SFR and Bouygues Telecom (BT) have been fined by France's Conseil de la Concurrence (CC) for organizing a mobile phone cartel with stable market shares (one-half, one-third and one-sixth, respectively) and for directly exchanging commercial information. While not contesting the legal decision, it is argued here that the economic reasoning is flawed. (1) As the CC made much of the firms' stable market shares, we have first followed this line of reasoning by considering that the market shares are quotas under uniform costs. Even if there is a general incentive to form a monopolistic cartel, BT was too small for it to be worth its while to join it; it i…
Combined fuzzy TOPSIS and AHP-based methodology for the prioritization of maintenance key performance indicators: Application to an oil refinery plant
2017
A Maintenance Performance Measurement model based on the use of Maintenance Key Performance Indicators (MKPIs) is proposed in the present paper. Referring to a specific industrial context, a multi-level hierarchical structure is firstly designed to highlight the most meaningful perspectives which affect the maintenance performance. Then, MKPIs selected from the literature or properly formulated to detail some particular perspective of the investigated maintenance process are assigned to the hierarchical framework and prioritized by a Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-based approach.
Measuring innovation in long product development cycle industries: an insight in biotechnology
2009
This paper examines and measures innovation in the context of biotechnology firms by analysing the link between R&D, innovation performance and organisational growth. We conceptualise innovation performance as a latent construct with two dimensions: innovation efficacy and innovation efficiency. We use structural equations modelling to test the hypotheses on a data set from the biotechnology industry. Results support our innovation performance conceptualisation which is found to be especially useful to measure innovation in industries with long product development cycles. Findings also underline the importance of R&D knowledge creation for biotechnology firms.
An AHP-based approach to PMISs assessment
2015
The project management environment gets complex and subject to uncertainty. The firm's managers need of tools supporting the decision–making process in order to properly manage project information. PMISs provide features facilitating the project management. The variety of software and the ambiguity of features meaning make the choice of the PMIS a difficult task. The literature analysis confirms the importance of user engagement in features and PMIS assessment and the lack of methodologies satisfying such a task. The paper focuses on the classification and assessment of features of PMIS considering the firm's needs. A case study is presented for the evaluation of a PMISs sample.
Is experience a useful resource for business model innovation?
2016
ABSTRACTBusiness model innovation has been proposed as a powerful strategic tool, able to offer competitive advantage, create markets and even reshape industries. Despite these powerful effects, little research has been conducted into studying and improving business model generation methods, and even less study has gone into analysing how to define new business models that can exert a disruptive effect on markets and industries. Our work tries to fill this gap, analysing whether experience encourages or discourages the generation of disruptive business models. An empirical analysis was carried out using an experimental methodology. The results seem to contradict the currently dominant Resou…
Smart ICT Support for Business Networks
2005
Modern companies lean increasingly towards innovating and renewing their business operations in a more value-adding and customer-centric direction. As a prerequisite to this, a number of companies are willing to combine their knowledge and resources, for instance by forming strategic alliances supported by a mixture of open ICT infrastructure and proprietary and interoperable ICT applications. This study examines a network of three focal companies that are seeking cost-efficient expansion of their services. As the potential market for these complex customer services is worldwide, the objective is expected to be met only with the help of ICT. Furthermore, the view among the companies is rela…
Collaboration experience in the supply chain of knowledge and patent development
2017
In this paper, we aim at understanding the role of collaboration experience in supply chains of knowledge (SCoK). The SCoK of a company is its supply chain not related to the flow of physical goods but to the flow of R&D commodities. R&D commodities are for example patents, technologies, research services, studies, and projects, and, in high-tech industries, their development and commercialisation are considered as important as real products. To accomplish our aim in this paper, we fulfil the following research objectives: (1) investigate the relationship between the collaboration experience in SCoK and the propensity of the firm to develop new patents; (2) examine how the structural embedd…