Alexander Blecken

Horizontal cooperation in disaster relief logistics: benefits and impediments

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of opportunities involved in horizontal cooperation in disaster relief logistics. The potential and realized benefits of horizontal cooperation in disaster relief logistics, as well as related impediments are investigated.Design/methodology/approach – Case study research into three cooperative humanitarian organization initiatives.Findings – To a large extent, the same potential synergies exist in the humanitarian as in the private sector, but not all of the potential benefits have yet been realized. Humanitarian organizations focus less on cost aspects than on lead‐time and quality improvements. It is apparent that smaller organizations can benefit most from a cooperative approach. Four main impediments to a cooperative approach are identified. These concern: the perception of logistics as one of the organizations own core competences, cultural differences and mutual mistrust, a lack of transparency regarding the potential and existing ...

Inventory relocation for overlapping disaster settings in humanitarian operations

The number and scale of humanitarian operations has significantly increased during the past decades due to the rising number of humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters worldwide. Therefore, the development of appropriate planning methods for optimization of the respective supply chains is constantly growing in importance. A specific problem in the context of humanitarian operations is the supply of relief items to the affected areas after the occurrence of a sudden change in demand or supply, for example, due to an epidemic or to unexpected shortages, during an ongoing humanitarian action. When such overlapping disasters occur, goods must be relocated to existing depots in a way which enables rapid supply to regions with new and urgent demand. At the same time, ongoing operations have to continue, i.e., the other regions should not suffer from shortages, and possible future emergencies must be taken into account. This is a planning situation under uncertainty as it is not known in advance if and where a disruption—and hence additional demand—will occur. In this paper, an optimization model for such situations is developed based on penalty costs for non-satisfied demand. A rolling horizon approach for solving the model is presented, and it is shown that taking into account the possibility of future disruptions can help to balance inventories and to reduce total non-served demand.

A humanitarian supply chain process reference model

Humanitarian operations comprise a wide variety of activities. These activities differ in temporal and spatial scope, as well as objectives, target population and with respect to the delivered goods and services. Despite a notable variety of agendas of the humanitarian actors, the requirements on the supply chain and supporting logistics activities remain similar to a large extent. This motivates the development of a suitably generic reference model for supply chain processes in the context of humanitarian operations. Reference models have been used in commercial environments for a range of purposes, such as analysis of structural, functional, and behavioural properties of supply chains. Our process reference model aims to support humanitarian organisations when designing appropriately adapted supply chain processes to support their operations, visualising their processes, measuring their performance and thus, improving communication and coordination of organisations. A top-down approach is followed in which modular process elements are developed sequentially and relevant performance measures are identified. This contribution is conceptual in nature and intends to lay the foundation for future research.

Usability Evaluation of a Learning Management System

In this paper current usability evaluation methods are systematically examined and assessed. Thereupon, suitable evaluation methods are selected and applied in the evaluation of a learning management system. Usability evaluation methods can be distinguished in analytical and empirical procedures with either summative or formative objectives. A case example in the form of a usability evaluation of a learning management system is presented. The co-active e-learning platform koaLA provides teaching and learning material and integrates Web 2.0-technologies such as wikis, weblogs and forums. A cross-sectional survey revealed that although koaLA offers collaborative features, the majority of users of all user groups does not use them. Recommendations for koaLA are derived based on the qualitative and quantitative data from the survey.

Optimal Stock Relocation under Uncertainty in Post-Disaster Humanitarian Operations

The number of world-wide emergencies and disasters which trigger humanitarian operations is ever-increasing. Although general research contributions to supply chain management in the context of humanitarian operations have risen significantly, operations research techniques have not yet comprehensively been applied in this context. A literature review categorizes existing approaches in the pre- and post-disaster phases. Filling an identified gap in current literature, a model for optimal stock relocation under uncertainty in risk-prone post-disaster scenarios is formulated. The model is solved with an optimal and a heuristic approach. It is found that overall costs can be significantly reduced compared to a benchmark model when the uncertainty of demand in post-disaster scenarios is taken into account.

Design and implementation of an MDA interface for flexible data capturing

The need for high flexibility to react to market changes and customer demand is constantly growing for both short- and long-term success of companies that want to succeed in global markets. The simulation of material flows in modern factories offers these companies the possibility to plan and optimize their floor shops in a fast and cost-efficient way and enables them to react to changes and malfunctions. The most expensive factor in such simulation experiments is the data capturing process from the actual factory. This paper describes the concept and implementation of a generic interface for machine data acquisition into the simulation system d3FACT insight. The interface enables data transfer from a real production system into simulation to initialize and update the simulation model. Within this approach the Devices Profile for Web Services specification will be used. By the use of the developed approach, simulation tools are doing one step further to a possible daily use.

A method for the hierarchical planning of the structure, dimension and material requirements of manufacturing systems

Growing competition creates pressure among companies to run their production in a cost-optimal way and yet adapt immediately to changes in their environmental conditions. Decisions must always consider the integration of the companies in globalised markets on both the demand and supply side. This paper deals with the optimal planning of decisions concerning the structure and dimension of production facilities. The methods used for material requirements planning are selected and configured according to these decisions. These decision problems are represented in the form of four hierarchically layered partial models, each of them realised and iteratively solved by a mathematical optimisation model. The hierarchical planning method is evaluated using a practical case example based on a valve production system of a manufacturing company.

Development of a Lean Quality Management System: An Integrated Management System

The automotive industry and in particular the automotive supplier industry need to master significant challenges in the future. The Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) require products of highest quality at lowest cost from their suppliers. In order to assure quality, all large automotive manufacturers require an independently certified quality management system, in particular ISO/TS 16949, from their suppliers. These quality management systems often involve a substantial efforts both in time, work and documentation and are thus frequently not consequently followed or face little employee acceptance. On the other hand, companies try to reduce production cost by establishing stable and efficient processes with methods and tools of lean management. This paper deals with an approach which integrates these two management systems, i.e. quality management and lean management, to an integrated and comprehensive Lean Quality Management System. Methods and tools of lean management are used to fulfil the requirements of the quality management system. Two pilot projects served to validate the developed integrated management system.

An Agent Based Modelling Approach for Stochastic Planning Parameters

Many planning problems are influenced by stochastical environmental factors. There are several planning algorithms from various application domains which are able to handle stochastic parameters. Correct information about these stochastic parameters has impact on the quality of plans. There is a lack of sufficient research on how to obtain this information. In this paper, we introduce a Multiagent System (MAS) that is able to model stochastic parameters and to provide up-to-date information about these parameters. Due to their access to locally available informations expert agents are used, which apply the paradigm of Bayesian Thinking in order to provide high quality information to planning agents.