Amar Ramudhin

Designing supply chains with sustainability considerations

Increasing social awareness together with the new regulations for carbon and waste management are forcing enterprises to reconsider their supply chains with respect to economic, social and environmental objectives. Furthermore, cap and trade legislation for greenhouse gas emissions introduces a new level of complexity. This article presents a comprehensive methodology to address sustainable supply chain design problems where carbon emissions and total logistics costs, including suppliers and sub-contractors selection, technology acquisition and the choice of transportation modes, are considered in the design phase. The proposed methodology provides decision makers with a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model to determine the trade-off between economic and environmental considerations. This methodology is illustrated through the study of a Canadian firm operating in the steel industry which is facing a new legislation that caps carbon emissions. The results show how emission trading market can be used to reduce the carbon dioxide abatement cost.

Carbon Market Sensitive Green Supply Chain Network Design

This paper introduces a mixed integer mathematical model formulation for the ¿Carbon-Market Sensitive - Green Supply Chain Network Design¿ problem (CMS/GSCND) where carbon trading considerations are integrated within the supply chain network design phase. The solution methodology allows the evaluation of different strategic decisions alternatives, such as supplier and subcontractor selection, product allocation, capacity utilization, and transportation configuration, and their impact in terms of carbon footprint. This new formulation provides decision makers with the ability to understand the trade-offs between total logistics costs and the impact of greenhouse gases reduction. It also allows offsetting the latter through both supply chain reengineering and carbon trading. Model validation, results, and extended analysis are demonstrated via a numerical study.

Carbon market sensitive sustainable supply chain network design

Abstract Sustainable Supply Chain Network Design involves taking into account social, economic and environmental objectives at design time. While the social dimension is sometime harder to capture or quantify in mathematical terms, the Emission Trading Schema (ETS) introduces a natural trade-off between the economic and the environmental dimensions. This article addresses the design of supply chains that are also sensitive to the carbon market. Carbon emissions and total logistics costs are integrated in the design of the supply chain using a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model that is solved by goal programming. The proposed methodology provides decision makers with the ability to evaluate the trade-offs between total logistics costs and carbon offsetting under different supply chain operating strategies, environmental regulatory constraints and carbon market evolution. The approach is presented through an illustrative example derived from the steel industry where new legislation imposes regulatory carbon caps on emissions. The results show that this approach is a good starting point for a more comprehensive framework for sustainable supply chain network design.

A generic framework to support the selection of an RFID-based control system with application to the MRO activities of an aircraft engine manufacturer

Radio frequency identification (RFID) has received a lot of attention lately. It is said that RFID tags will provide real time tracking of every item in the supply chain, providing end to end visibility and therefore total control over the supply chain. Yet, the technology is still in its infancy and it is very difficult for practitioners to distinguish between the hype created by vendors and reality. This paper, first, briefly reviews the literature on current technology, implementation studies and research trends. It then introduces a generic framework to be used in the design of an RFID based tracking and control system that should be useful for all practitioners for the selection of right type of technology. The framework is then applied to the service centre of an aircraft engine manufacturer which specialises in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activities. Two RFID part tracking systems are proposed. The first system is classical in nature and uses currently available technology. The second system exploits new concepts that are currently in development such as decentralised processing, wireless communication and holonic control that really make use of the full potential of RFID technology. It is our opinion that such intelligent systems will be the way of the future. We conclude by identifying a number of research issues that need to be solved in order to implement a true holonic manufacturing system with RFID technology.

A Framework for the Modelling, Analysis and Optimization of Pathways in Healthcare

Systems as complex as healthcare raise several challenges when applying a business process modelling approach within improvement projects. Although there is an abundance of process modelling frameworks, each with their own areas of emphasis, there is still room for a methodology which is specifically able capture all of the dimensions of interest particular to healthcare organizations. In this paper we introduce medBPM (medical Business Process Modelling), a new framework for healthcare process modelling, analysis and optimization that captures processes by documenting the underlying activities, movements, decisions points, events and queues, and also the unique pathways of patients, healthcare workers, material and information through these processes. This new framework has been tested and validated in various healthcare studies of which one studys results are presented

On the design of ustainable, green supply chains

Increasing regulatory legislations for carbon and waste management and the concerns on corporate social responsibility are driving forces behind sustainable supply chain network design which involves taking into account social, economic and environmental objectives at design time. While the social dimension is sometime harder to capture or quantify in mathematical terms, the Emission Trading Schema (ETS) introduces a natural trade-off between the economic and the environmental dimensions. This article addresses the design of supply chains that are sensitive to the carbon market where carbon emissions (environmental dimension) and total logistics costs (economic dimension) are integrated in the design of the supply chain using a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model that is solved by goal programming. The approach is presented through an illustrative example in the steel industry where new legislation imposes regulatory carbon caps on emissions. The results show that this approach is viable and offers a good starting point for a comprehensive framework for sustainable supply chain network design that can be expanded to include social aspects relating to the community.

Gradient method in solving nonlinear cost of quality functions in supply chain network design

Abstract The design of a supply chain network is of great importance as it aims at optimizing costs throughout the supply chain. Traditionally, this optimization has considered operations related costs such as sourcing, production, transportation, inventory at each site in the network. Quality related costs were either ignored or considered indirectly. In a previous work, we showed how Cost of Quality (COQ) functions can be used as a viable indicator of the level of quality at each site and integrated in supply chain network design (SCND) models. This results in a non-linear MIP model, which poses challenges to solve. In this work, we develop a gradient-search based solution procedure to solve the model effectively for practical implications. The integration of COQ functions allows managers to explicitly consider the maturity levels of both internal sites (plants) and external partners such as suppliers or subcontractors. More importantly, it can be used as an additional metric by which the partners are measured during the annual evaluation process to see if they have progressed in their maturity levels, i.e. in mastering the costs of quality. COQ also opens a new avenue of research in SCND as the model and hence the solution procedure will vary based on the different ways COQ functions are incorporated in the model.

A two-phase multi-criteria decision support system for supply chain management

Multi-criteria decision-making techniques have been used to solve a range of real world problems in management science and specific supply chain management (SCM) problems (e.g. supply chain design and reconfiguration, purchasing, scheduling, supplier selection). The results obtained are encouraging. Nevertheless, robust approaches for solving multi-criteria supply chain problems are still in progress, and more research is needed before an effective and operational framework can be developed. The proposed approach introduces a two-phase hierarchical approach to solve a multi-criteria SCM problem integrating both strategic and tactical decisions where the supply chain is evaluated based on the supply chain operations reference model. The latter considers various metrics such as delivery reliability, flexibility, responsiveness and cost. The first phase evaluates different supply chains configurations using analytic hierarchy process. The second phase solves the network for the optimal safety stock placement using dynamic programming. The output from this two-phase process is a supply chain network configuration that has the right amount of safety stocks at the right place to absorb variability in demand.

Incorporating the cost of quality in supply chain design

Due to the complexity of the supply chain, sourcing and distribution activities within the supply chain require a fair deal of orchestrating in order to eliminate delays and other inefficiencies. For this reason, researchers have worked effortlessly to incorporate a wide range of parameters as to model the supply chain. Issues pertaining to quality are of great importance in organizations. Some literature has discussed quality from the perspective of the supply chain and acknowledged the lack of a consistent vision pertaining to quality throughout the supply chain. In this paper we consider the practical implication of integrating Cost of Quality (COQ) into supply chain modeling. Further, this paper introduces two different models. Each model remedies the limitations encountered when modeling COQ into the supply chain and tailors to a different possible scenario within the frame of the supply chain.

Improving healthcare reliability by integrating Six-sigma in a business process modeling and analysis strategy

Six-sigma methodology provides real and concrete results in healthcare systems by mitigating and eliminating variations in critical processes. However, using Six-sigma alone in complex environments can lead to unproductive and inefficient work due to a misunderstanding of the process interactions. Combination of both business process modeling and six-sigma helps achieve a highly reliable, customeroriented and process-based healthcare system. Business process modeling allows a deep understanding of complex care pathways and helps in identifying those pathways which are critical to the patient. Six-sigma methodology on the other hand helps to improve the reliability and minimize the risks in the critical patient pathways. While the literature is full of studies and examples of the individual techniques for improving healthcare services there is little evidence on the best way of combing these tools to accelerate improvement programs. This paper presents a framework which will provide guidance to healthcare organizations seeking a sustainable strategy for operational excellence with a high-level of process reliability by integrating both Six-sigma tools and a business process modeling technique.