Faustino Alarcón

Order promising process for extended collaborative selling chain

This paper presents a solution method that supports the order promising (OP) process of a product-pack (P-P) in an extended collaborative selling chain (ECOSELL) domain. A P-P is a group of products with complementary functions that can be jointly commercialised. The flexible dimensions of a P-P order request are the conventional ones (quantity, due date, delivery location and price) plus an additional dimension: the possibility of defining dependencies among the other flexible dimensions. Furthermore, the P-P products can belong to different supply chains that must be properly co-ordinated in order to provide a reliable response to the customer. These features make the P-P OP process more complex than the traditional one. Due to the lack of works on this topic, the first step consists of defining all possible P-P OP scenarios. A new three-tier solution method for the proper management of due date and delivery location quoting in all possible P-P OP scenarios is presented in this paper. Only the first tier is described in detail. Results derived from the application of the solution method to a pilot composed by two supply chains belonging to the ceramic and kitchen furniture sectors are also reported.

A model-driven DSS architecture for delivery management in collaborative supply chains with lack of homogeneity in products

Uniform product deliveries are required in the ceramic, horticulture and leather sectors because customers require product homogeneity to use, present or consume them together. Some industries cannot prevent the lack of homogeneity in products in their manufacturing processes; hence, they cannot avoid non-uniform finished products arriving at their warehouses and, consequently, fragmentation of their stocks. Therefore, final uniform product amounts do not match planned production ones, which frequently makes serving previous committed orders with homogeneous quantities impossible. This paper proposes a model-driven decision support system (DSS) to help the person in charge of delivery management to reallocate the available real inventory to orders to satisfy homogenous customer requirements in a collaborative supply chain (SC). The DSS has been validated in a ceramic tile collaborative SC.

Conceptual Framework for the Interoperability Requirements of Collaborative Planning Process

In order to achieve the multiple benefits of the collaborative planning (CP) process in a supply network (SN) context, some interoperability-related obstacles should be saved. The design and characterization of the CP process is a critical time to identify not only the interoperability requirements (IR), but also the CP components they affect. This paper presents a conceptual framework for the simultaneous characterization of the CP process and the identification of the potential IR to be saved for implementing collaboration. This early IR identification can help define the interoperability problem space that is essential for the solution space definition, thus saving subsequent costs and efforts.

Internet of Things Applications in Production Systems

The Internet of Things field has been applied in industries for different purposes. This paper presents a literature review of Internet of Things applications in the production system. A taxonomy with five categories has been employed in this review: Sector, Technology, Production Phase, Practical Application and Benefit. The sectors, technology and production phase where IoT is being introduced practically or theoretically have been identified, and the benefits of IoT in production systems have been collected and classified. This research presents the advantages of applying Internet of Things in production systems, which helps not only production systems managers in practical implementations, but also researchers to identify research gaps for future research.

Impact of Coordination Mechanisms on the Collaborative Planning Process Components

In this paper a conceptual framework for characterizing the Supply Chain (SC) Collaborative Planning (CP) under a process perspective is presented. When analyzing the CP process view, the definition of coordination mechanisms among SC members results essential. With the aim of identifying the possible coordination mechanisms that SC members can implement, the structural elements necessary to define them are proposed. Finally, the impact that the coordination mechanisms structural elements have on the definition of the CP process is presented. The knowledge of the CP process, the coordination mechanisms and their relationship constitutes the basis for the latter identification of potential activities that can be supported by decision tools and for the partially or totally automation of the process.

Event Classification System to Reconsider the Production Planning

On-going production planning can be affected by unexpected events that modify the planned scenario. Decision makers must react in some way to avoid problems in the production system when these events appear. Thus providing information about these events can be critical for decision makers, as events can affect not only operational processes but also previously made decisions. We herein propose an event monitoring system that classifies events into different impact levels. This information helps production decision-makers to consider changes in the on-going production planning. Furthermore, a risk matrix can be built, which determines the significance of the risk from the impact level and the likelihood. This likelihood of occurrences of these events can be estimated from the historical information of the event monitoring system. A prototype has been built following this proposal.

Identifying the Main Uncertainties in the Agri-Food Supply Chain

Change in products, process, technology and markets are significantly contributing to an increase in the uncertainty level of the Supply Chain. The result is that the companies must take decisions with less information or more ambiguous, on shorter times and with higher penalty costs. In the agri-food sector, managing the uncertainty is especially important, not only to control the effects of these factors, but also because it is a sector characterized by the existence of large sources of uncertainty throughout the process, from the growing in the countryside to the conservation in the retailers’ shelves, with perishable products, special transport requirements or treatment of products that can suppose health risks. In this paper, a framework of analysis is presented to evaluate the impact of the sources of uncertainty on three key aspects (quantity, quality and time) for each of the stages of AF-SC and at each decision level (strategic, tactical and operational).

Transversal Competences as a Medium of Teaching. The Case of Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Transversal competences are included in some curricula as an independent subject, however they can be a way to enhance learning in specific subjects, which also helps students to develop their new competences. Activities associated to the transversal competences have to be incorporated into the curricula, and should help the student in the learning process. It is necessary to establish the relationship between the activity to be developed and the learning outcome to be achieved. This paper proposes a method to help the lecturers to select the best learning activity using transversal competences as a medium of instruction. The proposal has been applied to the creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship competence.

Simulación y Juegos de rol como herramienta de innovación en la asignatura Deontología y Profesionalismo

Simulation and role-playing are techniques that allow working the competence Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship. This article presents the design and development of an activity based on simulation and role play totally located in the future professional field of our students, Computer Engineering. It should be highlight, the high degree of participation of the students in the activity carried out and their involvement in the role that they have to assume.

Event Monitoring System to Classify Unexpected Events for Production Planning

Production planning prepares companies to a future production scenario. The decision process followed to obtain the production plan considers real data and estimated data of this future scenario. However, these plans can be affected by unexpected events that alter the planned scenario and in consequence, the production planning. This is especially critical when the production planning is ongoing. Thus providing information about these events can be critical to reconsider the production planning. We herein propose an event monitoring system to identify events and to classify them into different impact levels. The information obtained from this system helps to build a risk matrix, which determines the significance of the risk from the impact level and the likelihood. A prototype has been built following this proposal.