Gopal Agarwal

Green supply chain management practices and performance: The role of firm-size for emerging economies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organizational size on adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices for the Indian industry. It also evaluates the impact of GSCM practices on organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach This study aims to empirically test the GSCM model to investigate the present orientation of the Indian industry toward GSCM practices using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The statistical inferences were drawn using the data provided by 161 Indian firms. This has compared the GSCM practice implementations among small-sized, medium-sized and large-sized organizations. Findings The study reveals that Indian organizations have shown a satisfactory implementation of majority of the environmental practices, except supplier ISO:14001 certification and Tier-II supplier evaluation. Out of 21 practices, medium-sized organizations have adopted GSCM practices at a similar level compared with large organizations, with three exceptions: existing environmental management systems, support from mid-level and top management and supplier evaluation for environmental practice. It was found that GSCM adoption can lead to equal improvements in operational performance for both large-size and medium-size organizations. Originality/value This paper makes two major contributions in the domain of green supply chain practices in India. First, it investigates the adoption of GSCM practices in organizations of different sizes (small, medium and large) and the impact of GSCM practices on the performance of organizations of different sizes. Second, it identifies the key areas for improvement and recommends a set of measures for improving the implementation of GSCM practices in Indian organizations.

An application of supplier selection in supply chain for modeling of intangibles: A case study of multinational Food Coffee industry

The objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive method for the evaluation and selection of suppliers’ offers in food industry. The supplier/vendor selection is a decision-making problem at the strategic management level that involves a semi-structured process. The inclusion of both tangible and intangible criteria in evaluation and selection of the best among the offers provided by various suppliers is a complex problem. Along with this the complexity of supply chain relationships and enterprise strategies especially within enterprise clusters aggravates decision making. Application of supply chain concepts has been made in service industry as no such work has been attempted earlier. Personnel qualification roster (PQR) coffee company is selected which is offering specialty coffee along with fusion food through its more than 130 outlets. Food and drink supply chain is relatively new domain and in India not much work has been done. Analytic hierarchy process (ANP) is solved with the help of software “super decisions”. The case study validates the applicability of proposed models and provides insight in to the role of intangible factors in decisions related to supply chain. The recommendations made will not only result in stream lining of supply chain processes in PQR coffee company but will result in substantial savings also due to reduced lead time, reduced inventory level, better service level and effective control and coordination among the partners.

Evidence of Supply Chain Management in Indian manufacturing firms: A survey

Abstract Despite the extensive research carried out in the area of Supply Chain Management (SCM) throughout the world, SCM practices have not yet been very well-adopted in developing countries like India. This paper assesses the present status and scope of SCM practices through an extensive survey conducted among the Indian manufacturing organizations. In this survey, opinion of Indian managers across the country has been assessed. A number of issues such as level of information sharing with their immediate customers, mode of communication in supply chain, degree of investment in supply chain automation tools, and benefits of using bar coding technology have been addressed in the context of Indian manufacturing companies. The paper presents statistical analysis of the survey responses indicating the usefulness of the findings to the firms contemplating implementation of SCM practices. The findings of this article would provide important implications for the management in the manufacturing companies to understand determinants that contribute to the SCM success. More importantly, based on the obtained results, these companies can enhance the SCM performance by improving the current practices/strategies through focusing on the determinants that significantly influence SCM performance.

Design, Development & Experimental Investigation of Electro-Discharge Diamond Surface Grinding of Ti-6Al-4V

Abstract: Ti-6Al-4V are used extensively in aerospace, medical, marine and surgical implants etc. but it is hard to machine. Machining of advanced difficult-to-machine very hard materials (Ti-6Al-4V, composites and ceramics) is a big challenge. By conventional machining processes, their machining is not only costly but results in poor surface finish and shorter tool life. To meet these challenges, new hybrid machining process (HMP) has been developed. This article is focused on hybrid machining process comprising of conventional surface grinding along with electro-discharge machining between the periphery of metal bonded diamond grinding wheel and flat rectangular shape workpiece. This process has the advantage of shaping advance engineering materials and difficult-to- machine very hard materials. The experimental investigations of various input parameters like wheel RPM, duty factor, current and pulse on-time on material removal rate of Ti-6Al-4V in EDDSG process have been reported here on newly self designed & fabricated set up. Keywords: Electro-Discharge Diamond Surface Grinding (EDDSG), Hybrid Machining Process (HMP), Ti-6Al-4V.

A simulation study of performance of MRP based systems under interaction effects

Abstract This paper pertains to a study carried out on a typical Material Requirements Planning (MRP) based system. An integrated MRP based system was developed. This integrated package facilitates studying the effects of variations in Master Production Schedules (MPS), Bill of Materials (BOM) structure, inventory supports, lot sizing, capacity planning, scheduling rules and shop floor conditions. The system behaviour is captured using simulation. The direct and interacting roles of uncertainties, capacity variations, scheduling rules and lot sizing rules on the system performance have been studied in detail. The details of the system, the modules and their capabil-iiies and the analyses of results are presented in this paper.

Risks assessment of lower tier suppliers using operational reliabilities and product availabilities

The recent disturbing events across the globe such as climatologic disasters, epidemics, political instability, terrorism and financial scams have emanated the potential risks to global supply chains practices. Apart this the inclination towards the efficient strategies like lean practices, lower inventories, outsourcing and single sourcing are also making the supply chains vulnerable to dependency risks. Supply chains can be disrupted at supply side, customer side or at the focal firm locations during the processing, but the associated criticality is that the severity of the risks propagates through supply chains and deteriorates the performance of not only the one firm but the entire network. This paper examines risks to the supply side primarily focusing on lower tier suppliers which are usually the small medium enterprises. In this study elements of system reliability and product availability are estimated with the infrastructural risks of lower tier suppliers to develop a combined risk assessment index under demand and supply uncertainties. This approach can further be enhanced to rank suppliers and to assess overall supply chain performance.

Influence of Dielectric Jet Flushing during Electro Discharge Diamond Surface Grinding Process

The influence of dielectric jet flushing during Electro Discharge Diamond Surface Grinding (EDDSG) on Ti-6A-4V has been reported in this paper. The metal bonded diamond grinding wheel is used as electrode in Electro Discharge Diamond Surface Grinding process. In this process mechanical grinding is coupled with electrical spark of electrical discharge machine to take up the advantages associated with hybrid machining process. The important input parameters in this investigation were “duty factor”, “wheel speed (rpm)”, “magnitude of current (ampere)” and its “duration (Ton, micro-second)”. The effects of these parameters on outcomes i.e. material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (Ra) are measured. The noticeable enhancements in material removal rate and surface finish have been seen during EDDSG of Ti-6Al-4V with effective jet flushing. The performance of EDDSG with jet flushing and without jet flushing has been compared.

Optimization of Electro-Discharge Diamond Surface Grinding Process Parameters with Multiple Performance Characteristics of Ti-6Al-4V Using Grey-Taguchi Approach

The present paper reports the optimization of process parameters in hybrid machining process (Electro-Discharge Diamond Surface Grinding) of Ti-6Al-4V with multiple performance characteristics using the combination of Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) and Taguchi approach. The various input process parameters in this work are wheel speed (RPM), duty factor, current (ampere) and pulse on-time (µs). In this research work nine experiments have been conducted according to the Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array on in-house-designed & fabricated EDDSG set-up. The machining parameters wheel speed (S), duty factor (DF), current (I) and pulse on-time (Ton) are optimized with consideration of multiple performance characteristics such as material removal rate (MRR) and average surface roughness (Ra). The confirmation experimental results show that combined Grey-Taguchi approach enhances the machining performance in EDDSG of Ti-6Al-4V.

Modeling of Risk Management Strategies for SMEs Using ANN under Various Levels of Operational Risks

In competitive world, it becomes essential for the firms to consider the risks and uncertainties as the core concerns. To control the risks, various strategies like multiple sourcing, horizontal/ vertical integrations, buffer stocks etc are employed. But, out of many available risk mitigation strategies, SMEs usually prefer to keep excess safety stocks to manage the operational risks as they have feeble control and position in supply chain as well as limited means to employ other strategies, which requires skills and resources. Keeping appropriate safety stocks becomes a very complex and crucial problem for SMEs as excess stocks reduces the efficiency and shortage of it may make their position vulnerable in supply chains. Concerning to this issue, this paper focuses on operational risks with SME perspectives and explores the appropriate safety inventory levels using artificial neural network models and the results are further simulated with various settings of risk scenarios.

Selection of end user in supply chain network using Fuzzy-Pareto approach

Supply chain is one of the major backbones of business processes. Supply chain management requires substantial number of deterministic processes so that uncertainty in supplier and end user identification could be resolved. The world is becoming more and more a global market place and the global environment forcing the firms to take almost everything into consideration at the same time. Increase flexibility is required to remain competitive and respond to rapidly changing market. In this context, supplier selection represents one of the most important functions to be performed by the purchasing department. Supplier selection is a multi criterion problem which includes both quantitative and qualitative factors. In order to select the best supplier it is necessary to make a tradeoff between these tangible and intangible factors some of which may conflict. In order to accomplish certain authentic identification of end user selection with several conflicting criteria, the present paper proposes a novel method of Fuzzy Pareto paradigm in supply chain environment. The data for validating the model has been prepared from questionnaire and few brief inferences have been accomplished from the model.