Jelena Vlajic

Using vulnerability performance indicators to attain food supply chain robustness

High effectiveness and leanness of modern supply chains (SCs) increase their vulnerability, i.e. susceptibility to disturbances reflected in non-robust SC performances. Both the SC management literature and SC professionals indicate the need for the development of SC vulnerability assessment tools. In this article, a new method for vulnerability assessment, the VULA method, is presented. The VULA method helps to identify how much a company would underperform on a specific Key Performance Indicator in the case of a disturbance, how often this would happen and how long it would last. It ultimately informs the decision about whether process redesign is appropriate and what kind of redesign strategies should be used in order to increase the SCs robustness. The applicability of the VULA method is demonstrated in the context of a meat SC using discrete-event simulation to conduct the performance analysis.

Framework for designing robust supply chains

Today’s business environment and harsh competitiveness force companies and entire supply chains to increase their efficiency as much as possible. As a consequence, supply chains have become highly sensitive to disruptions and less tolerant to deviations in operations, that is, supply chains have become more vulnerable (see Kleindorfer and Saad, 2005). Vulnerability of supply chains may result in less consistent supply chain performances, and consequently, their competitive power in the market may diminish. In order to maintain stability of supply chain performances, it is necessary to design robust supply chains. Robust supply chains should be able to continue to function well in the event of a disruption as well as in the normal business environment (see Dong, 2006; Tang, 2006; Waters, 2007). Generally, robustness of the supply chain depends on its capability to respond adequately to different kinds of risks of disturbances. Recently, supply chain vulnerability and robustness has become a hot research topic, and as such, it is still in its infancy. With this paper, we aim to contribute to the existing knowledge in these areas.

Creating loops with value recovery: empirical study of fresh food supply chains

Abstract In an era of increased scarcity of resources and pollution, the concept of the circular economy is re-emerging to steer supply chains towards more sustainable business practices. The potential of value recovery provides opportunities for the creation of circular supply chains. Reverse flows and value recovery processes are scarcely studied in the context of fresh food supply chains. In this paper, we report findings from an empirical study of three fresh food supply chain networks by considering: product residual value, quantities available for recovery, value from recovery and markets for recovered products. We show that (1) financial value from recovery is a necessary condition for profitability of operations of any value recovery process in fresh food supply chains, but not for the occurrence of the corresponding loop itself; (2) reuse and remanufacturing loops likely feed into alternative markets, while recycling loops likely feed back into fresh food supply chains.