John Peter Fasano

Applying supply chain optimization techniques to workforce planning problems

The IBM Research Division has developed the Resource Capacity Planning (RCP) Optimizer to support the Workforce Management Initiative (WMI) of IBM. RCP applies supply chain management techniques to the problem of planning the needs of IBM for skilled labor in order to satisfy service engagements, such as consulting, application development, or customer support. This paper describes two RCP models and presents two approaches to solving each of them. We also describe the motivation for using one approach over another. The models are built using the Watson Implosion Technology toolkit, which consists of a supply chain model, solvers for analysis and optimization, and an Application Programming Interface (API) for developing a solution. The models that we built solve two core resource planning problems, gap/glut analysis and resource action planning. The gap/glut analysis is similar to material requirements planning (MRP), in which shortages (gaps) and excesses (gluts) of resources are determined on the basis of expected demand. The goal of the resource action planning problem is to determine what resource actions to take in order to fill the gaps and reduce the gluts. The gap/glut analysis engine is currently deployed within the IBM service organization to report gaps and gluts in personnel.

Distribution center location for green supply chain

In this paper, a simple mix integer programming for distribution center location is proposed. Based on this simple model, we introduce two important factors, transport mode and carbon emission, and extend it a model to describe the location problem for green supply chain. Sequently, IBM Watson implosion technologh (WIT) tool was introduced to describe them and solve them. By changing the price of crude oil, we illustrate the its impact on distribution center locations and transportation mode option for green supply chain. From the cases studies, we have known that, as the crude oil price increasing, the profits of the whole supply chain will decrease, carbon emission will also decrease to some degree, while the number of opened distribution center will increase.