Marc Paquet

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.

Including technology selection decisions in manufacturing network design models

This paper presents an optimization methodology to design a network of manufacturing facilities producing several products, with non-trivial bills of material, under deterministic demands. The mathematical programming model developed finds the optimal structure of the manufacturing network, it defines the mission of the selected facilities and it determines the technology and the capacity of each facility. The approach takes economies of scale and scope into account. The model is formulated, a solution method based on Benders decomposition is derived and computational results are presented.

A manufacturing network design model based on processor and worker capabilities

This paper presents an optimization methodology to design networks of manufacturing facilities producing several products under deterministic demand. The bill of materials and the operations for each product are taken into account through the use of a product-state graph. Starting from the current state of the manufacturing network, the approach considers a multi-period planning horizon. For each period it specifies the facilities to open within the set of current and potential facilities, the mission for each of the centres in the selected facilities, the equipment to be used for producing the goods, and the structure of the network. Taking human resource competencies into account, the approach selects the type of workers to use for executing the manufacturing tasks. The transfer of resources between plants is also considered. A multi-period mixed integer linear programming model is formulated, a solution method based on the addition of specialized cuts is proposed and computational results are presented.

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.

Multi-Agent Decision-Making Support Model for the Management of Pre-Hospital Emergency Services

Abstract—This article focuses on the theme of modeling and that of decision-making support in complex systems. We are interested more precisely in multi-agent decision-making support models. This work, carried out in collaboration with “Urgences-santé de Québec”, is applied to the design of a decision-making support system dedicated to the management of pre-hospital emergency services. For this system we propose a model based on reactive agents and a generic architecture.

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.

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.

Designing and evaluating sustainable supply chains : a carbon market oriented approach

Increasing regulatory legislations for carbon and waste management and the focus on corporate social responsibility are driving a major focus on supply chain sustainability. In this research, a goal programming model is proposed to address a supply chain design problem with environmental considerations. Carbon emissions (environmental dimension) and total logistics cost (economic dimension) are considered in order to evaluate the supply chain performance. A crucial contribution of our work is that, together with incorporating regulatory environmental constraints such as emissions “cap” and putting a price tag on carbon emissions, we comprehensively model compliance strategies for the supply chain including suppliers and sub-contractors selection, technology acquisition, and transportation modes configuration. The results obtained show that this approach is a viable decision tool and offer a good framework for designing and evaluating efficient and environmental supply chains.