Ralph W.L. Ip

A conceptual model of performance measurement for supply chains

Supply chain management (SCM) has gained a tremendous amount of attention from both industries and researchers since the last decade. Until now, there are numerous papers, articles, and reports that address SCM, but there is still a lack of integration between the existing performance measurement methods and practical requirements for the SCM. An innovative performance measurement method is proposed to provide necessary assistance for performance improvement in SCM. The proposed method will address this purpose in these four aspects: a simplified supply chain model; tangible and intangible performance measures in multiple dimensions; a cross‐organizational performance measurement; and fuzzy set theory and weighted average method.

An AHP approach in benchmarking logistics performance of the postal industry

Purpose – To develop a new benchmarking process for continuous improvement against the market leader, and report a case study in the postal industry by employing the proposed benchmarking process.Design/methodology/approach – A double AHP methodology is developed in this paper to divide benchmarking process into two main parts: performance evaluation and continuous improvement. Both qualitative and quantitative factors have been taken into consideration. The first phase aims at evaluation of the performance of the benchmarked company and its competitors. The second phase aims at finding the best practice from a list of improvement alternatives based on the first phase.Findings – The proposed framework can evaluate the performance of the case company against its competitors. It can also help the company to select the best improvement alternative for implementation in order to enhance its performance on the weakest measures.Originality/value – The proposed benchmarking process in this paper can help the cas...

An innovative scheme for product and process design

Abstract In today’s faster-paced markets, the focus has shifted to innovation, flexibility and swiftness in terms of product design, process planning, logistics planning and associated supply chain operations. To this end, an innovated scheme for integrated product and process design (ISIPPD) is proposed in this paper with the description of the proposed scheme from the stage of product visualization to process design, with a view to directly generating an optimized process plan based on the product raw data. In this scheme, a neutral data file representing product features is used as the data source for generating the product feature code. Based on such feature coding representation, a detailed process plan can be generated through a process optimization module that incorporates an object-based knowledge system for achieving enhancement in terms of resource allocation. The significance of this research can be shown when various versions of product design with the associated process plans are available for analysis, and benchmarking via an object-based knowledge system, thereby facilitating an integrated product and process design approach.

Investigation of the reconfigurable control system for an agile manufacturing cell

A new type of manufacturing cell, with characteristics of reconfigurability, reusability and scalability, needs to be developed. To achieve the agile reconfiguration of a manufacturing cell, the cell control system must be rapidly and efficiently generated or modified. In this paper, a multi-agent based architecture is defined that supports the design and implementation of highly reconfigurable control systems for agile manufacturing cells, which are comprised of resource agents (material processing agents, material handling agents, and material storage agents), a control agent, and an information agent, in order to reduce costs and increase the control systems agility with respect to the changing environment. Different agents in the cell control system can be organized dynamically, communicate with each other through messages, and cooperate with each other to perform flexibly the task in the cell control system. The structure of the agents is proposed and the message-passing between agents is discussed in detail.

An intelligent information infrastructure to support knowledge discovery

Abstract The lack of seamless data interchange and efficient data analysis hinders the formation of an effective information infrastructure that serves as the universal platform for data interchange across heterogeneous database systems. This paper proposes the design and implementation of an information infrastructure embracing the emerging eXtensible Markup Language (XML) open standard, together with an intelligent data mining technique combining On-Line Analysis Process (OLAP) and rule-based reasoning approaches to support knowledge discovery. To validate the feasibility of this hybrid approach, an information infrastructure prototype is developed and tested in a company with description of this case example covered in this paper.

M‐commerce to support the implementation of a responsive supply chain network

Purpose – This paper proposes an infrastructure of a responsive supply chain network, focusing on the deployment of the m‐commerce technology which transforms a traditional supply chain network to be more effective in coping with market changes.Design/methodology/approach – The proposed supply chain infrastructure embraces the concepts of distributed object technology, wireless markup language (WML), and extensible markup language (XML) schema to enable efficient data exchange among various data objects which reside in distributed platforms over geographically‐isolated regions, thereby leveraging the responsiveness of the entire supply chain network. A case study is conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed model.Findings – Recent studies have found that wireless technology, mobile computing and internet programming techniques drive the development of mobile solution in various industries. Apart from location tracking of goods as well as relevant services, m‐commerce is able to play an importa...

An economical sculptured surface machining approach using fuzzy models and ball-nosed cutters

Abstract Assigning a constant feedrate for a ball-nosed cutter in the manufacturing of sculptured surfaces cannot achieve an optimum material removal rate (MRR). This is because the actual cutting speed on the cutting edges of the cutter is varying due to the change of surface gradient. In addition, the cutting force cannot be maintained at a constant level when the cutting speed changed. In this study, a fuzzy based MRR optimization approach is proposed in order to increase the machining efficiency. An optimum feedrate for each cutting point in the machining of sculptured surfaces is calculated, and the cutting force is kept constant. The surface gradient and tool life are treated as the fuzzy input variables. A machining trail demonstrated that the MRR was increased by 41% in comparison with the conventional constant feedrate cutting for the same surface.

Development of a fuzzy push delivery scheme for Internet sites

Push technology is the term recently linked with Web-based products to indicate the built-in capability of the software package to deliver relevant information to the user automatically. In this paper, a fuzzy push delivery scheme is described which ‘observes’ the movements of the user within the Web pages and then evaluates the personal interests and preferences of the user. With the information available from the fuzzy scheme, Web site information favoured by visitors can be ‘pushed’ to them without even being requested. To verify the feasibility of the concept, a Web site with various shopping spots has been developed with built-in functions to detect the time of stay in various sites by visitors . Output from the proposed fuzzy scheme is compared with the perception of the interest level given by the visitors themselves for its evaluation. The built-in feature of the scheme can significantly enhance the functionality and attractiveness of the Web site involved and hence improve its competitiveness in the global market. The development of the proposed scheme and its evaluation in an emulated Internet environment are covered in the paper.

Implementation of logistics information system to support reverse logistics: a case study

The carrying back of goods sold to the market has grown to be an important area of the logistics system for manufacturers today. Increased concern for the environment has led to new techniques to design products and supply chains that are both economically and ecologically feasible. The aim of this paper is to propose an infrastructure framework for supporting the design and implementation of a reverse logistics system. The first target is using the reverse logistics infrastructural framework to minimise the total logistics cost. The company should not only count the cost of forward logistics in terms of pushing the goods to the market, but also take into consideration the cost of taking the goods back to the point of origin. The second target is to set up the relevant information management tools to execute the reverse logistics activities at the minimum cost of additional expenses of the company. To validate the feasibility of the approach, a case study on a telecommunications services supply company has been conducted with promising results.

A real time performance measurement technique for dispersed manufacturing

Whether or not a company is able to compete in the local and global arena depends significantly on how effectively the company can build up the partnership synergy with their business counterparts. With the emergence of a dispersed manufacturing network, the important issue is the criteria for the selection of the right partners for the right tasks. In this respect, it is essential to develop the necessary techniques to measure the performance of potential business partners prior to making the decision of partner selection. This paper suggests a performance measurement technique incorporated with on‐line analytical processing (OLAP) technology to support enterprise decisions related to selecting appropriate business partners. It also includes examples to illustrate how to apply this technique in real industrial situations.