Timo Ala-Risku

The product centric approach: a solution to supply network information management problems?

The management of single-item level information has grown to be one of the greatest challenges of supply network management. The main reasons for this are the increasing product customisation and increasingly complex supply networks. Product customisation adds to the quantity and specificity of product-related information. Current mainstream solutions, based on integrating product information databases, are not suitable for complex, short-term supply networks. This paper presents an approach and a proposed system for managing single-item level information. The approach we call product centric information management is based on centralising information to the individual products. The proposed system uses software agents, peer-to-peer information sharing, and a coding mechanism that utilises the domain names of the Internet. We also review applications of the system in tracking and logistics control.

Life cycle costing: a review of published case studies

Purpose - Despite existing life cycle costing (LCC) method descriptions and practicable suggestions for conducting LCC analyses, no systematic analyses on actual implementations of LCC methods exist. This paper aims to review reports on LCC applications to provide an overview of LCC uses and implementation feasibility. Design/methodology/approach - A review of LCC cases reported in academic and practitioner literature. Case reports were compared against one another and against the defining articles in the field. Findings - Most of the reported LCC applications were far from ideal. Compared to the methods suggested in the literature many of the case study applications: covered fewer parts of the whole life cycle, estimated the costs on a lower level of detail, used cost estimation methods based on expert opinion rather than statistical methods, and were content with deterministic estimates of life cycle costs instead of using sensitivity analyses. Research limitations/implications - This review is limited to reported LCC applications only. Further research is encouraged in the form of a field-based multiple-case study to reveal context-specific dimensions of LCC analysis and implementation challenges in more detail. Practical implications - This review highlights the difficulty of conducting a reliable LCC analysis, and points out typical problems that should be carefully considered before drawing conclusions from the LCC analysis. Originality/value - First systematic analysis of LCC applications that gives directions for further research on the LCC concept.

Efficient tracking for short‐term multi‐company networks

Tracking of shipments is an important element of customer service in the transportation industry; and essential for logistics services as merge‐in‐transit. However, contemporary tracking systems are designed for use within a single company, and are thus invariably inadequate for multi‐company environments. The single company focus has led to a reduced span of monitoring and a diluted accessibility of information due to proprietary tracking codes and information architectures centred on the tracking service provider. This paper presents a novel forwarder‐independent approach for solving the difficulties of tracking in multi‐company supply networks. The research argues that the proposed tracking approach is superior to contemporary approaches for material flow tracking in short‐term multi‐company distribution networks.

Agent-based model for managing composite product information

The importance of product information management during the whole lifetime of the product has increased due to the technical sophistication of products as well as stricter governmental regulations for lifecycle management. Just sending the relevant product information downstream in the supply chain does not solve the challenges of product information management of complex products due to difficulties in updating the information and a risk of information overflow in the supply chain. This article describes an agent-based information management model that can be used for managing the information of complex products at a component level in a distributed manner. Further the paper presents an information management platform that can achieve information management requirements by using seven distinct messages.

Design patterns for managing product life cycle information

Agent-based architectures, taking queues from object-oriented programming, can make product information accessible in controlled ways over the Net.

Challenges for going downstream

Manufacturing companies are increasingly offering services related to the products that they supply and building capabilities to exploit better the installed base. This move downstream requires new skills to understand and manage the demand and supply networks of industrial services. However, not much research has been published on demand and supply management of such services. As it appears that leading edge companies are ahead of the academic work on industrial service provision, we approached the topic through an explorative study and interviewed representatives from five companies to determine their conceptions of the demand–supply network management of industrial services. The interviews showed that, although companies are providing industrial services, many aspects related to the supply and demand of the services are still poorly understood. This paper presents the issues raised by the company representatives that should be addressed with further research.

Integrating material and information flows using a distributed peer-to-peer information system

The management of item-level information is one of the biggest challenges currently facing supply chain management. Managing product-related information grows ever more difficult because increasing product customisation adds to the amount and variety of product-related information, and increasingly complex supply networks complicate the integration of product information databases. A potential solution for the problems of item-level information management is moving to product centric information management, namely centralising the information to individual products and accessing the relevant information directly through them. This paper presents an approach and a system for managing item-level information. The system is based on software agents, peer-to-peer information, sharing, and a coding scheme that utilises the already allocated domain names of the Internet. Applications of the system to tracking and logistics control are reviewed.

Implementing Collaboration Process Networks

The promise of process integration between organizations too often is unfulfilled and new approaches are needed. Distributed control is a new and exciting opportunity to build more effective process networks for a wide range of applications in logistics and product development. A solution based on distributed control around the consumers of services in process networks is proposed. In logistics, it is the physical delivery that becomes the focus for distributed control when you approach the service environment from the consumer perspective. In collaborative design and manufacturing, it is the product model that becomes the focus of control. A consumer perspective provides key guidelines that help manufacturers and service providers identify the design of process networks that most efficiently add value in different industries and for different applications.

Increasing customer value and decreasing distribution costs with merge‐in‐transit

A broad product assortment is usually valued highly by customers. However, holding a great number of product variants in inventory increases the costs of a supplier. It is possible to reduce need for warehousing with direct deliveries from manufacturing units, but customer value is reduced when orders are received on several shipments. Merge‐in‐transit is a distribution method in which goods shipped from several supply locations are consolidated into one final customer delivery while they are in transit. This article examines the effects of merge‐in‐transit distribution on delivery costs. The analysis is performed with a maintenance, repair, and operations products distributor as the case company. The evidence in this article supports the claim of merge‐in‐transit being a cost efficient distribution alternative in business networks. Based on the results advocates that companies in multi‐company networks should study the possibility of using the merge‐in‐transit delivery model.

Evaluating the Applicability of Merge‐in‐transit

The physical distribution of goods is one of the key success factors in fast moving markets. Many companies are involved in the search for efficient distribution alternatives, as the lead times for customer order fulfillment need to be shortened while the costs and risks of warehousing need to be minimized. Merge‐in‐transit is a distribution model where several shipments originating at different dispatching locations are consolidated into one customer delivery, without inventories at the consolidation points. This removes the need for distribution warehouses in the supply chain, and allows the customers to receive complete deliveries for their orders. However, no guidelines are available for logistics managers on how to evaluate the applicability of merge‐in‐transit operations for their particular business situation. This paper presents a systematic procedure for the evaluation of merge‐in‐transit distribution in a specific supply chain of a company. The procedure is based on recent research on activity‐based costing models in distribution operations. Additionally, the paper clearly defines merge‐in‐transit and makes a distinction between it and cross‐docking with which it is often confused.