Operations and Supply Chain Management Commons^™

An Empirical Estimation Of Statistical Inferences For System Dynamics Model Parameters, Mohammed Mesabbah, Wael Rashwan, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

For system dynamics simulation (SD) models, an estimation of statistical distributions for uncertain parameters is crucial. These distributions could be used for testing models sensitivity, quality of policies, and/or estimating confidence intervals for these parameters. Assumptions related to normality, independence and constant variation are often misapplied in dynamic simulation. Bootstrapping holds a considerable theoretical advantage when used with non-Gaussian data for estimating empirical distributions for unknown parameters. Although it is a widely acceptable approach, it has had only limited use in system dynamics applications. This paper introduces an application of Direct Residual Bootstrapping (DRBS) for statistical inference in system dynamic …

Managing Value In Supply Chains: Case Studies On The Sourcing Hub Concept, Anupam Agrawal, Arnoud De Meyer, Luk N. Van Wassenhove

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A firm’s raw material sourcing knowledge can be a strategic resource. This article explores how firms can capture and use this knowledge. It examines the sourcing experiences of four firms in four different countries in the automotive industry and identifies the raw material sourcing knowledge-related parameters. Synthesizing the findings from these case studies, it proposes the concept of the sourcing hub—a collaborative center involving the firm, its suppliers, and raw material suppliers—which can effectively capture and deploy the raw material sourcing knowledge for managing value in upstream sourcing.

A Universal Appointment Rule With Patient Classification For Service Times, No-Shows And Walk-Ins, Cayirli Tugba, Kum Khiong Yang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study evaluates patient classification for scheduling and sequencing appointments for patients differentiated by their mean and standard deviation of service times, no-show, and walk-in probabilities. Alternative appointment systems are tested through simulation using a universal Dome rule and some of the best traditional appointment rules in the literature. Our findings show that the universal Dome rule performs better in terms of reducing the total cost of patient’s waiting time, doctor’s idle time, and overtime, and its performance improves further with the right sequencing of patient groups. Although it is a challenge to find the best sequence, we propose a …

Tls Newsletter Volume 9, Edition 3. November, 2014, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the Newsletter: TLS Meeting on Wednesday November 19. Upcoming Events. TLS President's Corner. Get to know Thomas Phengchanh. TLS on Tour--Volkswagen Parts Distribution Center. TLS Philanthropy: 14th Annual Hubbard House Holiday Drive. In the Know: AST & L Certification in Transportation and Logistics. Life after Graduation with Brandon Little

An Examination Of Product Innovation And Buyer-Supply Relationships In Pakistani Firms, Muhammad Shakeel Sadiq Jajja, S.Haukat Ali Brah, Syed Zahoor Hassan, Vijay R. Kannan

Management Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interface between buyers and suppliers in the context of product innovation in an emerging economy. Specifically, it examines the strategic and tactical initiatives necessary to drive inter-organizational alignment and thus positive innovation outcomes. It also examines the impact of organizational characteristics on product innovation. Design/methodology/approach – Using survey data from 191 organizations in Pakistan, a structural equation model of the relationships between buyers’ and suppliers’ strategic focus on innovation, supplier innovation focus, collaborative innovation, and measures of product innovation and market performance is tested. In addition, hierarchical regression analysis is used …

The Role Of Operations Executives In Strategy Making, Lieven Demeester, Arnoud De Meyer, Jovan Grahovac

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Creating competitive advantage based on operations capabilities is likely to require much analysis and communication within the operations function. At the same time, much communication and joint strategizing with the top and other functional executives is likely to be needed as well. Hence, given that operations executives have limited time and also have to perform many other routine tasks, they need to manage two tradeoffs. The first one is between the time spent on strategy making and the time spent on everything else. The other is within strategy making, between the time spent on "functional deliberation" within the operations function …

Isscm Cohort, Fall 2014-2015, Raj Soin College Of Business, Wright State University

ISSCM Master Cohort Posters

Poster featuring the Fall 2014-2015 Cohort from the Master of Information Systems and the Master of Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management Programs.

Tls Newsletter Volume 9, Edition 2 October, 2014, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the Newsletter: TLS Meeting Wednesday October 15th. TLS President's Corner. Get to Know Kelly Pennington, TLS Secretary. TLS on Tour--Pilot Pen Assembly and Distribution Center. Expand Your Network--Get Involved with Professional Organizations. Life after Graduation with Toby Robin

Strategic Sourcing In The Presence Of Uncertain Supply And Retail Competition, Jianqing Chen, Zhiling Guo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper develops an analytical model to evaluate competing retail firms’ sourcing strategies in the presence of supply uncertainty. We consider a common supplier that sells its uncertain supply to two downstream retail firms engaging in price competition in a horizontally differentiated product market. The focal firm has a dual-sourcing option, while the rival firm can only source from the common supplier. We assess the system-wide effects of supply uncertainty on the focal firm's incentive to pursue the dual-sourcing strategy. We find that the focal firm's dual-sourcing strategy can create a win-win situation that leads to increased retail prices and …

Stability And Endogenous Formation Of Inventory Transshipment Networks, Xin Fang, Soo-Haeng Cho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper studies a cooperative game of inventory transshipment among multiple firms. In this game, firms first make their inventory decisions independently and then decide collectively how to transship excess inventories to satisfy unmet demands. In modeling transshipment, we use networks of firms as the primitive, which offer a richer representation of relationships among firms by taking the coalitions used in all previous studies as special cases. For any given cooperative network, we construct a dual price allocation under which the network is stable for any residual demands and supplies in the sense that no firms find it more profitable …

Auction With Rolling Horizon For Urban Consolidation Centre, Chen Wang, Stephanus Daniel Handoko, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A number of cities around the world have adopted urban consolidation centres (UCCs) to address some challenges of their last-mile deliveries. At the UCC, goods are consolidated based on their destinations prior to their deliveries into the city centre. In many examples, the UCC owns a fleet of eco-friendly vehicles to carry out the deliveries. A carrier/shipper who buys the UCC’s service hence no longer needs to enter the city centre in which time-window and vehicle-type restrictions may apply. As a result, it becomes possible to retain the use of large trucks for the economies of scale outside the city …

Capacity Planning With Financial And Operational Hedging In Low‐Cost Countries, Lijian Chen, Shanling Li, Letian Wang

MIS/OM/DS Faculty Publications

The authors of this paper outline a capacity planning problem in which a risk-averse firm reserves capacities with potential suppliers that are located in multiple low-cost countries. While demand is uncertain, the firm also faces multi-country foreign currency exposures. This study develops a mean-variance model that maximizes the firm’s optimal utility and derives optimal utility and optimal decisions in capacity and financial hedging size. The authors show that when demand and exchange rate risks are perfectly correlated, a risk- averse firm, by using financial hedging, will achieve the same optimal utility as a risk-neutral firm. In this paper as well, …

Tls Newsletter Volume 9, Edition 1 September, 2014., Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the Newsletter: TLS Fall Kick-off Meeting. TLS President's Corner. Upcoming Events. Get to Know Fallon McDonald, TLS Newsletter Editor. T & L Fall Career Day 2014. Jump-start your career--How to Graduate with a Degree and a Job. UNF T & L Students Travel to National Conferences. Life After Graduation with Veer Patel.

Designing Efficient Infrastructural Investment And Asset Transfer Mechanisms In Humanitarian Supply Chains, Shantanu Bhattacharya, Sameer Hasija, Luk N. Van Wassenhove

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We analyze the efficacy of different asset transfer mechanisms and provide policy recommendations for the design of humanitarian supply chains. As a part of their preparedness effort, humanitarian organizations often make decisions on resource investments ex ante because doing so allows for rapid response if an adverse event occurs. However, programs typically operate under funding constraints and donor earmarks with autonomous decision-making authority resting with the local entities, which makes the design of efficient humanitarian supply chains a challenging problem. We formulate this problem in an agency setting with two independent aid programs, where different asset transfer mechanisms are considered …

Optimization Of Resources To Improve Patient Experience In The New Emergency Department Of Mater Hospital Dublin, Heba Habib, Waleed Abo-Hamad, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Healthcare systems globally are facing capacity issues due to the increased demand of health services, the high cost of resources and the level of quality anticipated of service providers. Emergency Departments (ED) are the most pressurized unit in healthcare systems due to uncertainty in demand and limited resources allocated. Mater Hospital (one of leading hospitals) in Dublin has built a new (state-of-the-art) unit for ED yet faced an issue in resourcing the unit to optimize performance. This paper presents an integrated solution to optimize the capacity of the new ED before opening to public and examine improvement interventions in the …

Integrating Simulation Modelling And Value Stream Mapping For Leaner Capacity Planning Of An Emergency Department, Esmat Swallmeh, Ayman Tobail, Waleed Abo-Hamad, James Gray, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Recently, the application of lean thinking in healthcare has grown significantly in response to rising demand, caused by population growth, ageing and high expectations of service quality. However, insufficient justifications and lack of quantifiable evidence are the main obstacles to convince healthcare executives to adopt lean philosophies. This paper presents a real application of the successful implementation of a methodology that integrates Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and simulation modelling to improve an emergency department (ED) of a University hospital in Dublin. Appling lean approach in operations will minimize the patient waiting time and improve service time. VSM points out to …

Impact Of Component Supplier Branding On Profitability, Stefan Worm, Rajendra K. Srivastava

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In recent years, many business-to-business (B2B) component supplier (CS) firms have added branding to their marketing toolbox. By extending the logic of ingredient branding to B2B components, they aim to create “pull” from B2B end customers by building a strong CS brand image among their customers' customers. In contrast with the established “push” approach of building strong relationships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), it is unclear whether and under which conditions CS branding is a worthy strategy. On the one hand, anecdotal evidence suggests that suppliers can leverage strong CS brand image in negotiations with increasingly powerful OEMs to enhance …

Cellular Bucket Brigades On U-Lines With Discrete Work Stations, Yun Fong Lim, Yue Wu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

It is challenging to maximize and maintain productivity of a U-line with discrete stations under the impact of variability. This is because maximizing productivity requires assigning workers to suitable tasks and maintaining productivity requires sufficient flexibility in task assignment to absorb the impact of variability. To achieve this goal, we propose an operating protocol to coordinate workers on the U-line. Under the protocol the system can be configured such that its productivity is maximized. Workers are allowed to dynamically share work so that the system can effectively absorb the impact of variability. Analysis based on a deterministic model shows that …

Robust Two-Stage Stochastic Linear Programs With Moment Constraints, Sarah Yini Gao, Lingchen Kong, Jie Sun

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We consider the two-stage stochastic linear programming model, in which the recourse function is a worst case expected value over a set of probabilistic distributions. These distributions share the same first- and second-order moments. By using duality of semi-infinite programming and assuming knowledge on extreme points of the dual polyhedron of the constraints, we show that a deterministic equivalence of the two-stage problem is a second-order cone optimization problem. Numerical examples are presented to show non-conservativeness and computational advantage of this approach.

Service Systems With Finite And Heterogeneous Customer Arrivals, Rowan Wang, Oualid Jouini, Saif Benjaafar

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We consider service systems with a finite number of customer arrivals, where customer interarrival times and service times are both stochastic and heterogeneous. Applications of such systems are numerous and include systems where arrivals are driven by events or service completions in serial processes as well as systems where servers are subject to learning or fatigue. Using an embedded Markov chain approach, we characterize the waiting time distribution for each customer, from which we obtain various performance measures of interest, including the expected waiting time of a specific customer, the expected waiting time of an arbitrary customer, and the expected …

Modeling Queues With Simulation Versus M/M/C Models, Kum Khiong Yang, Joyce M. W. Low, Cayirli Tugba

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper examines the performance of single-queue service systems using a combination of computer simulation and M/M/C queuing models. Our results show that the accuracy of M/M/C models is significantly affected by the assumptions supporting the models. Managers should therefore exercise caution in using the M/M/C models for designing queuing systems when the models’ assumptions are violated. Our results show that cost-centric and servicecentric firms should manage their queues differently. While cost-centric firms should target higher arrival load, single service session, and front-loaded arrival pattern for higher efficiency, service-centric firms should strive for lower arrival load, multiple short sessions and …

The Business Of Beds: An Exploration Of Hotel And Hostel Business Strategy, Robert B. Bunda

Honors Scholar Theses

At their cores, hotels and hostels are similar in that they provide a place for travelers to stay. Despite this core similarity, the structures of the two industries are radically different. The hotel industry began in the Middle Ages and has given rise to massive multinational companies, many managing more than four thousand hotels. In stark contrast, the hostel industry began in 1909 and is mostly comprised of independently owned and operated guesthouses, with the largest global chain comprising of less than twenty properties. This study first defines the hotel and hostel industries and examines the different experiences they offer …

Assortment Planning Of Automotive Products: Considerations For Economic And Environmental Impacts Of Technology Selection, Ali Taghavi, Ratna Babu Chinnam

Industrial and Systems Engineering Faculty Research Publications

A manufacturer’s assortment is the set of products that the company offers to its customers. Assortment planning considerably affects both the sales revenue and product offering costs for the company and it had experienced growing attention across different industries over recent decades. In this study, we propose a modeling framework that seeks to identify the optimal assortment for a manufacturer of configurable products (in particular, automobiles). Our model accounts for environmental considerations (Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements, tail-pipe emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of the fuel used to power the vehicle) during assortment planning. We formulate …

Sourcing Hub, Anupam Agrawal, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Arnoud De Meyer

Asian Management Insights

Managing the suppliers of your suppliers may be a lot of work, but there is plenty of value in unlocking the supply chain.

Optimization Of A Small Business's Sustainability Using Life-Cycle Analysis Software And Benefit Corporation Assessment Tools, Zachary Paul Angelini

Student Research Projects

American Bench Craft produces hand-crafted American-made goods that include leather wallets, cardholders, belts, bracelets, etc. Their unique designs have a very specific focus on simplicity, which is the key to making their mission work.

Mission: Quality & Durability

Simple products are more durable. Less parts equals less susceptibility to failure. Simple designs and premium materials make their products truly built to last.

Mission: American Jobs

Their simple design concept allows them to manufacture right here in the USA, manufacture locally and utilize chronically underemployed populations. They are creating American jobs where they are needed the most.

Mission: Environmental Sustainability

The …

Blue And Orange Lunch Line, Donald Riger

College of Business and Economics Presentations

The fall 2013 section of Supply Chain Management 420-Creating Sustainable Goods and Services, taught by Dr. Tom Gattiker, completed a group project using the Green Breakthrough process which is based on Design Thinking. The assignment for this portion of the course was a written proposal for a product or service that:

– Is highly innovative, not incremental

– Meets a customer (e.g. student, faculty) need

– Has a significant environmental benefit

– Related to the BSU / our campus

– Customer facing

– Could be implemented at BSU (or nearby) within one year

I was a member of team 2 …

The Promises And Challenges Of Innovating Through Big Data And Analytics In Healthcare, Donald E. Wynn, Renée M. E. Pratt

MIS/OM/DS Faculty Publications

In this article, we present the promises and challenges of big data and analytics (BD&A) in healthcare, informed by our observations of and interviews with healthcare providers in the US and European Union (EU). We then provide a set of recommendations for capitalizing on the extraordinary innovation opportunities available through big data.

Tls Newsletter Volume 8, Edition 7. April, 2014, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the newsletter: TLS meeting with bingo and club elections on April 9th. Upcoming events and TLS President's Corner. A review of the year in pictures. Get to know TLS Adviser Lynn Brown. CTL Certification: What you need to know before you graduate. Life after graduation with Shauna Tekula

The Sourcing Hub And Upstream Supplier Networks, Anupam Agrawal, Luk N. Van Wassenhove, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we explore how firms can better manage their sourcing by developing relationships not only with their suppliers but also with their suppliers' suppliers. We detail an empirical case study explaining how the firm developed relationships with its suppliers and raw material suppliers via a collaborative center, the sourcing hub. We then analytically model the scenarios encountered in our empirical work and examine two facets of upstream sourcing under uncertain demand scenarios: (a) firms can supply raw material directly to their suppliers, and this may be beneficial for the firm and its suppliers; and (b) firms can bring …

Distributionally Robust Mixed Integer Linear Programs: Persistency Models With Applications, Xiaobo Li, Karthik Natarajan, Chung-Piaw Teo, Zhichao Zheng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we review recent advances in the distributional analysis of mixed integer linear programs with random objective coefficients. Suppose that the probability distribution of the objective coefficients is incompletely specified and characterized through partial moment information. Conic programming methods have been recently used to find distributionally robust bounds for the expected optimal value of mixed integer linear programs over the set of all distributions with the given moment information. These methods also provide additional information on the probability that a binary variable attains a value of 1 in the optimal solution for 0–1 integer linear programs. This probability …