Sunil Mithas, Zhi‐Long Chen, Terence J.V. Saldanha
et al.
Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, additive manufacturing, advanced robotics, autonomous vehicles, and the Internet of Things are frequently mentioned as part of “Industry 4.0.” As such, how will they influence operations and supply chain management? We answer this question by providing a brief review of the evolution of technologies and operations management (OM) over time. Because terms such as “Industry 4.0” do not have a precise definition, we focus on more fundamental issues raised by Industry 4.0 emerging technologies for research in OM. We propose a theory of disruptive debottlenecking and the SACE framework by classifying emerging technologies in terms of the functionalities they enable: sense, analyze, collaborate, and execute. Subsequently, we review the nascent but rapidly growing literature at the interface between digital technologies and OM. Our review suggests that one way to assess the value of Industry 4.0 technologies can be via their influence on adding revenues, differentiating, reducing costs, optimizing risks, innovating, and transforming business models and processes. Finally, we conclude by proposing an agenda for further research.
Md Zahidul Anam, Soumik Sarkar, A.B.M. Mainul Bari
et al.
The adoption of blockchain technology holds enormous potential to promote sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry. Blockchain technology can be employed to monitor medicine movements, check drug authenticity, manage patient information, and improve the overall supply chain sustainability performance and data management. However, there are considerable challenges associated with adopting and implementing blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical sector, particularly in an emerging economy like Bangladesh. This study, therefore, aims to develop a framework that identifies and analyzes the challenges in emerging economies using an integrated Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach combining Pythagorean fuzzy theory with the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. First, the key challenges were identified from the literature review and expert feedback. Then, the Pythagorean fuzzy DEMATEL (PF-DEMATEL) method was used to assess, rank, and explore the relations among these identified challenges. The obtained results suggest that the most crucial challenges to adopting blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical industry in emerging economies are the complexity to integrate blockchain into the existing system (prominence weight 6.699), data storage and security issues (prominence weight 6.495), and lack of proper IT infrastructure (prominence weight 6.376). Results also indicate that the lack of long-term vision for sustainable implementation (causal weight 1.231) is the most influential, and the lack of universal applicability and proper standardization (causal weight −0.30) is the most influenced challenge. The study's outcome is expected to aid industry managers and policymakers in devising more outcome-based strategies to successfully implement blockchain technology and ensure long-term sustainability in the pharmaceutical sector.
This article examines the utilization of computer simulation techniques for optimizing warehouse locations, an essential component of efficient supply chain management. The study employs a detailed simulation model built using FlexSim software to analyze various decision-making scenarios and identify the optimal warehouse locations while considering market demand for different products. The model integrates a finite set of decision variables and constraints specific to the logistics problem, offering a structured approach to evaluate alternative strategies. Key stages in the development of the simulation model are outlined, including the definition of input parameters, the execution of simulations, and the interpretation of results. The findings demonstrate that virtual simulation modeling significantly enhances decision-making processes by providing precise insights into the interactions within the distribution network. Additionally, the use of simulation results in considerable time and cost savings by reducing the need for costly physical trials. This research underscores the effectiveness of computer simulation in optimizing warehouse locations, contributing to improved supply chain performance and operational efficiency.
Businesses today specialize in their core competencies and outsource their other operations due to the emerging perception of competition brought on by the large-scale similarity of production, the quick spread of technology and information systems, and the disappearance of international borders. One of the most common fields of outsourcing activity is Third Party Logistics (3PL) service, and the Organizational Performance elements of 3PL service providers are listed as Service Quality, Relationship Management and Organizational Effectiveness. This research aims to examine the Organizational Performance criteria of the 3PL providers serving the production enterprises and to evaluate the relationship structure between the mean and standard deviation values of the statements in the survey. The empirical results obtained from frequency, regression and standard deviation analyses show that Guanxi, Reliability, Assurance, and Trust positively affect Organizational Effectiveness. However, only Trust has a positive and statistically significant impact on Service Quality.
The development of smart agriculture has become a critical issue for the future of smart cities, with large-scale management of aquaculture posing numerous challenges. Particularly in the fish farming industry, producing single-sex fingerlings (especially male fingerlings) is crucial for enhancing rearing efficiency and could even provide key support in addressing future global food demands. However, traditional methods of manually selecting the gender of broodfish rely heavily on experienced technicians, are labor-intensive and time-consuming, and present significant bottlenecks in improving production efficiency, thus limiting the capacity and sustainable development potential of fish farms. In response to this situation, this study has developed an intelligent identification system based on the You Only Look Once (YOLO) artificial intelligence (AI) model, specifically designed for analyzing secondary sexual characteristics and gender screening in farmed fish. Through this system, farmers can quickly photograph the fish’s cloaca using a mobile phone, and AI technology is then used to perform real-time gender identification. The study involved two phases of training with different sample sets: in the first phase, the AI model was trained on a single batch of images with varying parameter conditions. In the second phase, additional sample data were introduced to improve generalization. The results of the study show that the system achieved an identification accuracy of over 95% even in complex farming environments, significantly reducing the labor costs and physical strain associated with traditional screening operations and greatly improving the production efficiency of breeding facilities. This research not only has the potential to overcome existing technological bottlenecks but also may become an essential tool for smart aquaculture. As the system continues to be refined, it is expected to be applicable across the entire life cycle management of fish, including gender screening during the growth phase, thereby enabling a more efficient production and management model. This not only provides an opportunity for technological upgrades in the aquaculture industry but also promotes the sustainable development of aquaculture. The smart aquaculture solution proposed in this study demonstrates the immense potential of applying AI technology to the aquaculture industry and offers strong support for global food security and the construction of smart cities.
Jai Deep Pandey, Mahesh Kumar , Geetanjali Sharma
et al.
Supply chain operations go well when demand is stable, but when demand fluctuates, the chain's behavior becomes unbalanced and its participants may face risks to their financial well-being. Demand rate fluctuations are referred to as having an imprecise nature. Because burning petrol and diesel releases numerous pollutants that harm the environment, it is to blame for carbon emissions. Nowadays, a popular term related to production inventory optimization for the greening effect and other policies is carbon emissions tax. Present paper deals with the application of queuing in supply chain management where demand is imprecise in nature and has been taken as a triangular fuzzy number under carbon emissions. In the final, we have minimized the total fuzzy inventory cost with the applications of queuing theory for the supply chain management under carbon emissions. Numerical examples have been verified for the model, and sensitivity analysis of inventory parameters has been taken for good utilizations in various industrial scenarios.
Lucas Henrique Pereira Silva, Jacqueline Roberta Tamashiro
A busca pela qualidade na indústria da construção civil depara-se com os desafios no uso de insumos que atendam às normas vigentes. No Brasil, desde 2015 a comercialização de produtos cerâmicos deveria estar restrita às empresas que atendessem aos critérios de regulamentação técnica imposta pela Portaria nº 558/2013 do INMETRO. Entretanto ainda é muito comum encontrar materiais que não atendem as especificações. Assim, este trabalho avaliou a conformidade de blocos cerâmicos fabricados na cidade de Presidente Epitácio-SP. Foram analisadas as características gerais, geométricas, propriedades físicas e mecânicas dos tijolos cerâmicos das 5 empresas presentes no município. Com base nos resultados obtidos, concluiu-se que nenhuma das olarias cumpre todas as exigências da NBR 15270, sendo imperativo que se dedique esforços na padronização e implementação de controle durante todo o processo produtivo dos blocos cerâmicos, evitando assim o desperdício e diminuindo custos na construção civil.
Production management. Operations management, Production capacity. Manufacturing capacity
The article analyses the problems (dilemmas) in approach to the environmental protection and management. EU has declared the plan for the Great Reset of global economy and environmental politics. The idea is not new, but the approach is expected to be completely different. While the EU leaders set the strategy of centralisation, there are strong claims for opposite way – decentralisation. The second dilemma we analyse in our article is the problem of European Commission massive support of green investments (including using of renewable sources of energy and focus of environmental protection), especially after lockdowns connected with covid pandemic which meets with the strong negative position of those economical circles which see such types of initiatives as green shooting to the economy. Terra Carta as an integral part of Sustainable Markets Initiative was launched in 2020. The third dilemma we pay our attention is connected with the efficiency of new environmental taxes. The article focuses also on the good practice as can be seen in environmental protection management efforts and green solutions for using and saving energy resources. As an examples we assess the projects supporting use of renewable energy in Africa (e.g. Lights for Africa), Cradle to Cradle Program (C2C) and we go back to the Come2CoM. The whole is analysed in the context of corporate social responsibility.
M. N. Harish, M. N. Harish, Anil K. Choudhary
et al.
Conventionally tilled maize–wheat cropping system (MWCS) is an emerging cereal production system in semi-arid region of south-Asia. This system involves excessive tillage operations that result in numerous resource- and production-vulnerabilities besides impeding environmental-stresses. Likewise, phosphorus is a vital nutrient that limits crop growth and development. It’s a matter of great concern when ∼80% of Indian soils are low to medium in available-P due to its sparing solubility, resulting in crop stress and low yields. Hence, crop productivity, photosynthetic parameters and resilience to nutritional and environmental stresses were assessed in a MWCS using four crop-establishment and tillage management (CETM) practices [FBCT-FBCT (Flat bed-conventional tillage both in maize and wheat); RBCT-RBZT (Raised bed-CT in maize and raised bed-zero tillage in wheat); FBZT-FBZT (FBZT both in maize and wheat); PRBZT-PRBZT (Permanent raised bed-ZT both in maize and wheat)], and five P-fertilization practices [P100 (100% soil applied-P); P50+2FSP (50% soil applied-P + 2 foliar-sprays of P through 2% DAP both in maize and wheat); P50+PSB+AM-fungi; P50+PSB+AMF+2FSP; and P0 (100% NK with no-P)] in split-plot design replicated-thrice. The results indicated that double zero-tilled PRBZT–PRBZT system significantly enhanced the grain yield (6.1; 5.4 t ha–1), net photosynthetic rate (Pn) (41.68; 23.33 μ mol CO2 m–2 s–1), stomatal conductance (SC) (0.44; 0.26 mol H2O m–2 s–1), relative water content (RWC) (83.3; 77.8%), and radiation-use efficiency (RUE) (2.9; 2.36 g MJ–1) by 12.8–15.8 and 8.5–44.4% in maize and wheat crops, respectively over conventional tilled FBCT–FBCT. P50+PSB+AMF+2FSP conjugating soil applied-P, microbial-inoculants and foliar-P, had significantly higher Pn, SC, RUE and RWC over P100 besides saving ∼34.7% fertilizer-P under MWCS. P50+PSB+AMF+2FSP practice also had higher NDVI, PAR, transpiration efficiency and PHI over P100. Whereas lower stomatal limitation index (Ls) was observed under PRBZT–PRBZT system as compared to the conventional FBCT–FBCT system indicating that P is the limiting factor but not stomata. Hence, optimum P supply through foliar P-fertilization along with other sources resulted in higher grain yield by 21.4% over control. Overall, double zero-tilled PRBZT–PRBZT with crop residue retention at 6 t/ha per year, as well as P50+PSB+AMF+2FSP in MWCS, may prove beneficial in enhancing the crop productivity and, thereby, bolstering food security in semi-arid south-Asia region.
Discrete convexity, in particular, [Formula: see text]‐convexity and [Formula: see text]‐convexity, provides a critical opening to attack several classical problems in inventory theory, as well as many other operations problems that arise from more recent practices, for instance, appointment scheduling and bike sharing. As a powerful framework, discrete convex analysis is becoming increasingly popular in the literature. This review will survey the landscape of the approach. We start by introducing several key concepts, namely, [Formula: see text]‐convexity and [Formula: see text]‐convexity and their variants, followed by a discussion of some fundamental properties that are most useful for studying operations models. We then illustrate various applications of these concepts and properties. Examples include network flow problem, stochastic inventory control, appointment scheduling, game theory, portfolio contract, discrete choice model, and bike sharing. We focus our discussion on demonstrating how discrete convex analysis can shed new insights on existing problems, and/or bring about much more simpler analyses and algorithm developments than previous methods in the literature. We also present several results and analyses that are new to the literature.
The aim of the article is to present the results of a case study focused on the implementation of the Six Sigma methodology in order to improve the quality and increase the efficiency of furniture production processes. Positive results of implementation after the implementation of corrective measures were achieved in the values of process capability coefficients, reduction of nonconformities and subsequent reduction of DPMO, increase of the values of the level of efficiency and sigma of the critical process.In the processing of the results, classical methods of research work were used such as analysis, synthesis, comparison, descriptive statistics, coefficients Cp a Cpk, DPMO, level of efficienty and sigma, and also graphic methods.
Vitor Hugo Lopes Costa Lima, Bruno de Athayde Prata
O Open Shop Scheduling Problem (OSPP) é um ambiente no qual a produção é realizada por m máquinas, em que todas as máquinas podem realizar todas as n tarefas existentes e cada máquina possui um tempo específico para realizar cada tarefa. Tendo em vista que o OSSP é NP-hard, uma meta-heurística híbrida busca tabu/iterated local search (ILS) é proposta. Foram realizados testes computacionais em 140 instâncias disponíveis na literatura. Foram avaliadas as regras de prioridade LPT, SPT, LAPT e LTRPOM como algoritmos para construção de uma solução inicial. A função objetivo utilizada foi a minimização do makespan e o desvio percentual relativo foi a medida de desempenho adotada. Os resultados computacionais apontam para a competitividade da meta-heurística proposta nas instâncias avaliadas.
Production management. Operations management, Production capacity. Manufacturing capacity
Madeleine Seatle, Lauren Stanislaw, Robert Xu
et al.
In Canada, the majority of urban energy demand services the transportation or building sectors, primarily with non-renewable energy sources including gasoline and natural gas. As a result, these two sectors account for 70% of urban greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The objective of this paper is to explore the potential for co-benefits when simultaneously electrifying transportation and building demand sectors while expanding variable renewable energy (VRE) production. The investigation uses a novel integrated framework of the transportation, building, and electricity sectors to represent the operational implications of demand side flexibility on both the demand and supply side of the energy system. This original approach allows for very fine temporal and spatial resolution within models, while still performing a multi-sector analysis. First, the activity-based transportation model produces passenger travel demand profiles, allowing for investigation of potential electricity demand and demand response from electric vehicles with high spatial and temporal resolution. Second, the archetype-based building model predicts electricity demand of the residential building sector, allowing for investigation into demand-side management strategies such as load-shifting, building retrofits, and changes in appliance technology. Third, the electricity system production cost dispatch model is used to model the operations of Regina's electricity grid and has a spatial resolution capable of assessing individual and connected positive energy districts as well as VRE integration. Through linking of these three models, the effects of consumer flexibility in transportation and building energy demand are explored, especially in the context of introducing much needed flexibility for large-scale VRE integration. A utility-controlled demand response (DR) strategy is explored as means for Regina to reach their renewable target, along with battery storage. Various pathways to Regina's target are considered, based on the various proposed scopes of the target. The results show that Regina can meet their renewable target with large-scale rooftop solar and wind capacity. DR strategies are marginally effective in aiding toward the renewable target, but, when implemented in conjunction with battery storage, is able to get Regina to within 1% of their renewable target.
Charles Ristow, Edna Gessner, Edson Pacheco Paladini
O presente estudo aborda a qualidade do relacionamento com o cliente no contexto business-to-business (B2B) e avalia a utilização de sistemas do tipo Customer Relationship Management (CRM) baseado na utilização de tecnologias Web 2.0 e mídias sociais. A empresa objeto do estudo é uma cervejaria que utiliza um sistema do tipo CRM social para aumento da confiança no processo de comunicação e da sua capacidade de resposta, além da satisfação do cliente em termos de atendimento individualizado. Adicionalmente propôs-se a utilização de indicadores para avaliar o processo, que consideraram a performance em vendas, nível de atendimento, escala de utilização e efetividade na utilização das mídias sociais. O estudo evidencia que a adoção de sistemas do tipo CRM Social é importante para a empresa do estudo, devido ao interesse na construção de relacionamentos de longo prazo, bem como para a prospecção de novos clientes.
Production management. Operations management, Production capacity. Manufacturing capacity
Major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Olympic Games, and G20 Summit bring about supplier disruption risks and challenges to supply chain management. To help deal with these risks, a virtual dual-sourcing production-inventory system can be deployed. In this paper, we study such a system which consists of a raw material supplier, a manufacturer, and a virtual dual-sourcing contingency supplier. The manufacturer needs to determine the production, procurement, and inventory plan of raw materials. When its supplier is interrupted, the manufacturer may need to adjust the production and inventory plan and work with the contingency supplier. We develop a system dynamics method to simulate the operations in this production-inventory system to identify the approximately optimal order-up-to-level inventory policies. We find that the virtual dual production-inventory strategy can be the optimal contingency policy to deal with supplier dynamic disruption risks. Furthermore, for disruption risk with low frequency and long duration, the manufacturer should increase the safety inventory level before the disruption. Otherwise, it should increase the safety inventory level in every cycle.