This
issue draws the readers' attention to a couple of interesting
models that can have major application value in the supply
chain world and five research papers that together offer
theoretical and practical insights that hold immense value
to the practice and research of Supply Chain Management
(SCM). Practitioners and researchers can find several new
insights that may stimulate thought for their future research
in the area of supply chain or logistics management.
The
Vehicle Routing Problem with Backhauls (VRPB) is an extension
of Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) that allows pickup at the
end of the delivery tour of vehicle. Among several variants
of VRPB, one of the variant that can also serve backhauls
before all linehaul customers is called VRP with Mixed Delivery
and Pickup (VRPMDP). The paper, "CORE: A Heuristic
to Solve Vehicle Routing Problem with Mixed Delivery and
Pickup", provides a two-phase heuristic, which is developed
to deal with VRPMDP. The two-phased heuristic is called
as CORE, which means cluster the nodes based on proximity
using modified K-means clustering technique and search
using adapted OR-opt for route elitism. While explaining
the overall structure of this two-phase heuristic to solve
VRPMDP, the authors detail the experimental setup through
a real-time problem.
Supplier
selection has been the subject of extensive conceptual and
empirical work in business management literature, and is
widely considered to be one of the most fundamental responsibilities
of the purchasing function of the management (Carr and Pearson,
1999; and Vonderembse and Tracey, 1999). The paper, "Decision
Framework for Supplier Evaluation and Selection in Supply
Chain", describes an efficient decision framework for
supplier evaluation and selection in supply chain. The focus
of this paper is on how an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-Performance
Value Analysis (PVA) algorithm can be used to capture and
analyze significant categories and performance indicators
to rank the suppliers. The application of decision framework
for supplier evaluation and selection has been demonstrated
with a case situation.
Manufacturers
should adopt best practices to optimize operational processes
and lower their cost structure through best inventory strategies.
Moving towards zero inventory will result in effective inventory
management in the business process. Recent advanced software
systems have made Zero Inventory strategy executable. The
paper, "Inventory Optimization in Supply Chain: Zero
Inventory Approach", covers various inventory optimization
models such as Hexagon model, JIT, Vendor Managed Inventory
(VMI), consignment, and the enabling practices. The paper
also describes the technologies like Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) and networking which help in moving towards Zero
Inventory. It also provides few examples where inventory
optimization has been successfully implemented.
The
supply of leather from the African continent, a big producer
of skin and hides in the world, is significant. Ethiopia
is considered as the major contributor of raw skin in Africa
and has a comparative advantage over others in terms of
raw material needed for the tannery sector. The paper, "African
Leather Supply Value Chain: An Analysis", highlights
some of the major aspects of value added leather supply
chain in Africa while throwing light on the largest skin
producing country, Ethiopia. While describing both primary
and support activities involved in the two stage process
of African leather supply chain, the paper highlights the
leather processing chain in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia.
The African leather supply value chain provides an integrated
approach to determine the problems and constraints involved
from the basic level of rearing animals for the raw skin
to the purchase and use of finished leather products. Further,
the paper also throws light on the determinants, characteristics,
and favorable and unfavorable factors of the African leather
supply chain.
India
is bestowed with one of the best natural resources in the
world and several factors like globalization, information
technology, and rise of organized retails are gearing up
the Indian food supply chains for a better future. As the
Indian population is increasing, the demand for fresh fruits
and vegetables is also increasing. Owing to the perishable
nature and very short shelf life, these items require proper
storage and transportation facilities in order to reach
to the customer in a fresh state. However, the entire chain
is fraught with issues like lack of transparency in pricing
(at the farmers' end), dominance of traders, weak links
in supply chain, etc. This is leading to a loss of revenue
to the farmer and increased additional costs to the other
supply chain partners. The last paper, "Factors Influencing
Indian Supply Chains of Fruits and Vegetables: A Literature
Review", attempts a thorough review of basic and contemporary
literature and tries to explain the factors influencing
Indian fruit and vegetable markets and their effects on
the supply chain partners. It provides a snapshot of agri-supply
chain in India including influencing factors, trends and
challenges. It also brings out relevant research gaps and
overlooked problems in the supply chain.
-
S Jaya Krishna
Consulting
Editor.
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