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Supply
Chain Inventory Planning through Simulation
--
Srikanta
Routroy and Rambabu Kodali
Inventory
is both an asset and a liability. It exists at all stages
of a supply chain. The primary purpose of these inventories
is to buffer the uncertainty arising from demand, process
and supply. Therefore, simulation technique should be used
for supply chain inventory planning. This paper discusses
the inventory planning of a supply chain through simulation,
which consists of a manufacturer, distributor and retailer.
The supply chain inventory model is developed and simulated
in the Arena simulation tool with an aim to minimize the total
system-wide costs which consist of production cost, inventory
holding cost, transportation cost and stock-out cost. It helps
in determining the production rate at the level of the manufacturer,
and the Re-order Point and order quantity at the distributor
and retailer levels.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Identification
of Factors for ISO 9000 Certification: A Study of Industries
in Assam
--
Mukulesh
Barua and U R Dhar
The
liberalization initiatives of the Government of India has
resulted in a phenomenal rise in the number of organizations
implementing TQM which is partly reflected from the recent
upsurge in the interest towards ISO 9000 certification. It
is realized that ISO 9000-based certification of quality management
system has been the most pronounced and viable initiative
in terms of quality management in the industries of Assam,
even though its growth is seen as quite a recent phenomenon.
In this paper, an evaluation is undertaken on the motivators
behind the pursuit of ISO 9000 certification of industries
in Assam. The literature suggests many reasons as to why industries
seek certification, based on which 11 likely motivators have
been condensed to assist the survey process. The sample comprises
of 76 industrial units located in Assam. This research identifies
the most important motivators behind certification and carries
out a pertinent comparative analysis between the manufacturing
and service sectors. Further, across ten industry groups,
the impact of motivators has been evaluated in the paper.
The study also investigates the inter-industry differences
in terms of degree of importance of the motivators. The data
on the motivators suggest that there are several important
driving forces for ISO 9000 certification. Factor analysis
of these reason variables has been made to identify the latent
constructs in them, after establishing the suitability of
the data for factor analysis. The paper identifies three dominant
constructs, in terms of the reasons behind ISO 9000-based
certification of QMS amongst the industries of Assam.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Managing
Uncertainty through Postponement
--
Sourabh
Bhattacharya
Growing
product proliferation and increasing demand for customized
products have proven the conventional speculation strategies
as inadequate. As the demand realization period approaches
closer, supply chain planning, based on these speculations,
starts to crumble. Uncertainty of demand decreases towards
the demand realization period since information about customer
preferences is more accurately available at this stage. Therefore,
many companies try to postpone the activities for as long
as possible, so that more reliable information about the customer
preference is available. Though the postponement strategy
has been in existence since the 1950s, its potential benefits
have been realized only recently. The aim of this paper is
to explore the various postponement strategies that can be
implemented, the benefits reaped from each of these, and the
factors affecting the decision of adopting each of these strategies.
An attempt has also been made to study the impact of postponement
on the supply chain performance. The benefits of postponement
have been explained using a case study of Benetton in the
article.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Experience
Curves in Services: Macro and Micro Level Approaches
--
Stuart
Chambers and Robert Johnston
This
paper evaluates the benefits and problems of applying the
experience curve in two very different service organizations.
The first case shows how an experience curve has been calculated
at a macro (organization) level for British Airways over a
20-year period, including the time at which it was privatized.
The second example shows an application over the first year
of operation of a high volume paperwork processing operation
within a financial services organization. These studies demonstrate
that experience curves can be applied to great effect in high
volume service organizations, but a single measure of output
needs to be established. The paper also shows how different
phases and rates of learning may be linked to organizational
and technological changes. It also discusses how an experience
curve might be used to monitor improvement and establish future
cost-related performance objectives.
©
2000 MCB University Press. This article was earlier published
in the International Journal of Operations and Production
Management, July 2000, Vol. 20, No. 7, pp. 842-859. Reprinted
with permission.
Case
Study
Amazon.com's
Inventory Management
-- Purnima Pillai
©
2004 ICMR. All rights
reserved. For accessing and procuring the case study, log
on to www.icmrindia.org or www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk |
