The incentives for supply chain collaboration to improve material efficiency in the use of steel: An analysis using input output techniques

In the face of increasing demand and limited emission reduction opportunities, the steel industry will have to look beyond its process emissions to bear its share of emission reduction targets. One option is to improve material efficiency - reducing the amount of metal required to meet services. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to explore why opportunities to improve material efficiency through upstream measures such as yield improvement and lightweighting might remain underexploited by industry. Established input-output techniques are applied to the GTAP 7 multi-regional input-output model to quantify the incentives for companies in key steel-using sectors (such as property developers and automotive companies) to seek opportunities to improve material efficiency in their upstream supply chains under different short-run carbon price scenarios. Because of the underlying assumptions, the incentives are interpreted as overestimates. The principal result of the paper is that these generous estimates of the incentives for material efficiency caused by a carbon price are offset by the disincentives to material efficiency caused by labour taxes. Reliance on a carbon price alone to deliver material efficiency would therefore be misguided and additional policy interventions to support material efficiency should be considered. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

A method for analysing operational complexity in supply chains

This paper proposes a method for analysing the operational complexity in supply chains by using an entropic measure based on information theory. The proposed approach estimates the operational complexity at each stage of the supply chain and analyses the changes between stages. In this paper a stage is identified by the exchange of data and/or material. Through analysis the method identifies the stages where the operational complexity is both generated and propagated (exported, imported, generated or absorbed). Central to the method is the identification of a reference point within the supply chain. This is where the operational complexity is at a local minimum along the data transfer stages. Such a point can be thought of as a 'sink' for turbulence generated in the supply chain. Where it exists, it has the merit of stabilising the supply chain by attenuating uncertainty. However, the location of the reference point is also a matter of choice. If the preferred location is other than the current one, this is a trigger for management action. The analysis can help decide appropriate remedial action. More generally, the approach can assist logistics management by highlighting problem areas. An industrial application is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the method. © 2013 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved.

Expressive RFID data access policies for the Pharmaceuticals supply chain

The Pharma(ceuticals) industry is at a cross-roads. There are growing concerns that illegitimate products are penetrating the supply chain. There are proposals in many countries to apply RFID and other traceability technologies to solve this problem. However there are several trade-offs and one of the most crucial is between data visibility and confidentiality. In this paper, we use the TrakChain assessment framework tools to study the US Pharma supply chain and to compare candidate solutions to achieve traceability data security: Point-of-Dispense Authentication, Network-based electronic Pedigree, and Document-based electronic Pedigree. We also propose extensions to a supply chain authorization language that is able to capture expressive data sharing conditions considered necessary by the industry's trading partners. © 2013 IEEE.

Water supply to a geotechnical centrifuge

The supply of water to a centrifuge experiment has always been important. This paper details a new system which has been successfully commissioned for use on the geotechnical centrifuge at University of Cambridge. High water pressures and large flow rates were delivered to an experimental package, for the modelling of water injection-aided pile jacking. The practicalities of such a system are discussed in relation to existing alternatives, in addition to the precautions taken to ensure safe centrifuge operation. A method for calculating water pressures in the system away from instrumented locations is also proposed, using a linear relationship between energy per unit volume and the flow rate squared. Experimental data are presented to support these relationships.

Water supply to a geotechnical centrifuge for pile jetting in sand

The supply of water is often required during a centrifuge experiment. For the case of pile jetting, significant flow volumes and pressures are required from the water supply. This paper aims to detail the successful provision of water at high pressures and large flow rates to a centrifuge, using a novel water supply system. An impeller pump was used to pressurise the water in advance of the slip rings, with further pressure provided by the fluid accelerating along the centrifuge beam arm. A maximum pressure of 2 MPa and continuous flow rate of 6 litres per minute were achieved. The calculation of water pressure away from the measurement location is presented, offering a repeatable solution for the pressure at any point in the pipe work. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London.

Improving the safety and security of the pharmaceutical supply chain

This paper discusses various techniques that may be used to combat counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical supply chain. These include the use of electronic pedigrees (to ensure the integrity of the supply chain), together with mass-serialization (to provide for a unique lifecycle history of each individual package) and authentication of the product (to check for any discrepancies in the various attributes of the product and its packaging are as intended for that individual package). Management of the pedigree process and product authentication is discussed in some detail, together with various other learnings from the Drug Security Network, including identification of some remaining vulnerabilities and suggestions for tightening these loopholes. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Anti-counterfeiting and supply chain security

Counterfeit trade developed into a severe problem for many industries. While established security features such as holograms, micro printings or chemical markers do not seem to efficiently avert trade in illicit imitation products, RFID technology, with its potential to automate product authentications, may become a powerful tool to enhance brand and product protection. The following contribution contains an overview on the implication of product counterfeiting on affected companies, provides a starting point for a structured requirements definition for RFID-based anti-counterfeiting systems, and outlines several principal solution approaches that are discussed in greater detail in the subsequent chapters. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Intelligent products in the supply chain - 10 Years on

Ten years ago the intelligent product model was introduced as a means of motivating a supply chain in which product or orders were central as opposed to the organizations that stored or delivered them. This notion of a physical product influencing its own movement through the supply chain was enabled by the evolution of low cost RFID systems which promised low cost connection between physical goods and networked information environments. In 2002 the notion of product intelligence was regarded as a useful but rather esoteric construct. However, in the intervening ten years there have been a number of technological advances coupled with an increasingly challenged business environment which make the prospects for intelligent product deployment seem more likely. This paper reviews a number of these developments and assesses their impact on the intelligent product approach. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.

Variation of microcystins in a lake for water supply

A site investigation was conducted to correlate the relationships between microcystins (MC) concentration and algal growth in Dianchi Lake in China. Laboratory experiments were undertaken to test the effects of sediment adsorption, photoirradiation and biodegradation on microcystins removal. Bioaccumulation of microcystins was also determined using silver carp fish. It was observed that MC concentrations varied in accordance with algae growth in Dianchi Lake. The results obtained in the laboratory demonstrated that the removal of MC with fresh sediments was less than 10%, photoirradiation removed more than 75% MC within two hours, and the biodegradation needed much longer time to produce substantial degradation of MC. The results suggest that bioaccumulation of microcystins in fish was not significant in Dianchi Lake.

Coalition and distribution in fuzzy dynamic supply chain systems

In this paper, two models of coalition and income's distribution in FSCS (fuzzy supply chain systems) are proposed based on the fuzzy set theory and fuzzy cooperative game theory. The fuzzy dynamic coalition choice's recursive equations are constructed in terms of sup-t composition of fuzzy relations, where t is a triangular norm. The existence of the fuzzy relations in FSCS is also proved. On the other hand, the approaches to ascertain the fuzzy coalition through the choice's recursive equations and distribute the fuzzy income in FSCS by the fuzzy Shapley values are also given. These models are discussed in two parts: the fuzzy dynamic coalition choice of different units in FSCS; the fuzzy income's distribution model among different participators in the same coalition. Furthermore, numerical examples are given aiming at illustrating these models., and the results show that these models are feasible and validity in FSCS.

A Novel Power Supply Solution of a Passive RFID Transponder

This paper presents a power supply solution for fully integrated passive radio-frequency identification(RFID) transponder IC,which has been implemented in 0.35μm CMOS technology with embedded EEPROM from Chartered Semiconductor.The proposed AC/DC and DC/DC charge pumps can generate stable output for RFID applications with quite low power dissipation and extremely high pumping efficiency.An analytical model of the voltage multiplier,comparison with other charge pumps,simulation results,and chip testing results are presented.