Greening the Lean Supply Chain: il caso Lush Cosmetics

«La salute degli ecosistemi da cui dipendiamo, noi e tutte le altre specie, si sta aggravando più rapidamente che mai; stiamo compromettendo le stesse basi delle economie, della sussistenza, della sicurezza alimentare, della salute e della qualità della vita in tutto il mondo». Così il chimico R. Watson commentava un diffuso rapporto del 2019 delle Nazioni Unite sulla sconvolgente perdita di flora e fauna a livello globale. In questi anni sono stati infiniti gli appelli che citano l’astratto concetto delle «generazioni a venire», eppure, non tutte le aziende stanno agendo come dovrebbero. I rifiuti prodotti sono ancora molti, soprattutto quelli plastici da packaging. Alcune ideologie snelle, come il Lean Thinking, esistono da decenni e sono strettamente legate a quella che oggi chiamiamo Green Manufacturing. Entrambe propongono diversi strumenti per far fronte alla produzione di massa e agli sprechi: questi verranno trattati nella prima parte, e successivamente saranno impiegati, con il supporto del software «openLCA», per verificare il percorso dell’azienda protagonista dell’analisi, ovvero Lush Cosmetics. L’attenzione all’impatto ambientale che i propri prodotti possono provocare lungo l’intero ciclo di vita ha modellato la gestione interna di ciascun processo e, spontaneamente, si riflette sugli attori dell’intera supply chain: così, il comportamento di uno può ugualmente modificare, in questo caso positivamente, il lavoro di molti. Il seguente elaborato pone l’attenzione sulle problematiche migliorabili, proponendo diverse soluzioni alternative rispetto alla gestione attuale, seppur migliore di altre realtà. Infine, si vuole stimolare il consumatore verso una maggior consapevolezza delle conseguenze delle sue azioni, in fase di acquisto prima ed al momento dello smaltimento poi. I provvedimenti normativi, nazionali ed europei, possono funzionare solo se sostenuti da un consumo responsabile e dalla diffusione di una chiara ed efficace educazione ambientale.

Design and management of a supply chain: a joint location-inventory problem under uncertainty (Part B)

In recent years, global supply chains have increasingly suffered from reliability issues due to various external and difficult to-manage events. The following paper aims to build an integrated approach for the design of a Supply Chain under the risk of disruption and demand fluctuation. The study is divided in two parts: a mathematical optimization model, to identify the optimal design and assignments customer-facility, and a discrete-events simulation of the resulting network. The first one describes a model in which plant location decisions are influenced by variables such as distance to customers, investments needed to open plants and centralization phenomena that help contain the risk of demand variability (Risk Pooling). The entire model has been built with a proactive approach to manage the risk of disruptions assigning to each customer two types of open facilities: one that will serve it under normal conditions and a back-up facility, which comes into operation when the main facility has failed. The study is conducted on a relatively small number of instances due to the computational complexity, a matheuristic approach can be found in part A of the paper to evaluate the problem with a larger set of players. Once the network is built, a discrete events Supply Chain simulation (SCS) has been implemented to analyze the stock flow within the facilities warehouses, the actual impact of disruptions and the role of the back-up facilities which suffer a great stress on their inventory due to a large increase in demand caused by the disruptions. Therefore, simulation follows a reactive approach, in which customers are redistributed among facilities according to the interruptions that may occur in the system and to the assignments deriving from the design model. Lastly, the most important results of the study will be reported, analyzing the role of lead time in a reactive approach for the occurrence of disruptions and comparing the two models in terms of costs.

Structural and agentic analysis of supply-chains: a social network analysis approach

This research adds to a body of work exploring the role of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in the study of both relational and structural characteristics of supply chain networks. Two contrasting network cases (food enterprises and digital-based enterprises) are chosen in order to elicit structural differences in business networks subject to divergences in local embeddedness and the relative materiality of the goods and services produced. Our analysis and findings draw out differences in network structure as evidenced by metrics of network centralization and cohesion, the presence of components and other sub-groupings, and the position of central actors. We relate these structural features both to the nature of the networks and to the (qualitative) experiences of the actors themselves. We find, in particular, the role of customers as co-creators of knowledge (for the Food network), the central role of infrastructure and services (for the Digital network), the importance of ICT as a source of codified knowledge inputs, along with the continuing importance of geographical proximity for the development and transfer of tacit knowledge and for incremental learning.

Collaboration intensity in the Brazilian supermarket retail chain

Purpose - This paper seeks to identify collaboration elements and evaluate their intensity in the Brazilian supermarket retail chain, especially the manufacturer-retailer channel. Design/methodology/approach - A structured questionnaire was elaborated and applied to 125 representatives from suppliers of large supermarket chains. Statistical methods including multivariate analysis were employed. Variables were grouped and composed into five indicators (joint actions, information sharing, interpersonal integration, gains and cost sharing, and strategic integration) to assess the degree of collaboration. Findings - The analyses showed that the interviewees considered interpersonal integration to be of greater importance to collaboration intensity than the other integration factors, such as gain or cost sharing or even strategic integration. Research limitations/implications - The research was conducted solely from the point of view of the industries that supply the large retail networks. The interviews were not conducted in pairs; that is, there was no application of one questionnaire to the retail network and another to the partner industry. Practical implications - Companies should invest in conducting periodic meetings with their partners to increase collaboration intensity, and should carry out technical visits to learn about their partners` logistic reality and thus make better operational decisions. Originality/value - The paper reveals which indicators produce greater collaboration intensity, and thus those that are more relevant to more efficient logistics management.

Knowledge and information flows in supply chains: A study on pharmaceutical companies

A great deal of attention in the supply chain management literature is devoted to study material and demand information flows and their coordination. But in many situations, supply chains may convey information from different nature, they may be an important channel companies have to deliver knowledge, or specifically, technical information to the market. This paper studies the technical flow and highlights its particular requirements. Drawing upon a qualitative field research, it studies pharmaceutical companies, since those companies face a very specific challenge: consumers do not have discretion over their choices, ethical drugs must be prescribed by physicians to be bought and used by final consumers. Technical information flow is rich, and must be redundant and early delivered at multiple points. Thus, apart from the regular material channel where products and order information flow, those companies build a specialized information channel, developed to communicate to those who need it to create demand. Conclusions can be extended to supply chains where products and services are complex and decision makers must be clearly informed about technology-related information. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Organizational Learning in the Context of an Agri-Food Chain

This paper reports on the outcomes of the first stage of a longitudinal study that focused on the transformational change process being undertaken within the Supply Chain and Operations Area of a major Australian food manufacturing company. Organizational learning is an essential prerequisite for any successful change process and an organization's ability to learn is dependent on the existence of an environment within the organization that nurtures learning and the presence of key enablers that facilitate the learning process. An organization's capacity to learn can be enhanced through its ability to form and sustain collaborative relationships with its chain partners. The results show that an environment that supports organizational learning is being developed through consultative leadership and the empowerment of individuals within a culture that supports innovation and cross-functional teamwork but demands responsibility and accountability. The impact of these changes within the Supply Chain and Operations Area is evident in the significant improvement in the Area's productivity and efficiency levels over the past twelve months. The company's endeavours to engage its major supply chain partners in the learning process have been limited by the turmoil within the company. However the company has involved its supply chain partners in a series of mutually beneficial projects that have improved communication and built trust thereby laying the foundations for more collaborative chain relationships.

Lean enterprise resource planning

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial

Drivers and sources of supply flexibility: An exploratory study

Purpose - There has been much research on manufacturing flexibility, but supply chain flexibility is still an under-investigated area. This paper focuses on supply flexibility, the aspects of flexibility related to the upstream supply chain. Our purpose is to investigate why and how firms increase supply flexibility.Methodology/Approach An exploratory multiple case study was conducted. We analyzed seven Spanish manufacturers from different sectors (automotive, apparel, electronics and electrical equipment).Findings - The results show that there are some major reasons why firms need supply flexibility (manufacturing schedule fluctuations, JIT purchasing, manufacturing slack capacity, low level of parts commonality, demand volatility, demand seasonality and forecast accuracy), and that companies increase this type of flexibility by implementing two main strategies: to increase suppliers responsiveness capability and flexible sourcing . The results also suggest that the supply flexibility strategy selected depends on two factors: the supplier searching and switching costs and the type of uncertainty (mix, volume or delivery).Research limitations - This paper has some limitations common to all case studies, such as the subjectivity of the analysis, and the questionable generalizability of results (since the sample of firms is not statistically significant).Implications - Our study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating which are the main reasons for companies needing to increase supply flexibility, how they increase this flexibility, and suggesting some factors that could influence the selection of a particular supply flexibility strategy.

Perceptual mapping of practical ethics along the value chain: A multiple correspondence analysis with industry and cultural indices as supplementary variables

This paper presents findings from a study investigating a firm s ethical practices along the value chain. In so doing we attempt to better understand potential relationships between a firm s ethical stance with its customers and those of its suppliers within a supply chain and identify particular sectoral and cultural influences that might impinge on this. Drawing upon a database comprising of 667 industrial firms from 27 different countries, we found that ethical practices begin with the firm s relationship with its customers, the characteristics of which then influence the ethical stance with the firm s suppliers within the supply chain. Importantly, market structure along with some key cultural characteristics were also found to exert significant influence on the implementation of ethical policies in these firms.

B2B Integration in Global Supply Chains: An Identification of Technical Integration Scenarios

The competitiveness of businesses is increasingly dependent on their electronic networks with customers, suppliers, and partners. While the strategic and operational impact of external integration and IOS adoption has been extensively studied, much less attention has been paid to the organizational and technical design of electronic relationships. The objective of our longitudinal research project is the development of a framework for understanding and explaining B2B integration. Drawing on existing literature and empirical cases we present a reference model (a classification scheme for B2B Integration). The reference model comprises technical, organizational, and institutional levels to reflect the multiple facets of B2B integration. In this paper we onvestigate the current state of electronic collaboration in global supply chains focussing on the technical view. Using an indepth case analysis we identify five integration scenarios. In the subsequent confirmatory phase of the research we analyse 112 real-world company cases to validate these five integration scenarios. Our research advances and deepens existing studies by developing a B2B reference model, which reflects the current state of practice and is independent of specific implementation technologies. In the next stage of the research the emerging reference model will be extended to create an assessment model for analysing the maturity level of a given company in a specific supply chain.

Modeling and mitigation of supply-demand mismatches

In this thesis, I develop analytical models to price the value of supply chain investments under demand uncer¬tainty. This thesis includes three self-contained papers. In the first paper, we investigate the value of lead-time reduction under the risk of sudden and abnormal changes in demand forecasts. We first consider the risk of a complete and permanent loss of demand. We then provide a more general jump-diffusion model, where we add a compound Poisson process to a constant-volatility demand process to explore the impact of sudden changes in demand forecasts on the value of lead-time reduction. We use an Edgeworth series expansion to divide the lead-time cost into that arising from constant instantaneous volatility, and that arising from the risk of jumps. We show that the value of lead-time reduction increases substantially in the intensity and/or the magnitude of jumps. In the second paper, we analyze the value of quantity flexibility in the presence of supply-chain dis- intermediation problems. We use the multiplicative martingale model and the "contracts as reference points" theory to capture both positive and negative effects of quantity flexibility for the downstream level in a supply chain. We show that lead-time reduction reduces both supply-chain disintermediation problems and supply- demand mismatches. We furthermore analyze the impact of the supplier's cost structure on the profitability of quantity-flexibility contracts. When the supplier's initial investment cost is relatively low, supply-chain disin¬termediation risk becomes less important, and hence the contract becomes more profitable for the retailer. We also find that the supply-chain efficiency increases substantially with the supplier's ability to disintermediate the chain when the initial investment cost is relatively high. In the third paper, we investigate the value of dual sourcing for the products with heavy-tailed demand distributions. We apply extreme-value theory and analyze the effects of tail heaviness of demand distribution on the optimal dual-sourcing strategy. We find that the effects of tail heaviness depend on the characteristics of demand and profit parameters. When both the profit margin of the product and the cost differential between the suppliers are relatively high, it is optimal to buffer the mismatch risk by increasing both the inventory level and the responsive capacity as demand uncertainty increases. In that case, however, both the optimal inventory level and the optimal responsive capacity decrease as the tail of demand becomes heavier. When the profit margin of the product is relatively high, and the cost differential between the suppliers is relatively low, it is optimal to buffer the mismatch risk by increasing the responsive capacity and reducing the inventory level as the demand uncertainty increases. In that case, how¬ever, it is optimal to buffer with more inventory and less capacity as the tail of demand becomes heavier. We also show that the optimal responsive capacity is higher for the products with heavier tails when the fill rate is extremely high.

KPI definition for measuring customer extranet benefits for a forest company

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli määrittää hyötyjä, joita Stora Enso on saavuttanut ottamalla käyttöön extranet-järjestelmän, jonka avulla asiakkaat voivat seurata toimitusketjuaan. Tässä tutkimuksessa keskityttiin taloudellisten hyötyjen määrittämiseen ja aineettomien hyötyjen tutkiminen rajattiintyön ulkopuolelle. Samalla tuli kehittää mittarit itsepalveluasteiden laskemiseksi tietyille toiminnoille, joita asiakkaat voivat hyödyntää järjestelmässä. Myös toiminnot, joita järjestelmässä pääasiassa käytetään, tuli määrittää kvantitatiivisen tutkimuksen avulla. Myyntihenkilöstön haastattelut toimivat apuna laskettaessa taloudellisia hyötyjä. Teoriaosuudessa käsitellään yleisesti sähköisiä palveluita erityisesti yritysten välistä kaupankäyntiä koskevalla alueella. Myös toimitusketjua ja tunnusluku mittareiden rakentamista on esitelty yleisellä tasolla teoriaosassa. Työn keskeisimmät tulokset ovat itsepalveluasteiden mittarit, niiden avulla lasketut itsepalveluasteet sekä taloudelliset hyödyt, joita yrityson saavuttanut järjestelmän käyttöönoton jälkeen.

Performance measurement oforder-delivery chain in SMEs: Case study

Tutkimus pyrkii selvittämään, kuinka tehokas suorituskykymittaristo voidaan parhaiten suunnitella pk-yrityksessä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on luoda suorituskykymittaristo pienen kohdeyrityksen johtajien tarpeisiin. Päähuomion kohteena on yrityksen tilaus-toimitusketju ja arvoverkko. Työ on luonteeltaan kvalitatiivinen toimintatutkimus, joka noudattaa toiminta-analyyttista tutkimusotetta. Työn teoriaosassa selvitetään, kuinka suorituskyvyn mittaaminen sekä materiaali-, tieto- ja rahavirtojen hallinta on kehittynyt viime vuosina pk-yrityksen näkökulmasta. Mittariston suunnittelu aloitetaan kohdeyrityksen perusteellisella analyysilla. Tämän pohjalta määritellään yrityksen kriittiset menestystekijät, joista lopulta johdetaan suorituskykymittarit. Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan todeta, että yleinen asenne mittaamista kohtaan, strategian huomioinnin puute sekä tietojärjestelmien rajoitteet ovat päähaasteita pk-yrityksen suorituskyvyn mittaamisessa. Mittareiden tuleekin olla melko yksinkertaisia ja helppoja käyttää, jotta mittaamisen ei koettaisi kuluttavan rajallisia resursseja liikaa. Mittariston tulee kuitenkin antaa kokonaisvaltainen kuva yrityksen suorituskyvystä, johon vaikuttavat kaikki arvoverkon osapuolet ja heidän yhteistyö toistensa kanssa.

Value added logistics in supply and demand chains. Smile. Part 1. eBusiness between global company and itslocal sme supplier network

VALOSADE (Value Added Logistics in Supply and Demand Chains) is the research project of Anita Lukka's VALORE (Value Added Logistics Research) research team inLappeenranta University of Technology. VALOSADE is included in ELO (Ebusiness logistics) technology program of Tekes (Finnish Technology Agency). SMILE (SME-sector, Internet applications and Logistical Efficiency) is one of four subprojects of VALOSADE. SMILE research focuses on case network that is composed of small and medium sized mechanical maintenance service providers and global wood processing customers. Basic principle of SMILE study is communication and ebusiness insupply and demand network. This first phase of research concentrates on creating backgrounds for SMILE study and for ebusiness solutions of maintenance case network. The focus is on general trends of ebusiness in supply chains and networksof different industries; total ebusiness system architecture of company networks; ebusiness strategy of company network; information value chain; different factors, which influence on ebusiness solution of company network; and the correlation between ebusiness and competitive advantage. Literature, interviews and benchmarking were used as research methods in this qualitative case study. Networks and end-to-end supply chains are the organizational structures, which can add value for end customer. Information is one of the key factors in these decentralized structures. Because of decentralization of business, information is produced and used in different companies and in different information systems. Information refinement services are needed to manage information flows in company networksbetween different systems. Furthermore, some new solutions like network information systems are utilised in optimising network performance and in standardizingnetwork common processes. Some cases have however indicated, that utilization of ebusiness in decentralized business model is not always a necessity, but value-add of ICT must be defined case-specifically. In the theory part of report, different ebusiness and architecture models are introduced. These models are compared to empirical case data in research results. The biggest difference between theory and empirical data is that models are mainly developed for large-scale companies - not for SMEs. This is due to that implemented network ebusiness solutions are mainly large company centered. Genuine SME network centred ebusiness models are quite rare, and the study in that area has been few in number. Business relationships between customer and their SME suppliers are nowadays concentrated more on collaborative tactical and strategic initiatives besides transaction based operational initiatives. However, ebusiness systems are further mainly based on exchange of operational transactional data. Collaborative ebusiness solutions are in planning or pilot phase in most case companies. Furthermore, many ebusiness solutions are nowadays between two participants, but network and end-to-end supply chain transparency and information systems are quite rare. Transaction volumes, data formats, the types of exchanged information, information criticality,type and duration of business relationship, internal information systems of partners, processes and operation models (e.g. different ordering models) differ among network companies, and furthermore companies are at different stages on networking and ebusiness readiness. Because of former factors, different customer-supplier combinations in network must utilise totally different ebusiness architectures, technologies, systems and standards.

Strategic supply lead time management. Case Nokia Networks, Hardware Services

Teollisuuden palveluiden on huomattu olevan potentiaalinen lisätulojen lähde. Teollisuuden palveluiden dynaamisessa maailmassa räätälöinti ja kyky toimia nopeasti ovat kriittisiä asiakastyytyväisyyden ja kilpailuedun luomisprosessin osia. Toimitusketjussa käytetyn ajan lyhentämisellä voidaan saavuttaa sekä paremmat vasteajat, että alhaisemmat kokonaiskustannukset. Tutkielman tavoitteena on kuvata teollisuuden palveluiden dynaamista ympäristöä: asiakastarvetta, sekä mahdollisuuksia kaventaa pyydetyn ja saavutetun toimitusajan välistä eroa. Tämä toteutetaan pääosin strategisen toimitusajan hallinnan keinoin. Langattomien tietoliikenneverkkojen operaattorit haluavat vähentää ydinosaamiseensa kuulumatomiin toimintoihin, kuten ylläpitoon sitoutuneita pääomia. Tutkielman case osiossa varaosapalvelujen toimitusketjun kysyntä-, materiaali- ja informaatiovirtoja analysoidaan niin kvalitatiivisten haastatteluiden, sisäisten dokumenttien, kuin kvantitatiivisten tilastollisten menetelmienkin avulla. Löydöksiä peilataan vallitsevaa toimitusketjun ja ajanhallinnan paradigmaa vasten. Tulokset osoittavat, että vahvan palvelukulttuurin omaksuminen ja kokonaisvaltainen toimitusketjun tehokkuuden mittaaminen ovat ajanhallinnan lähtökohtia teollisuuden palveluissa.