Supply chain management as beyond operational efficiency

The orthodoxy of supply chain management (SCM) emphasises competitive advantage through increased operational efficiency and market responsiveness from production and distribution processes into the hands of consumers. It anticipates that future competition will be between chains rather than between firms. While well established in other industry sectors, the SCM concept is newly developed in the Australian agri-food sector. Critical review of the concept has identified key issues of power among channel members, processes of chain initiation and innovation, and the inability of SCM to offer a viable business strategy for some firms. Building on those insights, this paper examines the supply chain concept for horticulture. Horticultural products are characterised by perishability, heterogeneity and lags in production response to market signals. Producers’ profits are vulnerable to quantity, timing of supply and product specification. Many supply chains in smaller industries are loose, fragmented, interwoven, unstable and unique! Firms operating within these environments need an astute understanding of the chains, the hierarchy of channel members and their relative position. Effective business strategies – for individual firms and supply chains - need to be developed and redeveloped to accommodate the dynamic nature of horticulture. Two case studies are discussed as contributions to this early stage of the theoretical development of supply chain management. The SCM concept also has implications for horticultural researchers, involving a wider range of industry stakeholders, technical problems and research skills. As for business management, the usefulness of the concept will depend on its capacity to increase responsiveness to customers’ preferences and customer value.

Leaf area development of ABA-deficient and wild-type peas at two levels of nitrogen supply

The ABA-deficient wilty pea (Pisum sativum L.) and its wild-type (WT) were grown at two levels of nitrogen supply (0.5 and 5.0 mM) for 5-6 weeks from sowing, to determine whether leaf ABA status altered the leaf growth response to N deprivation. Plants were grown at high relative humidity to prevent wilting of the wilty peas. Irrespective of N supply, expanding wilty leaflets had ca 50% less ABA than WT leaflets but similar ethylene evolution rates. Fully expanded wilty leaflets had lower relative water contents (RWC) and were 10-60% smaller in area (according to the node of measurement) than WT leaflets. However, there were no genotypic differences in plant relative leaf expansion rate (RLER). Growth of both genotypes at 0.5 mM N increased the RWC of fully expanded leaflets, but did not alter ethylene evolution or ABA concentration of expanding leaflets. Plants grown at 0.5 mM N showed a 20-30% reduction in RLER, which was similar in magnitude in both wilty and WT peas. Thus, leaf ABA status did not alter the leaf growth response to N deprivation.

Supply chain management

Nos últimos anos, a economia mundial e a economia brasileira têm sofrido mudanças importantes. Fusões, aquisições e alianças estratégicas têm se multiplicado. Parte considerável destas mudanças relaciona-se com profundas alterações nos sistemas de valores de todos os segmentos industriais. A busca da competitividade relaciona-se cada vez mais com a busca do ótimo sistêmico além das fronteiras da empresa. Neste contexto, a administração logística ganha nova dimensão, envolvendo a integração de todas as atividades ao longo da cadeia de valores e do sistema de valores, das matérias-primas ao cliente final. O objetivo deste trabalho é (re)situar a administração logística no contexto de mudanças, enfatizando a metodologia da gestão da cadeia de demanda (supply chain management).

GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN: PROTAGONISTA OU COADJUVANTE NO BRASIL?

Questões ambientais passaram a ser introduzidas com maior frequência nos negócios empresariais. Quanto à cadeia de suprimentos, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) surge como novo enfoque à responsabilidade das empresas com o meio ambiente. Este artigo objetiva analisar a difusão do conceito e das práticas de GSCM no cenário brasileiro. Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas com especialistas do tema cadeia de suprimentos na área de Administração no Brasil. Os resultados indicam que as razões para o lento desenvolvimento do conceito podem relacionar-se com características do mercado nacional, foco empresarial em aspectos internos, falta de legislação rígida e baixa pressão dos consumidores. Especialistas percebem, entretanto, boas perspectivas para o futuro das discussões da temática no País, em virtude da Política Nacional dos Resíduos Sólidos, de pressões do mercado internacional e da busca por certificação ambiental. Este estudo procurou fomentar novas discussões sobre GSCM no Brasil.

SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE ANALYSIS: A BRAZILIAN AUTOMOTIVE CASE

Supply chain (SC) resilience and flexibility are important research topics receiving growing attention. However, the academic literature needs empirical studies on SC resilience capable of investigating the inter-organizational components of flexibility along different tiers. Therefore, this paper analyzes the main lack of flexibilities in three Brazilian automotive SCs that limit their resilience and therefore their capacity to better support and meet the demand changes in the marketplace. A multi-tier case study approach is adopted. Research findings identify lack of flexibilities in different tiers that inhibit the SC resilience as well as manufacturing and SC flexibilities that build SC resilience. The findings also highlight that the same SC may have the flexibility to be resilient for one of its products but not for another product, what sheds new lights on the academic literature. Finally, flexible SCs should be designed to increase SC resilience to cope with mishaps as significant demand changes.

The impact of improvement of water supply and sanitation facilities on diarrhea and intestinal parasites: a Brazilian experience with children in two low-income urban communities

During the second half of 1986 the impact of the improvement of water supply and excreta disposal facilities on diarrheal diseases and intestinal parasitosis was studied in 254 children up to six years of age from two favelas (shanty towns) of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The estimated incidence of diarrhea was 6.2 episodes/child year and the estimated period prevalence reached 31.0 episode days/ child/ year. The point prevalence of parasitosis was 70.7% (Ascaris lumbricoides: 55.4%, Trichuris trichiura: 19.6%, Giardia lamblia: 17.9%). The estimated prevalence of diarrhea decreased with improvement of water supply and sanitation facilities to 45% and 44% respectively, but no statistically significant impact was observed in the case of parasitosis. School education and weaning practice were found to be other important determinants of diarrhea.

Limiting Internal Supply Voltage Spikes in DC-DC Converters

Implementing monolithic DC-DC converters for low power portable applications with a standard low voltage CMOS technology leads to lower production costs and higher reliability. Moreover, it allows miniaturization by the integration of two units in the same die: the power management unit that regulates the supply voltage for the second unit, a dedicated signal processor, that performs the functions required. This paper presents original techniques that limit spikes in the internal supply voltage on a monolithic DC-DC converter, extending the use of the same technology for both units. These spikes are mainly caused by fast current variations in the path connecting the external power supply to the internal pads of the converter power block. This path includes two parasitic inductances inbuilt in bond wires and in package pins. Although these parasitic inductances present relative low values when compared with the typical external inductances of DC-DC converters, their effects can not be neglected when switching high currents at high switching frequency. The associated overvoltage frequently causes destruction, reliability problems and/or control malfunction. Different spike reduction techniques are presented and compared. The proposed techniques were used in the design of the gate driver of a DC-DC converter included in a power management unit implemented in a standard 0.35 mu m CMOS technology.

The role of European "ro-ro" port terminals in the automotive supply chain management

The aim of this paper is concerned with the design and development of a functional framework for maritime mode integration in European automotive supply chain management when considering outbound distribution. Furthermore, it provides a readjustment of traditional concepts and terminology with findings that the role of ro-ro port terminals should be considered as decoupling points, poles and postponement platforms. Case studies examine relevant Western European ro-ro port terminals for cars and respective links to assembly/factories of vehicles localized in the hinterland and concludes that ro-ro port terminals reduce logistical friction and impedance, as well as promote space/time compression.

An heuristic approach for optimal location of gas supply units in transportation system

The best places to locate the Gas Supply Units (GSUs) on a natural gas systems and their optimal allocation to loads are the key factors to organize an efficient upstream gas infrastructure. The number of GSUs and their optimal location in a gas network is a decision problem that can be formulated as a linear programming problem. Our emphasis is on the formulation and use of a suitable location model, reflecting real-world operations and constraints of a natural gas system. This paper presents a heuristic model, based on lagrangean approach, developed for finding the optimal GSUs location on a natural gas network, minimizing expenses and maximizing throughput and security of supply.The location model is applied to the Iberian high pressure natural gas network, a system modelised with 65 demand nodes. These nodes are linked by physical and virtual pipelines – road trucks with gas in liquefied form. The location model result shows the best places to locate, with the optimal demand allocation and the most economical gas transport mode: by pipeline or by road truck.

Optimal location of gas supply units in natural gas system network

Natural gas industry has been confronted with big challenges: great growth in demand, investments on new GSUs – gas supply units, and efficient technical system management. The right number of GSUs, their best location on networks and the optimal allocation to loads is a decision problem that can be formulated as a combinatorial programming problem, with the objective of minimizing system expenses. Our emphasis is on the formulation, interpretation and development of a solution algorithm that will analyze the trade-off between infrastructure investment expenditure and operating system costs. The location model was applied to a 12 node natural gas network, and its effectiveness was tested in five different operating scenarios.

Research on using the decision tree method in order to select the best alternative for the pharmacies supply

Introduction / Aims: Adopting the important decisions represents a specific task of the manager. An efficient manager takes these decisions during a sistematic process with well-defined elements, each with a precise order. In the pharmaceutical practice and business, in the supply process of the pharmacies, there are situations when the medicine distributors offer a certain discount, but require payment in a shorter period of time. In these cases, the analysis of the offer can be made with the help of the decision tree method, which permits identifying the decision offering the best possible result in a given situation. The aims of the research have been the analysis of the product offers of many different suppliers and the establishing of the most advantageous ways of pharmacy supplying. Material / Methods: There have been studied the general product offers of the following medical stores: A&G Med, Farmanord, Farmexim, Mediplus, Montero and Relad. In the case of medicine offers including a discount, the decision tree method has been applied in order to select the most advantageous offers. The Decision Tree is a management method used in taking the right decisions and it is generally used when one needs to evaluate the decisions that involve a series of stages. The tree diagram is used in order to look for the most efficient means to attain a specific goal. The decision trees are the most probabilistic methods, useful when adopting risk taking decisions. Results: The results of the analysis on the tree diagrams have indicated the fact that purchasing medicines with discount (1%, 10%, 15%) and payment in a shorter time interval (120 days) is more profitable than purchasing without a discount and payment in a longer time interval (160 days). Discussion / Conclusion: Depending on the results of the tree diagram analysis, the pharmacies would purchase from the selected suppliers. The research has shown that the decision tree method represents a valuable work instrument in choosing the best ways for supplying pharmacies and it is very useful to the specialists from the pharmaceutical field, pharmaceutical management, to medicine suppliers, pharmacy practitioners from the community pharmacies and especially to pharmacy managers, chief – pharmacists.

Demand response in electrical energy supply: an optimal real time pricing approach

In competitive electricity markets with deep concerns for the efficiency level, demand response programs gain considerable significance. As demand response levels have decreased after the introduction of competition in the power industry, new approaches are required to take full advantage of demand response opportunities. This paper presents DemSi, a demand response simulator that allows studying demand response actions and schemes in distribution networks. It undertakes the technical validation of the solution using realistic network simulation based on PSCAD. The use of DemSi by a retailer in a situation of energy shortage, is presented. Load reduction is obtained using a consumer based price elasticity approach supported by real time pricing. Non-linear programming is used to maximize the retailer’s profit, determining the optimal solution for each envisaged load reduction. The solution determines the price variations considering two different approaches, price variations determined for each individual consumer or for each consumer type, allowing to prove that the approach used does not significantly influence the retailer’s profit. The paper presents a case study in a 33 bus distribution network with 5 distinct consumer types. The obtained results and conclusions show the adequacy of the used methodology and its importance for supporting retailers’ decision making.

Avaliação dos modelos de Supply Chain : Lean, Agile e Leagile : uma abordagem empírica

Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciências Económicas e Empresariais.