Exploring a two-product unreliable manufacturing system as a capacity constraint for a two-echelon supply chain dynamic problem

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we investigate a two-echelon, two-product Supply Chain (SC) inspired by a real-world production/distribution firm, in which the product change-over time, necessary to switch from a product to another, induces a variable capacity in the factory. Such a varying production capacity is further exacerbated by the machine breakdowns that may occur in the manufacturing system. Since the two products share the same production system, a production planning rule has to be executed to decide the change-over, i.e. to select the product to be manufactured over time. An extended experimental campaign has been performed to investigate how the fill rate and the standard deviation of inventories vary as a series of operational and tactical parameters changes. Several ANOVA analyses revealed a strong interaction between the production planning model and the adopted smoothing replenishment strategy, which remarkably affects the performance of the SC. Interestingly, a higher value of the proportional controller negatively affects the service levels since the adopted production planning policy, under these circumstances, tends to encourage longer production runs for a certain product and, consequently, persistent stock outs for the other one.

KEYWORDS:

• Production control
• supply chain dynamics
• bullwhip effect
• production modelling
• change-over
• multi-product

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Università di Catania [PIACERI 2020/22 - GOSPEL / 59722022261].

Notes on contributors

Antonio Costa

Antonio Costa is an associate professor in Technology and Manufacturing Systems at University of Catania, Italy. He received a MoS degree in Mechanical Engineering and the Ph.D. in Structural Mechanics at the University of Catania. His research focuses on Scheduling and Design of Manufacturing Systems, Supply Chain Management and Heuristic and Metaheuristic Optimisation also applied to the Healthcare Management. Currently, he teaches Production Planning and Control for the MoS in Management Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing for the MoS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Catania.

Salvatore Cannella

Salvatore Cannella is an associate professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture in the University of Catania (Italy) and member of the Industrial Management Research Group in the University of Seville (Spain). His research interests refer to the analysis of complex supply chains, collaboration mechanisms, order policies and closed-loop multi-echelon structures. Currently, he is Associate Editor of the European Journal of Industrial Engineering, and Guest Editor of the International Journal of Production Economics.

Roberto R. Corsini

Roberto Rosario Corsini is a Ph.D. Student in Complex Systems for Physical, Socio-economics and Life Sciences at the Department of Physics of the University of Catania. He holds a master’s degree in Management Engineering from the University of Catania. He has working experiences as Production Planner and Healthcare Management Engineer. His research activities focus on developing optimisation and simulation models to be applied to Supply Chain Management, Scheduling and Design of Manufacturing Systems, Healthcare Management.

Jose M. Framinan

Jose M Framinan is a Professor at the School of Engineering in the University of Seville, where he is currently the Head of the Industrial Management Research Group. His research interests refer to decision systems and models in industry and services, including a range of decisions related to the design and optimisation of processes, production and supply chain planning and scheduling, as well as information systems as a supporting infrastructure. In these areas, he has carried out several research projects and produced more than 120 refereed publications. He serves as editor of the European Journal of Industrial Engineering, and as area editor (Scheduling) of the editorial board of the Flexible Services.

Sergio Fichera

Sergio Fichera is a full professor in Technology and Manufacturing Systems at University of Catania, Italy. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Catania and an MBA degree from the School of Management at the University of Turin. His research interests are in Manufacturing Scheduling, Supply Chain Management and System Optimisation. Currently, he teaches Manufacturing Technology, Management of Manufacturing and Service Systems for the master’s degree in Engineering and Operations Management at the University of Catania.