Operations planning and flexibility in a supply chain

Abstract

In dynamic competitive markets, the flexibility of manufacturing system networks such as supply chains (SCs) is particularly interesting. The SC flexibility considered in this paper takes into account two main aspects: the process flexibility of each SC firm and the logistics flexibility concerning the possible connections between suppliers, assemblers and markets. Different configurations of an SC are proposed, in correspondence to different degrees of the process and logistics flexibility. The effects of SC flexibility are then investigated on the operations planning performance of an SC subject to production capacity uncertainty and coping with demand volume and mix variability. In particular, an optimization model is defined to analyse the SC performance in every SC configuration. Managerial guidelines, supporting the management of selecting the appropriate degrees of flexibility and the corresponding SC configuration to be adopted, are finally obtained.

Keywords:

• Supply chain
• Process and logistics flexibility
• Operations planning
• Performance

Acknowledgments

Domenico Aprile Born in Lecce on August 29th 1972, in 2001 he graduated in Computer Science Engineering at the University of Lecce, Italy. In 2002 he got a MS in Supply Chain Management at the University of Brescia, Italy. After that, for a short period he stayed at the Signal Lux Company S.p.A., Milan (Italy), working on Advanced Planning/Production System/Scheduling (APS). Since 2003 he has been attending the Ph.D. program in Advanced Production Systems at the Politechnic University of Bari, Italy, where he is doing research on two main streams: supply chain flexibility, and bullwhip effect.

Achille Claudio Garavelli Ph.D. in Engineering Management, he has been Assistant Professor at the University of Basilicata, Italy, since 1994. Visiting scholar in 1996 at the University of South Florida (Tampa, USA), he was formerly Associate Professor at the University of Lecce, Italy, and now at the Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy. His main teaching and research areas concern operations management, knowledge management, organisation networks. He is involved in many national and international research projects and he is author of more than 70 papers published on national and international journals and conference proceedings.

Ilaria Giannoccaro Born on October 9th, 1974, in 1998 she got her laurea degree in Mechanical Engineering and in 2001 her Ph.D. in Business Engineering at the Tor Vergata University of Rome (Italy). She is now Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy. She is author of more than 30 papers published on international journals and conference proceedings. Her main research interests include supply chain management, inventory management, and supply chain contracts. She is currently studying the application of multi-agent systems to the analysis of industrial clusters.