Linked: The New Science of Networks

In many applications involving make-to-order or time-sensitive (e.g., perishable, seasonal) products, finished orders are often delivered to customers immediately or shortly after the production. Consequently, there is little or no finished product inventory in the supply chain such that production and outbound distribution are very intimately linked and must be scheduled jointly to achieve a desired on-time delivery performance at minimum total cost. Research on integrated scheduling models of production and outbound distribution is relatively recent but is growing very rapidly. In this paper, we provide a survey of such existing models. We present a unified model representation scheme, classify existing models into several different classes, and for each class of the models give an overview of the optimality properties, computational tractability, and solution algorithms for the various problems studied in the literature. We clarify the tractability of some open problems left in the literature and some new problems by providing intractability proofs or polynomial-time exact algorithms. We also identify several problem areas and issues for future research.

Integrated Production and Outbound Distribution Scheduling: Review and Extensions

A review of the joint replenishment problem literature: 1989-2005

This survey covers the recent literature on inter-firm networks as far as they have implications for innovation and technological change. The studies are classified according to the direction of causality in network studies. In the literature, some studies focus on the effect of networks, while others on the origins and formation of networks. These are represented as a circular flow diagram of network research. Circular diagram includes three themes of analysis as: (1) origins of networks, (2) firm performance, (3) network structure, and shows the relationship between these themes as observed in network research. The aim of this survey is to guide researchers working on inter-firm networks about the theoretical and empirical results obtained up to now in the field and to highlight those areas which need further work.

Inter-firm networks and innovation: a survey of literature

This paper provides an overview of the key contributions within the planning and scheduling communities with specific emphasis on uncertainty analysis. As opposed to focusing in one particular industry, several independent sectors have been reviewed in order to find commonalities and potential avenues for future interdisciplinary collaborations. The objectives and physical constraints present within the planning and scheduling problems may vary greatly from one sector to another; however, all problems share the common attribute of needing to model parameter uncertainty in an explicit manner. It will be demonstrated through the literature review that two-stage stochastic programming, parametric programming, fuzzy programming, chance constraint programming, robust optimization techniques, conditional value-at-risk, and other risk mitigation procedures have found widespread application within all of the analyzed sectors. This review is the first work which attempts to provide a comprehensive description of t...

Planning and Scheduling under Uncertainty: A Review Across Multiple Sectors

We consider the supply chain of a manufacturer who produces time-sensitive products that have a large variety, a short life cycle, and are sold in a very short selling season. The supply chain consists of multiple overseas plants and a domestic distribution center (DC). Retail orders are first processed at the plants and then shipped from the plants to the DC for distribution to domestic retailers. Due to variations in productivity and labor costs at different plants, the processing time and cost of an order are dependent on the plant to which it is assigned. We study the following static and deterministic order assignment and scheduling problem faced by the manufacturer before every selling season: Given a set of orders, determine which orders are to be assigned to each plant, find a schedule for processing the assigned orders at each plant, and find a schedule for shipping the completed orders from each plant to the DC, such that a certain performance measure is optimized. We consider four different performance measures, all of which take into account both delivery lead time and the total production and distribution cost. A problem corresponding to each performance measure is studied separately. We analyze the computational complexity of various cases of the problems by either proving that a problem is intractable or providing an efficient exact algorithm for the problem. We propose several fast heuristics for the intractable problems. We analyze the worst-case and asymptotic performance of the heuristics and also computationally evaluate their performance using randomly generated test instances. Our results show that the heuristics are capable of generating near-optimal solutions quickly.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/25146991

Order Assignment and Scheduling in a Supply Chain

We consider a make-to-order production–distribution system with one supplier and one or more customers. A set of orders with due dates needs to be processed by the supplier and delivered to the customers upon completion. The supplier can process one order at a time without preemption. Each customer is at a distinct location and only orders from the same customer can be batched together for delivery. Each delivery shipment has a capacity limit and incurs a distribution cost. The problem is to find a joint schedule of order processing at the supplier and order delivery from the supplier to the customers that optimizes an objective function involving the maximum delivery tardiness and the total distribution cost. We first study the solvability of various cases of the problem by either providing an efficient algorithm or proving the intractability of the problem. We then develop a fast heuristic for the general problem. We show that the heuristic is asymptotically optimal as the number of orders goes to infinity. We also evaluate the performance of the heuristic computationally by using lower bounds obtained by a column generation approach. Our results indicate that the heuristic is capable of generating near optimal solutions quickly. Finally, we study the value of production–distribution integration by comparing our integrated approach with two sequential approaches where scheduling decisions for order processing are made first, followed by order delivery decisions, with no or only partial integration of the two decisions. We show that in many cases, the integrated approach performs significantly better than the sequential approaches. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005

Scheduling a production–distribution system to optimize the tradeoff between delivery tardiness and distribution cost

Joint cyclic production and delivery scheduling in a two-stage supply chain

We consider an integrated production–distribution scheduling model in a make-to-order supply chain consisting of one supplier and one customer. The supplier receives a set of orders from the customer at the beginning of a planning horizon. The supplier needs to process all the orders at a single production line, pack the completed orders to form delivery batches, and deliver the batches to the customer. Each order has a weight, and the total weight of the orders packed in a batch must not exceed the capacity of the delivery batch. Each delivery batch incurs a fixed distribution cost. The problem is to find jointly a schedule for order processing and a way of packing completed orders to form delivery batches such that the total distribution cost (or equivalently, the number of delivery batches) is minimized subject to the constraint that a given customer service level is guaranteed. We consider two customer service constraints—meeting the given deadlines of the orders; or requiring the average delivery lead time of the orders to be within a given threshold. Several problems of the model with each of those constraints are considered. We clarify the complexity of each problem and develop fast heuristics for the NP-hard problems and analyze their worst-case performance bounds. Our computational results indicate that all the heuristics are capable of generating near optimal solutions quickly for the respective problems.

Integrated Order Scheduling and Packing

Simulation is a very useful tool for predicting supply chain performance. Because there are no standard simulation elements that represent accurately the activities in a supply chain, there exist a variety of approaches for developing supply chain simulation models. To improve this situation, this paper describes a novel supply chain simulation framework that follows the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model. This framework has been used for building powerful simulation models that integrate discrete event simulation and spreadsheets. The simulation models are hierarchical and use submodels that capture activities specific to supply chains. The SCOR framework provides a basis for defining the level of detail in a way as to include as many features as possible, while not making them industry specific. This approach enables the reuse of submodels, which reduces development time. The paper describes the implementation of the simulation models and how the submodels interact during execution.Copyright © 2003 by ASME

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Guruprasad Pundoor

Papers

Order Assignment and Scheduling in a Supply Chain

Scheduling a production–distribution system to optimize the tradeoff between delivery tardiness and distribution cost

Joint cyclic production and delivery scheduling in a two-stage supply chain

Integrated Order Scheduling and Packing

Supply Chain Simulation Modeling Using the Supply Chain Operations Reference Model