How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

In this Chapter, we imagine a decision maker (or a group of experts) trying to establish or examine fair procedures to combine opinions about alternatives related to different points of view.

Multiple criteria decision making

Sustainable supply chain management practices and dynamic capabilities in the food industry: A critical analysis of the literature

In this paper we give an overview of recent developments in the field of modeling deterministic single-level dynamic lot sizing problems. The focus of this paper is on the modeling of various industrial extensions and not on the solution approaches. The timeliness of such a review stems from the growing industry need to solve more realistic and comprehensive production planning problems. First, several different basic lot sizing problems are defined. Many extensions of these problems have been proposed and the research basically expands in two opposite directions. The first line of research focuses on modeling the operational aspects in more detail. The discussion is organized around five aspects: the set ups, the characteristics of the production process, the inventory, demand side and rolling horizon. The second direction is towards more tactical and strategic models in which the lot sizing problem is a core substructure, such as integrated production-distribution planning or supplier selection. Recent advances in both directions are discussed. Finally, we give some concluding remarks and point out interesting areas for future research.

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Modeling Industrial Lot Sizing Problems: A Review

Cross-docking is a logistics strategy in which freight is unloaded from inbound vehicles and (almost) directly loaded into outbound vehicles, with little or no storage in between. This paper presents an overview of the cross-docking concept. Guidelines for the successful use and implementation of cross-docking are discussed and several characteristics are described that can be used to distinguish between different cross-dock types. In addition, this paper presents an extensive review of the existing literature about cross-docking. The discussed papers are classified based on the problem type that is tackled (ranging from more strategic or tactical to more operational problems). Based on this review, several opportunities to improve and extend the current research are indicated.

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Cross-docking: State of the art

Truck dock assignment problem with operational time constraint within crossdocks

Three kinds of decision models for closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) with trade-ins are developed in this paper, including the centralized collection (Model C), the retailer collection (Model R), and the manufacturer collection (Model M). By analyzing these models, we argue that there are three types of optimal collection strategies, namely, no collection, partial collection, and full collection. We provide conditions under which one of these three collection strategies is optimal for different supply chain models. By comparing the impact of trade-ins on these different supply chain models, we find that only when the direct net value of a used product derived from the trade-ins for the whole CLSC system including the consumers is high enough can trade-in strategy be adopted to stimulate consumer demand and improve the manufacturer׳s and retailer׳s profit. Based on the life-cycle assessment method, we find that when the marginal effect of the product on environment in the continue-to-use phase is more significant than in other phases, trade-ins can promote the environmental performance of the CLSC system. Further, by comparing the optimal solutions for the different models, we find that one collection model may dominate the others in terms of the economic performance of the involved parties. Specifically, Model M dominates Model R in terms of the profits of the manufacturer and the profits of the whole supply chain; Model R dominates Model M in terms of retailer׳s profit; and Model R dominates all other models in terms of environmental performance.

Models for closed-loop supply chain with trade-ins

Remanufacturing with trade-ins under carbon regulations

Exploring the antecedents of logistics social responsibility: A focus on Chinese firms

The supply chain between manufacturers and retailers always includes transshipments through a network of locations. A major challenge in making demand meet supply has been to coordinate transshipment activities across the chain aimed at reducing costs and increasing service levels in the face of a range of factors, including demand fluctuations, short lead times, warehouse limitations and transportation and inventory costs. The success in implementing push-pull strategies, when firms change from one strategy to another in managing the chain and where time lines are crucial, is dependent on adaptive transshipment scheduling. Yet again, in transshipment through crossdocks, where just-in-time objectives prevail, precise scheduling between suppliers, crossdocks and customers is required to avoid inventory backups or delays.

Zhaowei Miao

Papers

Truck dock assignment problem with operational time constraint within crossdocks

Models for closed-loop supply chain with trade-ins

Remanufacturing with trade-ins under carbon regulations

Exploring the antecedents of logistics social responsibility: A focus on Chinese firms

Transshipment through crossdocks with inventory and time windows