Material flow

About: Material flow is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3050 publications have been published within this topic receiving 36844 citations. The topic is also known as: material stream.

Laminated distribution manifold plate system

Abstract: A hot melt adhesive material flow control system comprises an input manifold for receiving a supply of adhesive material, a plurality of flow control valves from which the adhesive material is discharged, an output manifold for heating the adhesive material and conducting the hot melt adhesive material to the flow control valves, a pair of multiple outlet pumps for supplying the adhesive material to the flow control valves, and a recirculation pump for recirculating adhesive material back from the flow control valves to the pair of multiple outlet pumps. A distribution plate and a recirculation plate are interposed between the input and output manifolds and have separate and independent fluid circuits or flow paths defined upon opposite surfaces thereof. In this manner, the number of plates required to define the flow paths is significantly reduced. In addition, the output manifold, the flow control valves, the recirculation pump, and the multiple outlet pumps are independently mounted upon the input manifold so as to simply disassembly and reassembly of the components in connection with maintenance, cleaning, replacement, or repair operations.

Identification of material flow systems.

Abstract: Material Flow Analysis (MFA) has become an important instrument in environmental science and pollution research. In this paper, we look at the MFA problem as a particularly structured system identification problem. Special emphasis is given to the linear, static case, where we describe a procedure for reconciliating the flow measurements and for estimating the unmeasured flows and the transfer coefficients by taking into account a priori restrictions such as balance equations.

Supply chain coordination : studies on planning and information sharing mechanisms

Abstract: Supply chain information flow significantly influences material flow behaviour To improve supply chain performance, efficient information sharing practices are largely recommended However limited knowledge exists on how companies should choose their supply chain planning approaches and the extent to which information is required Additionally, current literature does not give answers to the question of which situations, or during which supply chain phase, vendor managed inventory, VMI is an efficient replenishment mechanism This research treats the selection of coordination mechanisms, especially supply chain planning and VMI, for manufacturing companies The coordination theory is applied to provide a theoretical basis to consider how companies can jointly manage business processes across the supply chain The research questions are (1) how to select operational coordination mechanisms to match demand and supply in manufacturing companies, and (2), how reach the balance between information flow and material flow by the use of chosen mechanism The thesis consists of six studies, which contain three empirical case studies and three studies where both modeling and case study research approaches are used The studies are reported as six research papers A framework on selecting the supply chain coordination mechanism is developed based on literature findings The framework suggests that the selection should take place according to the match between execution flexibility and information abundance Information sharing should target on providing accurate and good-quality information for the decision-makers Flexible operations should be supported with frequent planning practices that capture information quickly If execution flexibility is low, it needs to be supported with more stable planning This framework is used as a tool to analyse the results from papers Two main reasons for the imbalance between material flow and information flow was identified Frequent plan updates according to demand changes, varying planning prosesses and horizons caused planning nervousness This phenomenon caused bullwhip and large volume changes at the supplier The other reason was lack of planning capability, inadequate information or inability to use shared information Planning nervousness can be reduced with stabilising planning and synchronising information sharing between supply chain players The suitability of VMI was measured with supplier's reaction time The time benefit for the supplier is dependent on the delays caused by order batching It was observed that suppliers' long production planning horizon and infrequent production makes benefiting from VMI more challenging for manufacturers Improving the quality of shared VMI information takes place by offering the right information and improving downstream planning; Toimitusketjun tietovirta vaikuttaa oleellisesti materiaalivirran toimintaan Toimitusketjun tehostamiseksi on esitetty laajaa ja lapi ketjun ulottuvaa kysynta- ja muun operatiivisen tiedon jakamista…