Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Keith Harris / The focus of this research is to create a production schedule that will increase capacity while staying within business constraints of shelf life and warehouse space in a industrial food processing environment. The results support that product wheels maximize process responsiveness by lengthening production runs, and increasing safety stock inventory. In doing so, it maintains acceptable customer service levels and minimizes overtime costs. This study develops a model that simulates the relevant variables impacting the performance of the operation. The results show significant cost reductions are achieved by eliminating changeovers, increasing line capacity, safety stock levels protect against 99% of order variation, and warehouse space is available to house increased cycle stock and safety stock. Given the results on this line, I recommend expanding the model to other food processing locations within the business to further increase capacity and decrease overtime expenses.

This research attempts to investigate the collaborative commerce in steel industry and is divided into two dimensions. First, it investigates the case of China Steel Corporation system, addressing its order fullfillment process. The researcher has been in charge of planning and developing the electronic commerce of China Steel Corporation since 1998. He has been dealing with answering the enquiry about e-commerce from the customers for a long time and has taken part in the whole process of collaborating CSC e-commerce with customers. Therefore, the main method to collect data of this study is through observation. Second, this study synthesizes the references on the three-layer framework of enterprise and enterprise collaboration (CHIU, CHEUNG and TILL, 2003), the case study on the business rules of order fulfillment collaborative operating system, and web service. Then, it tries to build a framework of collaborative commerce system based on the web service and expect to improve the process of order fulfillment to steel supply. This research summarizes the twelve issues of order fulfillment into four collaborative requirements: requirement collaboration, order collaboration, production collaboration, and e-Logistics Collaboration. This study provides the collaborative process system design and construction steps to strengthen the steel order fulfillment. This case is based on the moment punctual producing rate and presumes the advantages of collaborative operating system in strengthening order fulfillment. And it indeed has the merits of promoting punctual order fulfillment.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Over the years, the telecommunications sector has steadily grown in the last ten years while gaining relevance in the global market. Management of the supply chain generates various risks and complications, and many industries seek effective supply chain operation methods to meet their variable requirements. The objective of this research is to propose a supply-chain model focused on on-time delivery compliance with substantial support of knowledge management methodologies. The research study yielded a 91% increase in compliance from the given scenario.

The e-commerce revolution has brought about the need for more efficient order fulfillment. Guidelines are needed to determine the order fulfillment system design, and whether a manual or automated system should be implemented. A spreadsheet-based descriptive model has been developed based on demand levels, labor rates, and order sizes. We propose to combine the descriptive model with simulation output to demonstrate reactions of the system to fluctuations in demand, labor rates, and order sizes. The ultimate research goal is to provide a design aid to companies engaged in order fulfillment systems, emphasizing the decision of whether or not to automate the sorting process. / Master of Science

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Coffee is one of the most important cash crops in Peru, a significant source of employment and income, and a great demander of inputs, goods, and services. We synthesized and analyzed the findings to propose improvements and foster the long-term growth of small- and medium-sized cooperatives. Our improvement proposal is based on the supply chain models implemented in the industry. The research also relied on information sources from researchers with experience in the assessment and analysis of the perishable food supply chain in different scenarios worldwide.

This dissertation focuses on developing analytical models for automated storage and retrieval system with multiple in-the-aisle pick positions (MIAPP-AS/RS). Specifically, our first contribution develops an expected travel time model for different pick positions and different physical configurations for a random storage policy. This contribution has been accepted for publication in IIE Transactions (Ramtin & Pazour, 2014) and was the featured article in the IE Magazine (Askin & Nussbaum, 2014). The second contribution addresses an important design question associated with MIAPP-AS/RS, which is the assignment of items to pick positions in an MIAPP-AS/RS. This contribution has been accepted for publication in IIE Transactions (Ramtin & Pazour, 2015). Finally, the third contribution is to develop travel time models and to determine the optimal SKUs to storage locations assignment under different storage assignment polies such as dedicated and class-based storage policies for MIAPP-AS/RS. An MIAPP-AS/RS is a case-level order-fulfillment technology that enables order picking via multiple pick positions (outputs) located in the aisle. We develop expected travel time models for different operating policies and different physical configurations. These models can be used to analyze MIAPP-AS/RS throughput performance during peak and non-peak hours. Moreover, closed-form approximations are derived for the case of an infinite number of pick positions, which enable us to derive the optimal shape configuration that minimizes expected travel times. We compare our expected travel time models with a simulation model of a discrete rack, and the results validate that our models provide good estimates. Finally, we conduct a numerical experiment to illustrate the trade-offs between performance of operating policies and design configurations. We find that MIAPP-AS/RS with a dual picking floor and input point is a robust configuration because a single command operating policy has comparable throughput performance to a dual command operating policy. As a second contribution, we study the impact of selecting different pick position assignments on system throughput, as well as system design trade-offs that occur when MIAPP-AS/RS is running under different operating policies and different demand profiles. We study the impact of product to pick position assignments on the expected throughput for different operating policies, demand profiles, and shape factors. We develop efficient algorithms of complexity O(nlog(n)) that provide the assignment that minimizes the expected travel time. Also, for different operating policies, shape configurations, and demand curves, we explore the structure of the optimal assignment of products to pick positions and quantify the difference between using a simple, practical assignment policy versus the optimal assignment. Finally, we derive closed-form analytical travel time models by approximating the optimal assignment's expected travel time using continuous demand curves and assuming an infinite number of pick positions in the aisle. We illustrate that these continuous models work well in estimating the travel time of a discrete rack and use them to find optimal design configurations. As the third and final contribution, we study the impact of dedicated and class-based storage policy on the performance of MIAPP-AS/RS. We develop mathematical optimization models to minimize the travel time of the crane by changing the assignment of the SKUs to pick positions and storage locations simultaneously. We develop a more tractable solution approach by applying a Benders decomposition approach, as well as an accelerated procedure for the Benders algorithm. We observe high degeneracy for the optimal solution when we use chebyshev metric to calculate the distances. As the result of this degeneracy, we realize that the assignment of SKUs to pick positions does not impact the optimal solution. We also develop closed-form travel time models for MIAPP-AS/RS under a class-based storage policy.

Title: Conditions for executing a q-fulfillment process from the warehouse of a retailer of consumables - Based on a case study at Staples. Context: Changing customer expectations, increasing GDP per capita and urbanization drives the development of quicker e-fulfillment. Research shows that customers are more likely to complete their purchase and buy more often if the retailer has fast delivery options, like same-day delivery. No literature was found describing how warehouse activities of e-commerce retailers should be adjusted to be able to deliver to the customer within an hour.  Purpose: The study aims to fill the identified research gap by establishing conditions for a retailer of consumables to execute a q-fulfillment process from a warehouse. Economic consequences of the established conditions are also aimed to be clarified. Lastly the study explores under which conditions the case company, Staples, can execute a q-fulfillment process in their automated warehouse. Questions at issue:  Under which conditions can an e-commerce retailer of consumables execute a q-fulfillment process in a warehouse?How are a retailer’s costs affected by applying the established conditions for executing a q-fulfillment process?Under which conditions can Staples execute a q-fulfillment process in their automated warehouse?Methodology: The study took an objective ontological approach, and epistemological and axiological assumptions were made. The research philosophy was positivistic, and a deductive approach was taken. The methodological choice was qualitative, and a case study was made together with the case company, Staples. All of these methodological choices esteemed by the authors as best suited for this explorative research. The sample selection was a mixture between a purposive and a convenience sampling, since it fitted the study, and the case company was located close to the authors. The theoretical chapters contain document secondary data, while the empirical chapters contain primary data in terms of one-to-one interviews. The data analysis consists of a circular flowchart and pattern matching to analyze the gathered data. The study achieved reliability since it was not affected by random deviations, and replicability because it was sufficiently detailed. It is valid since it was generalizable and the expected casual relationships among the variables were true. Ethical considerations were kept in mind throughout the entire study and the authors collaborated well.  Results: The authors found 20 conditions for a retailer of consumables to fulfill to be able to execute a q-fulfillment process, and 21 conditions for Staples to fulfill. Many similarities were found between the two research questions and only one condition differed. The authors also found that some of the conditions drive more costs than others and that the retailer by themselves has to decide which conditions are applicable to their individual process.  Keywords: E-commerce, Q-commerce, Quick-commerce, Quick order fulfillment, Q-fulfillment & Inventory management.

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Det är vanligt förekommande att företag outsourcar logistiska aktiviteter genom samarbete med TPL-företag. Studien är baserad på företaget OBH Nordica som outsourcar lager- och transportlösningar till företaget Aditro Logistics. För att den interorganisatoriska relationen mellan leverantör och TPL-företag ska fungera på ett effektivt sätt är det viktigt att ha välfungerande koordineringsmekanismer mellan företagen. Den här studien fokuserar på claimshanteringen och hur den fungerar inom och mellan företagen. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur olika koordineringsmekanismer kan användas för att ta fram ett beslutsstödsunderlag för claimshanteringen mellan en leverantör och ett TPL-företag. Fokus ligger på att ta fram förbättringsförslag och skapa tydliga riktlinjer över hur arbetet bör gå tillväga innan ett beslut kring claimshanteringen tas. Resulterat bygger på den studerande relationen runt claimshantering mellan företagen och visar vikten av att ha en välfungerande koordinering. Studien har identifierat följande koordineringsmekanismer; kommunikations- och informationsflöde, relationer, kontrakt och betalningsmekanismer samt standardisering. Det har identifierats brister gällande relationen och kommunikationen mellan företagen på operativ nivå. Överflödig information i formuläret där claims registreras anses även det som ett problem eftersom det leder till misskommunikation och onödig mailkontakt med negativ ton. Ytterligare problem handlar om att OBH Nordica godkänner betydligt fler claims än Aditro Logistics och att Aditro inte använder sig av standardiserade svar. / <p>Examensarbetet är utfört vid Institutionen för teknik och naturvetenskap (ITN) vid Tekniska fakulteten, Linköpings universitet</p>

The construction industry is a business with an intense flow of both material and information that require well-functioning logistics in order to not suffer from unnecessarily high costs. Suppliers play a big part regarding the costs of the distribution and handling of material and due to this a construction project’s costs are affected a great deal by the suppliers’ actions. Spinnrocken is a construction project in the town center of Norrköping. The real estate company Fastighets AB L E Lundbergs is the client and the construction company Skanska is contracted as sole constructor for the project. Spinnrocken is planned to be finalized in the summer of 2014 and consists of several rental-apartments and some smaller businesses. Spinnrocken and its central location result in major logistic challenges, because of this Lundbergs and Skanska want to analyze and evaluate the project’s logistic performance. The main purpose of this thesis is to measure the order fulfillment of interior materials, the scaffold material Doka and windows at Spinnrocken by using the so-called perfect order fulfillment measure, as defined in Supply Chain Operations Reference Model. Perfect order fulfillment indicates the delivery performance to the construction site.The combined perfect order fulfillment for the three investigated materials is 18 %. A perfect order fulfillment of 18 % means that only one out of five inspected deliveries to Spinnrocken was considered having no faults at all. The effects of a low perfect order fulfillment are disruptions in the short-term time schedule, delayed operations, additional work and that the work space at the construction site is occupied by unnecessary construction material. The resulting effects thereby affects the project’s economy negatively.