El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Purpose: This paper aims to explore the antecedents and performance outcomes of supply chain integration in the agri-food industry in Latin America, a context that the literature on supply chain management has not extensively addressed. The quinoa supply chain, an industry that has encountered a boost in market demand in the past year, is selected as the unit of analysis. Supply chain integration dynamics are analyzed to provide recommendations about integration strategies and benefits in the agricultural sector. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual model was designed in this study, which includes the drivers (i.e. trust and commitment) and outcomes (i.e. operational and economic performance) of supply chain integration. The relationships were verified through a unique survey, the data of which were collected from 79 respondents operating at different levels of the Peruvian quinoa supply chain (i.e. suppliers, producers and customers). The proposed hypotheses were tested through the partial least squares (PLS) regression. Findings: The results underscore the relevance of trust and commitment as enablers of supply chain integration initiatives in the agri-food industry. These factors are particularly essential for involving the farmers who are the most upstream actors in the supply chain and characterized by unstructured organizations. A high level of integration in these types of supply chain enhances the capacity to improve operational performance, which in turns positively affects the main economic indicators. Originality/value: This study contributes to the discussion of supply chain integration in the agri-food industry, which remains unexplored thus far. It relies on a multitier collection of responses, which is extended to all the levels of the quinoa supply chain, thereby providing the study with a unique depth of analysis. Furthermore, this work contributes to the ongoing discourse on the performance impact of supply chain integration, which several SCM scholars have recently questioned. / Revisión por pares

This diploma thesis is focused on the LLC resonant power supply with power factor correction. The first part of the thesis is focused on a selection of a suitable controller for the control of this source. Here the emphasis is mainly on efficiency and EMC. The thesis also deals with the design of the scheme and the selection of suitable components. The thesis contains the design of the LLC power supply itself and also the power factor correction circuit - PFC.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute for Governance and Policy Studies

D. Tech. (Department of Civil Engineering and Building, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technology / Growing demand for water due to increasing populations, industrialisation and water consuming lifestyles puts stress on existing water supply systems. To cater for the rising demand, water distribution networks are expanded beyond their design capacities and this creates transient “low-pressure-open-channel flow” (LPOCF) conditions. Current water supply models use “demand driven approach” (DDA) methodology which is not able to simulate transient LPOCF conditions, that poses an impediment to management/analysis of pressure-deficient networks. With a case study of the water supply network of Kampala City, LPOCF conditions were studied in this research. A “pressure/head driven approach” (PDA/HDA) was used in order to determine what demand is enabled by particular nodal pressures. Conversion of free surface to pressurised flow was analysed and modelled, with a view to clearly understanding occurrence of this phenomenon. The research demonstrated that if adequate pressures and flows are to be maintained, effectiveness of the water distribution network should be given as much attention as water production capacity. The research also indicated that when network pressures are low, the head-driven approach to water distribution modelling gives more accurate results than the traditional demand-driven methodology. Coexistence of free-surface and pressurised flow in networks prone to LPOCF conditions was confirmed and modelled. Results obtained highlighted the advantages of developing fully dynamic and transient models in the solution of transient LPOCF conditions in water distribution networks. Models developed allow application of PDA/HDA and DDA methodologies in systems that may exhibit LPOCF conditions thus enabling identification, understanding and analysis of the status of all sections of the network. These culminated in the development of a DSS to guide operational decisions that can be made to optimise network performance.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial. / This research describes the viability of the processes in the logistics industry of the cold chain of raspberries in Peru. The cultivation of raspberries is in the stage of potential growth opportunities for agribusiness. Output logistics is an essential part of the management of the food supply chain; this improves performance and quality in the fresh product. The cold chain and proper practice techniques preserve quality and reduce raspberry production losses by 15%. This model is based on scientific articles that are the theoretical pillars for the process methodology that develops the competitiveness of the product.

Researchers are interested in value chain analysis to identify the different opportunities for cost savings. The literature have been narrow in scope and addressed specific problems; however none has addressed the need for a general framework that can be used as a standard template in the supply chain cost management and optimization, though Dekker and Goor (2000) said that the goal was to develop a model that would allow direct comparison of specific activities between firms, such as warehousing activities costs. There was no indication in the literature of a cost model that can identify all costs and cost drivers through the supply chain. Some firms built models to analyze the effect of changes in activities but only with limited activities such as logistics. The purpose of this research is to create a general framework that can express the cost data for the partners of the supply chain in similar terms. The framework will layout the common activities identified within the firm and the relationship of these activities between the partners of the supply chain, and the framework will identify the effect of changes in activities on other partners within the supply chain. Cost information will help in making decisions about pricing, outsourcing, capital expenditures, and operational efficiency. The framework will be able to track cost through the chain, which will improve the flexibility of the supply chain to respond to rapidly changing technology. The framework will help in developing product strategy paradigms that encompass the dynamics of the market, in particular with respect to the technology adoption lifecycle.

Build-to-order supply chains (BOSCs) have recently received increasing attention due to the shifting focus of manufacturing companies from mass production to mass customization. This shift has generated a growing need for efficient methods to design BOSCs. This research proposes an approach for BOSC design that simultaneously considers multiple performance measures at three stages of a BOSC – Tier I suppliers, the focal manufacturing company and Tier I customers (product delivery couriers). We present a heuristic solution approach that constructs the best BOSC configuration through the selection of suppliers, manufacturing resources at the focal company and delivery couriers. The resulting configuration is the one that yields the best global performance relative to five deterministic performance measures simultaneously, some of which are nonlinear. We compare the heuristic results to those from an exact method, and the results show that the proposed approach yields BOSC configurations with near-optimal performance. The absolute deviation in mean performance across all experiments is consistently less than 4%, with a variance less than 0.5%. We propose a second heuristic approach for the stochastic BOSC environment. Compared to the deterministic BOSC performance, experimental results show that optimizing BOSC performance according to stochastic local performance measures can yield a significantly different supply chain configuration. Local optimization means optimizing according to one performance measure independently of the other four. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we test the impact of local performance variability on the global performance of the BOSC. Experimental results show that, as variability of the local performance increases, the mean global performance decreases, while variation in the global performance increases at steeper levels.

This dissertation examines the challenges associated with disruptions in supply chain financing and the railway transportation network. The study is divided into six chapters: In Chapter 1, we introduce the core problems under investigation. Chapter 2 investigates supply chain financing, emphasizing trade credit and bank credit—two predominant external financing mechanisms. Given the inherent uncertainties in demand, interest rates, and supplier credit ratings, this chapter introduces a stochastic programming model accounting for demand uncertainty. Subsequently, a robust optimization program is applied, whose complexity demands a specialized solution methodology. By analyzing a case study centered around a prominent U.S. retailer, the research reveals key insights into decision-making processes related to financing, the effects of bargaining power on portfolio mix and profits, and the relative importance of interest rate uncertainties over supplier credit ratings. Chapter 3 introduces a game-theoretical model designed to hedge financing risks in supply chains, with a focus on the application of insurance for both trade and bank credits. To support the design of effective supply chain finance contracts, three distinct contracts are developed, aiming to synchronize both financial and material flows within the supply chain. A significant feature of this chapter is the data-driven approach employed to address the potential bankruptcy risks that can arise from borrowing loans. Alongside this, a novel solution algorithm is introduced to solve the proposed non-convex models. A case study involving Ford Motor Company and a Chicago-based retailer enriches the research with real-world context. The findings offer several managerial insights: the strategic advantages of different insurance services vary based on the risk attitudes and profit margins of participants. For example, when a retailer operates with a lower profit margin, the use of Trade Credit Insurance (TCI) is recommended in conjunction with a risk-seeking retailer, while a risk-averse retailer might diminish the benefits of TCI. Conversely, with high profit margin retailers, the adoption of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is advised under all conditions. In Chapter 4, a game-theoretical model for risk mitigation within railway transportation is introduced. This model addresses random disruptions by employing strategies like repair, re-routing, third-party services, and leasing capacity from competing rail companies. Through a U.S. case study, the efficacy of these strategies is examined, with renting railcars emerging as a particularly potent approach to enhance resilience and reduce third-party expenses. The research further suggests that negotiations extending delivery dates can significantly diminish post-disruption costs. Finally, Chapter 5 summarizes the primary contributions of this research, laying the groundwork for prospective studies in this domain. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Until recently, academic and practitioner research on clinical trial supply chains focused on identifying innovative models and solutions in providing comparator and study drugs to global clinical sites. Due to the expansion of outsourcing efforts by pharmaceutical organizations, newly enacted global laws and regulations, and the continued push to increase the speed at which new drugs gain market approval, a new and extremely complex global “ancillary” supply chain has emerged. This manuscript focuses on the clinical trial ancillary supply chain: a supply chain that develops the end-to-end process resulting in the distribution and quality management of medical products and devices, consumable supplies, and patient giveaways to global clinical trial sites. Based on a series of quantitative analyses, this research assesses the influence of the customer, country, and product on the overall success of the supply chain. Three factors emerged from these analyses as having a direct influence on the clinical trial ancillary supply chain; product characteristics, magnitude (components of size), and stability (components of changes in scope). Part II of this research sought to understand the success of the supply chain by evaluating the moderating effects of knowledge management, organizational culture, therapeutic area, and type of shipment. Assessments of 444 customer and server surveys yielded components of a sense of shared culture, shared communication and transparency, and feeling educated and supported. Quantitative data analysis supported that these components had a moderating influence on success during the pre-trial phase of the supply chain. These research findings provide insight into the internal and external drivers of success within the complex and emergent clinical trial supply chain – a supply chain that helps pharmaceutical organizations bring innovative therapies to market and most important, those patients in need of such therapies to improve or even save their lives. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary