The coordination of all supply chain members has become a crucial issue in ensuring the success of supply chain management. The streamline of the inter-organizational coordination such as material flow/distribution, information flow/exchange, and product planning/development are required to facilitate the efficient operation of supply chain. To further sustain the competitive edge (e.g.,time-to-market) of a supply chain, the coordination mechanism has become an emerging research issue in current supply chain management. This study looks into a cause model of the information sharing of supply chain members.The impact of trust and commitment on information sharing mechanism is then examined. The data from 122 senior managers participating in Supply Chain Management activeities were collected and empirically tested. The results show that the trust is significantly impact on the quality of information sharing in e-business supply chain. The member¡¦s long-term commitment also affects the dedicated partner-based process of supply chain management. Moreover, the dedicated partner-based processes will effectively reduce the supply chain uncertainty and high quality information improves significantly the operation efficiency between supply chain enterprises.

none

Global competition and electronic business is the inevitable for enterprises in the twenty-one century. Information technology for enterprises is just tools. According to an enterprise¡¦s role that is played in its supply chain and functions that is providing products¡¦ value, an enterprise apply business process design should display the advantage of electronic business. According to the Value System and the Supply Chain macro view, the research analyzed business processes and proposed a business process design approach, named ¡§Collaborated Design Approach of Business Process¡¨, to apply to enterprises collaboration and electronic business. Five steps composed the approach. The first step is Value System analysis to define the Value System, critical activities and linkages. And according that, the research defined the architecture of business core processes and linkages. The secondary step is business core process design. Based on the Value chain, the research explored the relations between demands, supplies and control, and proposed business processes integrated design directions. The third step is an analytic characteristic of supply chain. The research analyzed the supply chain variations with business process design. The forth step is processes simulated and analytic. The research simulated and evaluated the supply chain variations with business process design. The fifth step is the process operational strategy. The ¡§Process operational strategy matrix¡¨ that presented by the research, the research proposed suggestions of inbound and outbound logistics process operational strategies. The research use the supply chain of a famous brand sports shoes company as case study to instructed how to apply the ¡¨Collaborated Design Approach of Business Process¡¨.

Based the degree of product supplying issue, the original OEM manufacturers can be classified into three different types: original equipment manufacturer (OEM)¡Aoriginal design manufacturer (ODM), and original brand manufacturer (OBM). An OEM is a company that uses product components from one or more other companies to build the product that are sold under the customer¡¦s authorization. For the case that the OEM companies are capable to design the products, will be the ODM. Furthermore, an ODM company, which owns its brand and market channels, then it, is classified as an OBM company. Firms in Taiwan have upgraded from their original role of being OEM makers. Nowadays, lots of the domestic manufacturers have good abilities of being good OEM and ODM suppliers. Besides of OEM and ODM, some of them are shifting to being OBM¡¦s. However, unfortunately, most companies' information process can not run parallel with the changing of the roles they are. Main purpose of this study is, firstly, to provide an integrate model in information process design, and, secondly, to expand more strategic process advices for companies that intend to improve their process more efficiency and more flexibly. A case study, which is based on a selected electronic manufacturer, is used to verify the strategy model proposed in this thesis. And the results show that our model can be used to develop the framework of the information process efficiently.

Original equipment manufacture(OEM) is typically the role played by the high-tech or traditional industries in Taiwan, and is marked by highly efficient vertical supply chains where division of manufacturing function is done very well. Supply chain management could help companies to integrate their business process and information systems. Moreover, what kind of strategies needed to be adopted, and what kind of information needed to be exchanged transaction. The research issues regarding supply chain strategy and information sharing become apparently important. In the study, supply chain type and supply chain uncertainty are the two major constructs that guide our research. Convergent assembly supply network is type of supply chain selected for case study, and the automotive industry is the actual case for research. The research results indicated that information sharing is most intensive between suppliers and manufacturers. The lack of coordination between production and sale in manufacturer was resulted from supply chain uncertainty which can be addresses by the aspects of procurement, manufacturing, and demand respectively. The current supply chain strategy of manufacturer has push more inventory to its suppliers. This is due to the made-to-stock(MTS) method applied by the manufacturer. In addition, continuous flow process has occupied part of the manufacturing process for automobile production, and high uncertainty resulted from this stage often led to problems for delivery of product parts in the subsequent stages. Furthermore, demand uncertainty and mass customization requirement from the manufacturer have push suppliers to get timely sale information in order to have quick response to orders. Based on the case findings, this research suggested propositions regarding supply chain strategies and information sharing for the convergent assembly supply network. Because of relatively high procurement and demand uncertainty, the MTS production strategy should be switched to assembly-to-order(ATO). In addition, it is necessary for the manufacturer to establish stable relationship with suppliers, and incorporate them into product development process. This will help the manufacturer to achieve ATO and shorten product development time due to the notion of design for assembly and concurrent engineering. For information sharing in supply chains, the focus is upon shop floor information transparency between suppliers and the manufacturer, exchange of sale information between suppliers and distributors, and exchange of information regarding quality, management capability, product development between suppliers and the manufacturer.

The objectives of this work were to evaluate the vegetative parameters used to estimate crop N demand and to estimate the accuracy and precision of the conceptual model of fertilization using an error propagation method. Corn plants were collected throughout the entire crop life cycle to determine the fresh and dry weight of the aboveground biomass and roots, root index, plant height, and corn grain yield. Three experiments were conducted, two under field conditions and one under greenhouse conditions. In the first field experiment in 2002, three sites were selected. The first site was the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Agricultural Experiment Station Research Farm in which a Ships clay soil was used. The second site was a cooperative farmer's land on a Weswood silt loam soil in Burleson County. These first two sites used Pioneer 32R25 as the corn hybrid. The third site was also a Ships soil in the TAMU Farm, but Dekalb 687 was the corn variety. In 2003, the second experiment was on a Ships soil in the field of TAMU Farm, and the third experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using Ships and Weswood soil. No differences in the root index and harvest index were observed, even when the Dekalb 687 hybrid was included. Variations in plant N concentration, moisture content, and yield were noted, but followed predictable patterns with time over the season. These parameters were consistent throughout the entire life cycle of the crop. The linear relationship between the fresh weight of aboveground biomass and fresh weight of roots was R2 = 0.92, the moisture content of corn plants over time was fit to a second grade polynomial with R2 = 0.98, and plant N content had a close linear relationship (R2=0.90) with the total plant dry weight, including roots, at harvest. The accuracy of the conceptual model was low under field conditions (55%), but high under greenhouse conditions (90%). Precision of the conceptual model was low both in the field (194%) and the greenhouse (115%) conditions.

This dissertation considers the problems of coordinating different supply chain inventory systems with private information under deterministic settings. These systems studied are characterized by the following properties: (a) each facility in the system has self decision-making authority, (b) cost parameters of each facility are regarded as private information that no other facilities in the system have access to, and (c) partial information is shared among the facilities. Because of the above properties, the existing approaches for systems with global information may not be applicable. Thus, new approaches for coordinating supply chain inventory systems with private information are needed. This dissertation first studies two two-echelon distribution inventory systems. Heuristics for finding the replenishment policy of each facility are developed under global information environment. In turn, the heuristics are modified to solve the problems with private information. An important characteristic of the heuristics developed for the private information environment is that they provide the same solutions as their global information counterpart. Then, more complex multi-echelon serial and assembly supply chain inventory systems with private information are studied. The solution approach decomposes the problem into separate subproblems such that the private information is divided as required. Global optimality is sought with an iterative procedure in which the subproblems negotiate the material flows between facilities. At the core of the solution procedure is a node-model that represents a facility and its corresponding private information. Using the node-model as a building block, other supply chains can be formed by linking the node-models according to the product and information flows. By computational experiments, the effect of the private information on the performance of the supply chain is tested by comparing the proposed approach against existing heuristics that utilize global information. Experimental results show that the proposed approach provides comparable results as those of the existing heuristics with global information.

<p>The future has always caught the attention of the human being. The thirst of exploring the future and to know the unknown has driven the human being toward innovativeness.</p><p>Companies are expanding their operations worldwide since the past few decades. Profit growth coupled with an effective strategy has become the primary need of global companies. Research in this area has given rise to optimization of the supply chain for higher profitability. Considering the overall strategy the company needs to plan production well in advance. The operational planning comes in picture at this moment. In order to reduce excessive inventory at each stage of the production; one should know the demand of the next stage and preferably the end customer demand. The process of sales forecasting is undertaken to predict demand at different stages. It is a complex managerial function and hence needed to be undertaken by a scientific way. The sales forecasting the function includes process of forecasting, administration, hardware, software, users and developers of forecast.</p><p>Historically sales forecasting has been considered as a side activity by most of the companies. Sales forecasting has not been considered as an important function of marketing and finance. Very few companies have seen sales forecasting by a scientific management point of view. Less research has been reported in sales forecasting in comparison to other managerial functions. Planning based on sales forecasting; may be part of a selected strategy for growth and profitability. These facts have attracted us to study sales forecasting as a managerial function.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the sales forecasting process, sales forecasting system, sales forecasting methods and techniques. Further proposing possibilities of improvements in existing forecasting process is also purpose of this study.</p><p>We have selected three manufacturing companies for this study based on purposive sampling. Considering research interest in phenomenon study; we have selected a qualitative research strategy for this study. We have selected a case study method for our research as it is the most appropriate tool to study the relation between theory and phenomenon. For this research, we have collected the data by semistructured interviews based on a pre formed questionnaire. The questionnaire has been prepared with respect to our research purpose and open ended questions were used to gather extensive data. The data gathered during interviews, have been analyzed by the use of ‘Flow model’ suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994).</p><p>Results from this study shows that there is a need to see ‘sales forecasting’ as a management function rather than a computer activity. To achieve the best information integration throughout the supply chain, increased information visibility is needed. To achieve accuracy in both forecasting and planning; collaborative forecasting may be used. Forecasting software needs to have a suite of methods towards product specific forecasting. The need of customized softwares has also been indicated by this study. The need to measure performance of forecasting by means of accuracy, cost and customer relationship has been concluded.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>Today, the market is getting tougher and tougher and organisations need to concentrate more on the organisations core competence, to become successful and gain competitive advantage. One way to get this competitive advantage for an organisation is to start using Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) system. A VMI system, with the help of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), manages the informational and material flow between the distributor and the supplier by automation. This means that the supplier receives accurate information from the distributor, and can thereby plan deliveries of products when needed and at the right amount. These deliveries are done by automation and are based on the distributor’s shared information such as inventory- and sales figures. We have as a goal for this thesis to examine if the positive benefits described by literature do reflect those benefits with the benefits experienced by organisations.</p><p>The following question will be discussed and answered during this thesis:</p><p>• Do the benefits of a VMI system described in theories, match the benefits experienced by an organisation?</p><p>To answer our question, we have interviewed two managers about their companies’ way to use VMI. One interview was performed at a store working in the retail market and the other interview was performed at a grocery store. The interviews were performed to receive a deeper understanding of what the managers think about VMI, and also to understand how these benefits have been beneficial for their company. After the interviews, we started to compare and analyse the benefits gathered from literature with the benefits experienced by the managers for the companies. The analysis and comparison proved that there is a similarity between the benefits gathered from literature and the benefits experienced by the interviewees. We decided to categorise the benefits into three different categories: costs, service and inventory. Believing that this categorization was a good way to get you as a reader to have a lucid overview of which the benefits are, and which area of business they are beneficial in. Many of the gathered benefits could affect more than one area of business, and many cases benefits are created through chain reactions, benefits breeds new benefits.</p><p>The similarity of the benefits collected from the empirical findings compared with the benefits from theories, are striking, and we can thereby concluded that the experienced benefits by an organization using a VMI system highly represents the benefits described in the theories from literature.</p> / <p>I dagens hårda verklighet så måste varje organisation koncentrera sig mer och mer på sin kärnkompetens, om det ska vara med ute och slåss på den allt hårdare marknaden. Ett sätt att göra detta är att börja använda sig av ett Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) system. Ett VMI system med hjälp av Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) styr informations- och materialflödet mellan organisationen och dess leverantörer automatiskt. Detta betyder att leverantören får rätt information om sin kunds behov, och kan därmed planera tids- och kvantitetskorrekta leveranser till sin kund. Denna leverans görs automatiskt genom informationsdelningen så som lager nivåer, försäljningssiffror osv. överförs från distributören till leverantören. Vi har i denna kandidatuppsats koncentrerat oss på att undersöka om de positiva fördelarna som står i litteratur verkligen stämmer överens med upplevda fördelar som olika organisationer har uppmärksammat vid användningen av VMI. Frågan som styrt denna uppsats är följande;</p><p>• Stämmer de fördelar som står i litteraturen överens med de upplevda fördelar som organisationer har märkt?</p><p>För att få svar på vår fråga har vi använt oss av att intervjua två butikschefer om sina respektive företag. En intervju utfördes på en affär inom detaljhandeln och den andra utfördes i en matvarubutik Intervjuerna användes för att få en djupare förståelse om vad de intervjuade tyckte om användandet av VMI, samt för att försöka förstå hur fördelarna av VMI har varit till fördel för deras företag. Efter att ha analyserat och jämfört de fördelar som vi fann i litteraturen med de upplevda fördelar funna hos de intervjuade organisationerna analyserade vi dem. Analysen visade att de fördelar som finns i litteraturen överensstämde med de upplevda fördelar som organisationerna har uppmärksammat. Vi kategoriserade fördelarna i tre skilda kategorier; kostnader, service och lager. Detta gjordes i tron på att det skulle underlätta för läsarna att lättare kunna skapa sig en överblick över vilka fördelar som fanns och för vilka område dessa fördelat påverkar. Många av de funna fördelarna kan dock påverka mer än ett område, det kan också skapas kedjereaktioner på vissa fördelar, fördelar föder nya fördelar.</p><p>Likheterna mellan de insamlade fördelarna från litteraturen jämfört med de insamlade fördelarna från intervjuerna är slående, vi kan härmed säkerställa att de upplevda fördelarna från intervjuerna mycket väl överensstämmer med de fördelar som vi fann i litteraturen.</p>

<p>This master’s thesis is performed at Department of Management and Engineering Linköping University, for Scania Omni at Scania Production Slupsk (S.P.S). Omni is responsible for development, manufacturing and marketing of city, suburban and intercity buses. After acquisition of the production unit in Slupsk in 2002 lower production cost per bus is possible. But without control over the organisation costs are rising due to late delivery fees and high stock levels. At the outset, the thesis included three clearly defined objectives:</p><p>- Map the present situation at Scania Production Slupsk regarding material flow from supplier to assembly line including a part and storage analysis.</p><p>- Benchmark the current routines at Scania Production Slupsk with other successful companies. Furthermore, conduct literature research in order to find theories and philosophies that support problem analysis and thesis solution.</p><p>- Develop standard routines for material control methods (MCM) and material supply methods (MSM).</p><p>A complimentary objective is to work as a catalyst during the time of the thesis.</p><p>The mapping of the present situation showed that MCM and MSM are very tight connected to each other. It was questioned whether this structure was the best way to manage the material flow. After a parts and storage analysis, material was divided into different segments depending of price, consumption and movement. </p><p>The benchmarking studies showed different ways to manage the material flow. Implementation of unit load, kanban and clear defined interface between departments showed potential to improve the material handling and increase effectiveness.</p><p>New routines and part segment definitions described in a logistics manual (Appendix I) were made align with a comparison between previous and recommended definitions.</p><p>The result showed that some parts needs to be controlled differently. Primary recommendations are that logistics manual shall be used when new parts are introduced into the Scala system. Responsible personnel are suppose to give suggestion concerning decision making of MCM and MSM and with help of the logistics manual the work can be more efficient, resulting in a material flow that is flexible and have potential for improvements.</p><p>Secondary, to avoid material handling to some extent implementation of two-bin system is recommended. Additional recommendations regarding two-bin system is to handle material according to unit load, which enable FIFO, traceability and higher turn over rate</p>