Examensarbetet Koordinering av materialflöden och verksamhetsflöden vid FUS i Linköping genomfördes för att ge stöd åt beslutsfattande gällande flödet av byggnadsmaterial från den norra godsmottagningen av sjukhuset till den östra utbyggnaden under året 2015.

Objective: The objective is to examine if long terms of payment are created because of a perceived zero-sum game in the cash-to-cash cycles between companies. The study will also examine if dependence effects the dependent companies Cash-to-Cash-cycle because of long terms of payment. Scientific method: The study uses a qualitative and a quantitative method, where primary data is collected from semi-structured interviews. Additional primary data is collected from an unstructured interview with an expert in the field of which is examined. Additional data has been collected from the studied companies’ annual reports. Theoretical references: The primary theory has been Game theory, where the researchers have used this theory to analyze the behaviors of the companies. This theory has been reinforced by the theory Pareto efficiency to help analyze the strategy which gives the highest net-outcome. The theory Cash-to- Cash has also been a focal point in the study, which has been used in concert with Supply chain finance and Supply chain management. This has been done to be able to further analyze the behaviors of the companies and the cooperation in the “supply chain”. Result: The result shows that there seems to exist a perceived zero-sum game in the cash-to-cash cycles between companies. The consequence of this is that the companies in a dominant position use a strategy that prolongs payables outstanding and shortens accounts receivables. This in turn prolongs the cash-to- cash cycles for the dominant companies suppliers. Focus to improve the Cash-to-Cash-cycles for both companies is very small or non-existent. The authors want to emphasize that additional research is needed within this area, where other contributing factors can be effecting the company’s decisions. / Syfte: Studien syftar till att undersöka om ofördelaktiga betalningsvillkor skapas på grund av ett uppfattat nollsummespel inom Cash-to-Cash-cykler mellan företag. Studien syftar även till att undersöka om beroendeförhållanden påverkar beroende aktörers Cash-to-Cash-cykel på grund av ofördelaktiga betalningsvillkor. Metod: Studien använde en metodtriangulering, där primärdata samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer. Ytterligare primärdata samlades in via en ostrukturerad intervju med en expert inom området. Slutligen har data samlats in angående intervjuobjektens årsredovisning. Teoretisk referensram: Den primära teorin har varit Game theory, där forskarna använt teorin för att kunna analysera aktörernas beteenden. Denna teori har förstärkts av ytterligare teorier såsom Paretooptimalitet som hjälper att analysera utfall som ger högst möjlig nytta. Teorier angående Cash-to-Cash har även de varit centrala i arbetet som har kopplats till Supply chain management samt Supply chain finance för att ytterligare kunna analysera beteenden och data angående samarbeten i kedjor av aktörer. Resultat: Resultatet visar att det verkar finnas ett uppfattat nollsummespel inom cash-to-cash-cykeln mellan företagen. Detta leder till att aktörer med maktpositioner utgår från en strategi som innebär att förlänga betaltiderna för leverantörer, som då förlänger leverantörernas Cash-to-Cash-cykel. Fokus på att förbättra Cash-to-Cash-cyklerna mellan företagen är väldigt liten eller obefintlig. Författarna vill dock tydliggöra att ytterligare forskning kring ämnet behövs för att kunna säkerställa resultatet, då andra faktorer kan ha påverkat aktörernas beslut och beteenden.

The increased use of returnable packaging have given rise to the trend of packaging logistics.The operation of returnable packaging is challenging for global companies due to thecomplexity in the process and information flows. Companies invest in returnable packagingsystems in order to ensure quality throughout the supply chain. Despite the large investments inan returnable packaging fleet, it is often poorly controlled, leading to vast tied-up capital andshrinkage.This thesis proposes how the visibility and control of the system is affected by thecategorization of packaging and the allocation of responsibilities throughout the packaginghandling process. Theoretical and empirical studies were carried out, the theoretical part helpeddefine the problem. A case study were performed at Scania CV AB in Södertälje, Sweden.Results of this study shows that categorization of packaging is not sufficient to attain a suitablelevel of control in an packaging handling process. Although it could be used as a supporting orgoverning documents for standardization in the process. Findings showed that theresponsibilities in the process should be centralized in as large extent as possible. Although ifthe current process is lacking visibility and control, the benefits of centralized control may belost.

With its core competence on bus chassis, Scania determined in the mid-2000s to co-produce coach products with two external bus body manufacturers, Lahden Autokori and Higer. However, after a decade’s cooperation, well-functioning work processes were not established and problems still existed. With this study, problems within Scania’s operations system and Scania’s supply chain management strategies towards these two partners have been identified and illustrated, by applying an abductive research method. With this study it has been evidenced that Scania’s bus operations management is affiliated with truck and the truck operations system does not fit the request from the collaborations with Lahden Autokori and Higer. Moreover, it has also been shown that even though the relationship with these two partners is by nature long-term, Scania’s attitude has been characterized by short-term thinking. This ambiguous supply chain management strategy has been causing problems. Furthermore, aside from problems within operations system and supply chain management, the third studied area is organizational identity. Due to the fact that some organizational identity issues caused by reorganization have largely influenced both of the collaborations, the formation of these identity issues as well as the impacts on the cooperation has been studied. Finally, some recommendations for improvements have been made based on the findings of this study.

This thesis focuses on three topics relevant to humanitarian applications: (i) stable and complete assignment of staff members to field offices, (ii) bottleneck management for transportation networks, and (iii) performance measurement of the food assistance supply chain. The assignment and reassignment of personnel to jobs is a large-scale problem faced by many organizations including the military and multi-national organizations. Although successful algorithms have been developed that can ensure matchings that are stable (without incentive to deviate), not all practical concerns have been addressed by these algorithms. For example, the gap we study is that when staff members do not provide preference lists covering all jobs, a complete stable matching is not guaranteed. In the first part of the thesis, we model negotiations, which occur in practice, as part of the problem of matching all agents. We introduce algorithms and structural results for when the organization negotiates with specific agents to modify their preference lists and the centralized objective is to minimize the number or cost of negotiations required to achieve complete stable matchings. An uncertain environment with disruptions is a reality faced by many humanitarian operations but not fully addressed in the literature. Transportation delays are often driven by reliability issues (e.g., customs delays, strikes, and the availability of transport), and the length of wait time can be influenced by congestion. In the second part of the thesis, we describe a queuing model with breakdowns to model delays in port and transportation corridors (the overland travel from discharge ports to delivery points). Using the model, we gain insights into where delays are most detrimental to system performance (i.e., the network's "bottleneck") in port and transportation corridors. We then include our delay modeling in a convex cost network flow model that determines optimal routing when several port and corridor options are available. Finally, we examine a resource allocation model for where to invest in improvements to minimize delay. Throughout, we compare solutions using the optimal approach to rules of thumb and identify important factors that might be missing in practical decision making currently. Third, we present a case study on the implementation of supply chain key performance indicators (KPIs) at a large humanitarian organization. We describe (i) the phases necessary for a full implementation of supply chain KPIs at a humanitarian or non-profit organization, (ii) how to address strategy, mindset, and organizational barriers, and (iii) how to adapt commercial supply chain KPI frameworks to the humanitarian sector, factoring in implementation constraints present in the humanitarian sector that may impact KPI development. Last, a conclusion chapter discusses areas where this research may or may not generalize for each of the three topics studied.

Supply chain management (SCM) has become one of the most popular and fastest growing areas in management. One major issue of SCM is the proper design of supply chains to serve customers effectively (high customer service) and efficiently (at low costs). This is particularly difficult as companies nowadays face a series of challenges like shrinking product life cycles, the proliferation of product variants (mass customization), and increasing uncertainty on both the demand and the supply side. Dealing efficiently with uncertainty is one of the most crucial points in supply chain design. According to Lovejoy (1998) a company has three generic possibilities to address uncertainty: it can either hold safety inventory, hold safety capacity, or reduce variability by using enhanced information. These three strategies constitute the so-called Operations management (OM) triangle. This study will analyze whether and how variability can be reduced in supply chains and thereby improve process performance of supply chains. This means that the concept of OM triangle is extended and linked to concepts from SCM, with a special focus on the analysis of the role of information and its capability for reducing variability. As one result of this study a new variability framework is presented, organizing the different types of variability in supply chains. Second, the extended OM triangle is eveloped, linking concepts from SCM to the OM triangle. Finally, it can be stated that handling variability within the supply chain is major challenge for every supply chain manager, as there is always some kind of uncertainty or variability. This study may help to organize this broad field of action within supply chains. (author's abstract)

In times of demand shocks, when quantitative forecasting based on historical time series becomes obsolete, the only information about future demand is "advance demand information", i.e. interpreting early customer bookings as an indicator of not yet known demand. This paper deals with a forecasting method which selects the optimal forecasting model type and the level of integration of advance demand information, depending on the patterns of the particular time series. This constitutes the applicability of the procedure within an industrial application where a large number of time series is automatically forecasted in a flexible and data-driven way. The architecture of such a planning system is explained and using real-world data from a make-to-order industry it is shown that the system is flexible enough to cover different demand patterns and is well-suited to forecast demand shocks. (authors' abstract)

The production of oil requires tremendous amounts of energy consumption through a distributed combustion network of processes along the oil supply chain spectrum. The consequences of fossil-based fuel combustion processes are the generation of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and hazardous wastewater, which have adverse environmental effects. Potential mitigation options of GHG emissions are the application of renewable and alternative energy sources. This research deals with integrating the upstream oil supply chain with renewable power generation systems in order to assess the impact of energy demand, and CO2 emissions on the efficiency of oil operations and environment . The main focus in this thesis is to evaluate the solar energy alternative for producing part of the energy requirements in the upstream oil supply chain. The output from the research will provide an optimal mix of energy generation in the upstream oil industry in order to comply with CO2 constraints, while sustaining target production plans. An analysis of GHG emission sources and their associated flow rates in the upstream oil supply chain mainly CO2 is discussed in this study. An investigation of replacement of energy supply for some non-critical operations from fossil fuels or other conventional sources to green renewable energy sources mainly from solar energy is also carried out with special focus on enhanced oil recovery operations. An analysis of different types of solar energy and identification of the best type of solar energy technologies that best matches the oil and gas industry is investigated in this study. The thesis will also identify the challenges for solar energy integration including irradiation levels and weather conditions in addition to policy regulations

The objective of the study was to develop a management framework for internal logistics in the Department of Education in Gauteng. For the purpose of this study internal logistics was defined as the complete process of obtaining goods and services from the compiling and processing of requisitions to the payment of invoices and the record keeping of all transactions to achieve organisational objectives. Internal logistics entails purchase planning, specification development, supplier research, contract administration and quotations, ordering and inventory control. The management of internal logistics can enhance productivity and performance within the value chain, improving service delivery, the outcome of the audited financial statement and ultimately the optimal spending of the allocated budget per financial year. For three consecutive financial years (2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009) GDE received a qualified audited financial statement. For financial years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 GDE succeeded to receive an unqualified audited financial statement. To maintain this achievement and ultimately receive a clean audit financial statement, it is necessary to evaluate all the business processes, specifically within supply chain management, contributing to the audit findings. Supply Chain Management (SCM) is in some way the completion of the circle of financial management. It is important for GDE to develop a uniform internal logistics framework that would enable them to also gain the maximum from its annual allocated budget. It is also critical that the internal logistics are attended to as soon as possible to have a positive input towards the audited financial statement. A literature study was done on the concepts of the value chain, supply chain management and the management of knowledge. A questionnaire was designed, based on the findings in the literature, and used to measure the efficiency of the internal logistics in the District offices. The state of the internal logistics at the District offices was assessed through survey questionnaires to extract the data. It became evident that certain gaps and problems exist in relation to internal logistics at the District offices and that knowledge management is related to these gaps and problems. Internal logistics has a link with the elements of supply chain management as investigated in the literature study. The elements of supply chain management can to be broken down into clear activities for the management of internal logistics. The key area of concern is that the internal logistics within SCM are not acknowledged and therefore not properly managed in the District offices. The result of this is that the allocated budget is not optimally utilised and also receives qualifications from the audited financial statement. A practical framework to manage internal logistics is proposed for the Department of Education to assist with the problems, and to bridge the gaps found after analysing the questionnaires. The findings of the empirical study were used as the basis of the framework. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are drawn and rendered in order to improve the logistics management of the Department of Education in Gauteng. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Tendering process is central to national government in South Africa. The goods and services bought by national government in South Africa represent a large amount of public money, and it is very important that national government put in place measure to manage how these goods and services are acquired. In the main government acquire goods and services through tender system and the focus of the study was tendering process in national government in South Africa. The amount of public resources that national government uses in the tendering process is huge and is approximately over 20% of GDP, which has direct implication for service delivery and job creation as well as redressing past discrimination by empowering designated groups of peoples to receive preference in tendering. South Africa is one of the countries with the highest level of corruption rate in the world, of which tender fraud and corruption play a major part. Considering that, the reform of tendering process in national government is therefore inevitable and has to take place. The primary objective of this study is to analyse national government tender system, and identify the tendering problems facing South African national departments. The study further made practical recommendations to National Government, National Treasury, and all the relevant stakeholders relating to the management of tendering process. Data from 355 questionnaires completed by participants, represented 45 national department was collected and analysed. This study found that national government is facing major challenges in managing of tendering process, and these challenges relates to implementation and adoption of the code of best practice. The most important conclusions drawn from the study are: * The department complies with all the above legislation and keep the rules as stipulated in the legislation; * There is a need to issue a single national legislative framework in terms of section 76(4)(c) of the PFMA to guide uniformity in tendering process; * The tendering legislations and its associated regulations are complex and may make it difficult to implement correctly; * The department follow all tendering process generic steps at all times; * The current evaluation system is not a good system and is biased towards the lowest price bidders; * The current tendering practices in government are outdated and inefficient; * Tender practitioners are not adequately trained in the application of the tender process and its associated regulations; * The departments did not keep a detailed and consistent documentation of all events of the whole tendering procedure at all times; * The current tendering practices do not conform to internationally accepted best practices; * The department’s tendering function is not carried out in a cost–effective way; and * The current tendering system is fair, encourages competition, and has integrity. Practical recommendations are suggested to ensure the effective management of tendering process in national government. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.