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The thesis "Supply Chain Management in Furniture Retail Industry" tries to determine the current status of an integrated supply chain management in the furniture industry. The importance of the supply chain in the modern economy is discussed as well as the difficult economical conditions for furniture dealers, with consumers spending more on cellphones, the national lottery and transport. The importance of the supply chain as a vehicle to optimize shareholder funds is stressed. The literature study sets out to prove that as a result of the new paradigm that exists within the organisational system, that the supply chain system needs new ideas, thought process and structures to ensure that the full potential is realised. In order to maximise returns from the supply chain business process, re-engineering and design will have to take place. Organisations must be willing and able to radically re- think and re-design the existing process. A paradigm shift is absolutely essential to obtain the maximum returns for the organisation. Certain pre-designed supply chain models are discussed and advantages and disadvantages are analysed. The models are the, the Growth Model, the Supply Chain Management Systems Framework, the Semantic Model for Internet Supply Chain Collaboration and the Supply Chain Operations Model. The models differ in their approaches and is an effort to expose the reader to current best practises in integrated supply chain management. Thirdly, key factors for supply chain success are discussed. Research has shown that if organisations fail to meet certain basic requirements, any attempts at influencing or improving the process are doomed. Internal excellence is a basic requirement followed by external integration and excellence. Two other important issues are supplier relationships, and the critical importance of information technology in assisting organisations to obtain supremacy. The literature study ends with the discussion of a financial model for measuring the success of supply chain interventions. The final word in any change process is financial. If Economic Value is not added, then the process can be seen as a failure. Chapter Three discusses the methodology that was followed in conducting the research. Chapter four analysis the findings and make certain recommendations for the furniture industry in South Africa that will assist in improving supply chain management. / Thesis (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Graduate School of Management / unrestricted

Integrated robust planning systems that cover all levels of SC hierarchy have become increasingly important. Strategic, tactical, and operational SC plans should not be generated in isolation to avoid infeasible and conflicting decisions. On the other hand, enterprise planning systems contain over millions of records that are processed in each planning iteration. In such enterprises, the ability to generate robust plans is vital to their success because such plans can save the enterprise resources that may otherwise have to be reserved for likely SC plan changes. A robust SC plan is valid in all circumstances and does not need many corrections in the case of interruption, error, or disturbance. Such a reliable plan is proactive as well as reactive. Proactivity can be achieved by forecasting the future events and taking them into account in planning. Reactivity is a matter of agility, the capability of keeping track of system behaviour and capturing alarming signals from its environment, and the ability to respond quickly to the occurrence of an unforeseen event. Modeling such a system behaviour and providing solutions after such an event is extremely important for a SC. This study focuses on integrated supply chain planning with stochastic dynamic considerations. An integrated tactical-operational model is developed and then segregated into two sub-models which are solved iteratively. A SC is a stochastic dynamic system whose state changes over time often in an unpredictable manner. As a result, the customer demand is treated as an uncertain parameter and is handled by exploiting scenario-based stochastic programming. The increase in the number of scenarios makes it difficult to obtain quick and good solutions. As such, a Branch and Fix algorithm is developed to segregate the stochastic model into isolated islands so as to make the computationally intractable problem solvable. However not all the practitioners, planners, and managers are risk neutral. Some of them may be concerned about the risky extreme scenarios. In view of this, the robust optimization approach is also adopted in this thesis. Both the solution robustness and model robustness are taken into account in the tactical model. Futhermore, the dynamic behaviour of a SC system is handled with the concept of Model Predictive Control (MPC).

In this thesis, we explored the use of a renewable resource to produce more sustainable polymeric materials. Limonene, a monocyclic terpene existing in many essential oils extracted from citrus rinds, was the renewable monomer investigated. The d-limonene ((+)-limonene) isomer is a major component (~90%) of orange oils from orange juicing and peel processing. Having been used as a flavour and fragrance additive in cosmetics, foods and beverages, as well as a green solvent, limonene is of particular interest in polymerization, because it contains double bonds, which provide the bifunctionality necessary for polymerization. Limonene is also an allylic monomer (CH2=CH-CH2Y), which presents challenges in free-radical homopolymerization and thus, copolymerization was investigated herein to overcome this difficulty. 2-Ethylhexyl acrylate (EHA) and n-butyl methacrylate (BMA) were used in two separate projects, as comonomers with limonene. Using bulk free-radical copolymerization at 80℃, with benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as the initiator, high molecular weight (>100,000) EHA/limonene and BMA/limonene copolymers were produced. Reactivity ratios, important parameters used in the prediction of copolymer composition, were estimated and shown to accurately predict the copolymer composition of subsequent experiments. These can now be used for the application of appropriate semi-batch policies to further enhance limonene incorporation into the copolymers.

Logistický řetězec farmaceutického průmyslu je čím dál tím více složitější a propojenější a tak je nezbytné pro většinu společností disponovat spolehlivým a bezpečným distribučním systémem. Pod rostoucím tlakem na snižování cen je pro každou společnost nutné řídit svůj dodavatelský řetězec tak, aby byla schopna dodávat na trh kvalitní produkty za příznivé a konkurenceschopné ceny. Jen takto je schopna obstát v tvrdé konkurenci.

Thesis is about various implications that can be seen in business processes. It defines the term, describes history, the most important offshoring destinations and positive, as well as negative influences that offshoring has on firms. Practical part demonstrates decisions which firm has to make when it considers various locations of manufacturing.

In the thesis, the author wanted to research the topic of implementation of cloud-based solutions in the area of Supply Chain Management. The first part is devoted to theoretical background of Cloud Computing -- different types of solutions are suitable for various kinds of business activity, and Supply Chain Management. In the second part, the author focused on an analysis of a company - FN Granum and searched for a Cloud Computing solution, which would be the best for it, taking into account current situation and future plans of the entity. Such extensive research resulted in a set of conclusions and recommendations, which may be helpful for any manager considering an implementation of cloud-based solutions into their supply chains.

The dissertation "Alignment of supply and demand within a supply chain: a qualitative study” determines the causes of the misalignment between the supply and demand within a supply chain, with specific focus on Kraft Foods South Africa. The costs of a mismatch between supply and demand are growing in many industries. Companies have tried various approaches, however these approaches, while useful, have failed to address a number of the drivers of supply-demand mismatch. The literature study starts with an overview of supply chain management. The study covers the various concepts of supply chain management, the importance of supply chain performance, the challenges of managing supply chains, demand management, supply management, as well as the relationship between supply and demand. The literature study continues to cover the various concepts related to the alignment of supply and demand within a supply chain. The study covers the effects of the misalignment between supply and demand within a supply chain, traditional approaches to align supply and demand and the transformation to a more responsive organisation. The various approaches to decrease the supply and demand lead time gap are also discussed. The literature study concludes with an overview of the supply chain of Kraft Foods South Africa, as well as the global Kraft Foods organisation. The review covers the challenges, the sustainable growth plan, the organisational set-up, sources and product range, geographical layout, people, functions and technology involved in Kraft’s supply chain. The review concludes with an overview of the current alignment between supply and demand within Kraft Foods South Africa’s supply chain. Chapter five discusses the details of the research design and methodology that was followed in conducting the research. Chapter six indicates the findings of the structured interviews with the key players in Kraft Foods South Africa’s supply chain. Chapter seven makes certain recommendations for the supply chain of Kraft Foods South Africa that will assist in improving the alignment between supply and demand. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Business Management / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc (Medical Virology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Medical Virology / unrestricted

The thesis deals with automatic tool change in milling multifunctional machining center with horizontal spindle axis. It describes the systems that are currently in use and their base division. The first part of the work is common. In this part of the thesis is a machine design with its parameters. The second part is independent, deals with the design of the exchanger and tool magazine together with their design solution.