Search results for: fourth party logistics

Authors: Ramon Erasmo Verdin Rodriguez

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Many has been the ways that historically the managers and gurus has been trying to get closer to the perfect supply chain, but since this topic is so vast and very complex the bigger the companies are, the duty has not been certainly easy. On this research, you are going to see thru the entrails of the logistics that happens at a glass manufacturing company with the number one raw material of the process that is the silica sand. After a very quick passage thru the supply chain, this document is going to focus on the way that raw materials flow thru the system, so after that, an analysis and research can take place to improve the logistics. Thru Operations Research techniques, it will be analyzed the current scheme of distribution and inventories of raw materials at a glass company’s plants, so after a mathematical conceptualization process, the supply chain could be optimized with the purpose of reducing the uncertainty of supply and obtaining an economic benefit at the very end of this research.

Keywords: inventory management, operations research, optimization, supply chain

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Authors: Shaleni Bajpai, Nancy Stephan

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Various designs of women’s kurtis with different styles, motifs and prints were available in market but none of the kurtis was found in army print. Mostly army prints are used for men’s wear like jackets, trousers, caps, bags. The main colours available in military prints were beige, parrot green, red, dark blue, light blue, orange, bottle green, pink and the original military green colour. As the original camouflage is banned in civil wears so the different variety and colours were used in this study to popularize army prints in women’s wear. The aim of this project was to construct different styles of women kurti’s with various colours of different military prints. Mood board, inspiration and colour board was prepared to design the kurtis. The fabric used for construction was army printed poplin and crepe. The designing and construction of kurti’s were divided into two categories such as - casual and party wear. Casual wear had simple silhouette like a-line, high-low and waist coat style whereas party wear included princess line, panelled and bandhani style. Structured questionnaire was prepared to assess the acceptance of newly designed kurtis with respect to colour combination, overall appearance and cost. Purposively sampling method was adopted for selection of respondents. Opinion was taken from 100 women of various age groups. The result and analysis was presented through graph and percentage. Kurtis in army print of both the categories were appreciated by the respondents.

Keywords: army, kurti, casual wear, party wear

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Authors: Ebtissem Sassi, Abdellatif Benabdelhafid, Sami Hammami

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Congestion, pollution and space misuse are the major risks in the hinterland. Management of these risks is a major issue for all the actors intervening in territory management. A good mastery of these risks is based on the consideration of environmental and physical constraints since the implementation of a policy integrates simultaneously an efficient use, territorial resources, and financial resources which become increasingly rare. Yet, this balance can be difficult to establish simultaneously by all the actors. Indeed, every actor has often the tendency to favor these objectives in detriment to others. In this framework, we have fixed the objective of designing and achieving a model which will centralize multidisciplinary data and serve the analysis tool as well as a decision support tool. In this article, we will elaborate some methodological axes allowing the good management of the territory system through (i) determination of the structural factors of the decision support system, (ii) integration of methods tools favoring the territorial decisional process. Logistics territory geographic information system is a model dealing with this issue. The objective of this model is to facilitate the exchanges between the actors around a common question which was the research subject of human sciences researchers (geography, economy), nature sciences (ecology) as well as finding an optimal solution for simultaneous responses to all these objectives.

Keywords: complexity, territory, logistics, territory planning, conceptual model, GIS, MCA

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Authors: Mao Zhaofang, Xu Yida, Fang Kan, Fu Enyuan, Zhao Zhao

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Nowadays, last-mile distribution plays an increasingly important role in the whole industrial chain delivery link and accounts for a large proportion of the whole distribution process cost. Promoting the upgrading of logistics networks and improving the layout of final distribution points has become one of the trends in the development of modern logistics. Due to the discrete and heterogeneous needs and spatial distribution of customer demand, which will lead to a higher delivery failure rate and lower vehicle utilization, last-mile delivery has become a time-consuming and uncertain process. As a result, courier companies have introduced a range of innovative parcel storage facilities, including pick-up points and lockers. The introduction of pick-up points and lockers has not only improved the users’ experience but has also helped logistics and courier companies achieve large-scale economy. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 of the previous period, contactless delivery has become a new hotspot, which has also created new opportunities for the development of collection services. Therefore, a key issue for logistics companies is how to design/redesign their last-mile distribution network systems to create integrated logistics and distribution networks that consider pick-up points and lockers. This paper focuses on the introduction of self-pickup facilities in new logistics and distribution scenarios and the heterogeneous demands of customers. In this paper, we consider two types of demand, including ordinary products and refrigerated products, as well as corresponding transportation vehicles. We consider the constraints associated with self-pickup points and lockers and then address the location-routing problem with self-pickup facilities and heterogeneous demands (LRP-PFHD). To solve this challenging problem, we propose a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model that aims to minimize the total cost, which includes the facility opening cost, the variable transport cost, and the fixed transport cost. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, we propose a hybrid adaptive large-neighbourhood search algorithm to solve LRP-PFHD. We evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm by using instances generated based on benchmark instances. The results demonstrate that the hybrid adaptive large neighbourhood search algorithm is more efficient than MILP solvers such as Gurobi for LRP-PFHD, especially for large-scale instances. In addition, we made a comprehensive analysis of some important parameters (e.g., facility opening cost and transportation cost) to explore their impacts on the results and suggested helpful managerial insights for courier companies.

Keywords: city logistics, last-mile delivery, location-routing, adaptive large neighborhood search

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Authors: Michael Mederle, Heinz Bernhardt

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The Management of machine fleets or autonomous vehicle control will considerably increase efficiency in future agricultural production. Especially entire process chains, e.g. harvesting complexes with several interacting combine harvesters, grain carts, and removal trucks, provide lots of optimization potential. Organization and pre-planning ensure to get these efficiency reserves accessible. One way to achieve this is to optimize infield path planning. Particularly autonomous machinery requires precise specifications about infield logistics to be navigated effectively and process optimized in the fields individually or in machine complexes. In the past, a lot of theoretical optimization has been done regarding infield logistics, mainly based on field geometry. However, there are reasons why farmers often do not apply the infield strategy suggested by mathematical route planning tools. To make the computational optimization more useful for farmers this study focuses on these influencing factors by expert interviews. As a result practice-oriented navigation not only to the field but also within the field will be possible. The survey study is intended to cover the entire range of German agriculture. Rural mixed farms with simple technology equipment are considered as well as large agricultural cooperatives which farm thousands of hectares using track guidance and various other electronic assistance systems. First results show that farm managers using guidance systems increasingly attune their infield-logistics on direction giving obstacles such as power lines. In consequence, they can avoid inefficient boom flippings while doing plant protection with the sprayer. Livestock farmers rather focus on the application of organic manure with its specific requirements concerning road conditions, landscape terrain or field access points. Cultivation of sugar beets makes great demands on infield patterns because of its particularities such as the row crop system or high logistics demands. Furthermore, several machines working in the same field simultaneously influence each other, regardless whether or not they are of the equal type. Specific infield strategies always are based on interactions of several different influences and decision criteria. Single working steps like tillage, seeding, plant protection or harvest mostly cannot be considered each individually. The entire production process has to be taken into consideration to detect the right infield logistics. One long-term objective of this examination is to integrate the obtained influences on infield strategies as decision criteria into an infield navigation tool. In this way, path planning will become more practical for farmers which is a basic requirement for automatic vehicle control and increasing process efficiency.

Keywords: autonomous vehicle control, infield logistics, path planning, process optimizing

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Authors: Jaroslav Masek, Juraj Camaj, Eva Nedeliakova

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The aim of optimization of store management is not only designing the situation of store management itself including its equipment, technology and operation. In optimization of store management we need to consider also synchronizing of technological, transport, store and service operations throughout the whole process of logistic chain in such a way that a natural flow of material from provider to consumer will be achieved the shortest possible way, in the shortest possible time in requested quality and quantity and with minimum costs. The paper deals with the application of the queuing theory for optimization of warehouse processes. The first part refers to common information about the problematic of warehousing and using mathematical methods for logistics chains optimization. The second part refers to preparing a model of a warehouse within queuing theory. The conclusion of the paper includes two examples of using queuing theory in praxis.

Keywords: queuing theory, logistics system, mathematical methods, warehouse optimization

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Authors: Andrei Nastas, Sergiu Cernomopret

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This research addresses trafficking in human beings, in terms of the active subject and the victim of this crime, through the prism of national and international regulations in material and procedural criminal matters. For the correlative approach of both mentioned aspects, the active subject and the victim of trafficking in human beings, the research addresses both its constituent elements and the way to prevent and combat this phenomenon through criminal proceedings. As follows, trafficking in human beings, from a material criminal point of view, involves two subjects of this crime (active subject - offender and passive subject - victim), while their procedural status differs depending on the case (victim or injured party). The result of the research highlights some clarifications, which find a theoretical-practical basis in the legal provisions, the specialized doctrine, and the judicial practice.

Keywords: victim, active subject, abuse, injured party, crime

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Authors: Mani Gupta

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This study deals with question: i) Whether ICT plays a positive role in improvement of efficiency of LIPs in terms of providing efficient services to the Users in LICs? and ii) Role of finance in terms of required technological logistics and infrastructure for usage of ICT based services to comfort in accessing databases by Users in LICs. This is based on primary data which are collected from various libraries and Information Centers of NCR Delhi. The survey conducted during December 15 and 31, 2010 on 496 respondents across 96 libraries and information centers in NCR Delhi through electronic data collection method. There is positive and emphatic relationship between ICT and its effect on improving the level of efficient services providing by LIPs in LICs in NCR Delhi. This is divided into 6 sub-headings and finally the outcomes.

Keywords: modern globalization, linear correlation, efficient service, internet revolution, logistics

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Authors: S. Parisi, Ch. Achillas, D. Aidonis, D. Folinas, N. Moussiopoulos

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Preparedness addresses the strategy in disaster management that allows the implementation of successful operational response immediately after a disaster. With speed as the main driver, product design for humanitarian aid purposes is a key factor of success in situations of high uncertainty and urgency. Within this context, a telecommunications container (TC) has been designed that belongs to a group of containers that serve the purpose of immediate response to global disasters. The TC includes all the necessary equipment to establish a telecommunication center in the destroyed area within the first 72 hours of humanitarian operations. The design focuses on defining the topology of the various parts of equipment by taking into consideration factors of serviceability, functionality, human-product interaction, universal design language, energy consumption, sustainability and the interrelationship with the other containers. The concept parametric design has been implemented with SolidWorks® CAD system.

Keywords: telecommunications container, design, case study, humanitarian logistics

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Authors: S. Dhib, S. A. Addouche, T. Loukil, A. Elmhamedi

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In this paper, a reverse supply chain network is investigated for a decision making. This decision is surrounded by complex flows of returned products, due to the increasing quantity, the type of returned products and the variety of recovery option products (reuse, recycling, and refurbishment). The most important problem in the reverse logistic network (RLN) is to orient returned products to the suitable type of recovery option. However, returned products orientations from collect sources to the recovery disposition have not well considered in performance model. In this study, we propose a performance model for designing a network configuration on reverse logistics. Conceptual and analytical models are developed with taking into account operational, economic and environmental factors on designing network.

Keywords: reverse logistics, network design, performance model, open loop configuration

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Authors: Nancy Bartekian, Christine Reyna

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Republicans and Democrats are often polarized when it comes to important topics, but the portrayal of polarization of key issues might be distorted and exaggerated. We examined Republicans' and Democrats’ attitudes about police reform policy during the 2020 racial justice protests and calls to ‘defund the police’. We hypothesized that a) Republicans and Democrats will be polarized on the “defund police'' question; however, b) they will have similar overall attitudes towards specific police reform policies (will be on the same side of the scale--disagree vs. agree), but c) will differ in their extent of agreement or disagreement (main effect of political party ID, but located on the same side of the scale). Using one-way, Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) controlling for race, education, and income, we found an overall effect of political party ID. Six out of the nine policies studied were, in fact, not polarizing; both groups were in consensus on whether they disagreed or agreed with the policy, including “defund police''. Results suggest that polarization might be exaggerated.

Keywords: political psychology, social, ideology, polarization

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Authors: N. Singh, A. Khullar, R. Shrivastava, I. Singh, A. S. Kumar

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Steel forms the basis of any modern society and is essential to economic growth. India’s annual crude steel production has seen a consistent increase over the past years and is poised to grow to 300 million tons per annum by 2030-31 from current level of 110-120 million tons per annum. Steel industry is highly capital-intensive industry and to remain competitive, it is imperative that it invests in operational excellence. Due to inherent nature of the industry, there is large amount of variability in its supply chain both internally and externally. Production and productivity of a steel plant is greatly affected by the bottlenecks present in material flow logistics. The internal logistics constituting of transport of liquid metal within a steel melting shop (SMS) presents an opportunity in increasing the throughput with marginal capital investment. The study was carried out at one of the SMS of an integrated steel plant located in the eastern part of India. The plant has three SMS’s and the study was carried out at one of them. The objective of this study was to identify means to optimize SMS hot metal logistics through application of industrial engineering techniques. The study also covered the identification of non-value-added activities and proposed methods to eliminate the delays and improve the throughput of the SMS.

Keywords: optimization, steel making, supply chain, throughput enhancement, workforce productivity

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Authors: Maico R. Severino, Laura G. Caixeta, Nadine M. Costa, Raísa L. T. Napoleão, Éverton F. V. Valle, Diego D. Calixto, Danielle Oliveira

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One of the biggest barriers that companies find nowadays is the coordination of production flow in their Supply Chains (SC). In this study, coordination is understood as a mechanism for incorporating the entire production channel, with everyone involved focused on achieving the same goals. Sometimes, this coordination is attempted by the use of logistics practices or production plan and control methods. No papers were found in the literature that presented the combined use of logistics practices and production plan and control methods. The main objective of this paper is to propose solutions for six case studies combining logistics practices and Ordering Systems (OS). The methodology used in this study was a conceptual model of decision making. This model contains six phases: a) the analysis the types and characteristics of relationships in the SC; b) the choice of the OS; c) the choice of the logistics practices; d) the development of alternative proposals of combined use; e) the analysis of the consistency of the chosen alternative; f) the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the impact on the coordination of the production flow and the verification of applicability of the proposal in the real case. This study was conducted on six Brazilian SC of different sectors: footwear, food and beverages, garment, sugarcane, mineral and metal mechanical. The results from this study showed that there was improvement in the coordination of the production flow through the following proposals: a) for the footwear industry the use of Period Bath Control (PBC), Quick Response (QR) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP); b) for the food and beverage sector firstly the use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), ERP, Continuous Replenishment (CR) and Drum-Buffer-Rope Order (DBR) (for situations in which the plants of both companies are distant), and secondly EDI, ERP, Milk-Run and Review System Continues (for situations in which the plants of both companies are close); c) for the garment industry the use of Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR) and Constant Work-In-Process (CONWIP) System; d) for the sugarcane sector the use of EDI, ERP and CONWIP System; e) for the mineral processes industry the use of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), EDI and MaxMin Control System; f) for the metal mechanical sector the use of CONWIP System and Continuous Replenishment (CR). It should be emphasized that the proposals are exclusively recommended for the relationship between client and supplier studied. Therefore, it cannot be generalized to other cases. However, what can be generalized is the methodology used to choose the best practices for each case. Based on the study, it can be concluded that the combined use of OS and logistics practices enable a better coordination of flow production on SC.

Keywords: supply chain management, production flow coordination, logistics practices, ordering systems

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Authors: Ugur Buyuk, Sevda Engin

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Among the various alloy systems being considered as lead-free solder candidates, Sn-Ag-Cu alloys have been recognized as the most promising because of their excellent reliability and compatibility with current components. Thus, Sn-Ag-Cu alloys have recently attracted considerable attention and have been proposed by the Japanese, the EU and the US consortiums to replace conventional Sn-Pb eutectic solder. However, many problems or unknown characteristics of the Sn-Ag-Cu alloy system such as the best composition, the large undercooling in solidification, and the formation of large intermetallics still exist. It is expected that the addition of some solidification nuclei for Sn-Ag-Cu alloys will refine the solidification microstructure and will suppress undercooling.In the present work, the effects of the fourth elements, i.e., Zn, Ni, Bi, In and Co, on microstructural and mechanical properties of Sn-3.5Ag-0.9Cu lead-free solder were investigated. Sn-3.5Ag-0.9Cu-0.5X (X= Zn, Ni, Bi, In, Co (wt.)) alloys were prepared in a graphite crucible under vacuum atmosphere. The samples were directionally solidified upward at a constant temperature gradient and growth rates by using a Bridgman type directional solidification furnace. The microstructure, microhardness and ultimate tensile strength of alloys were measured. The effects of fourth elements on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Sn–Ag-Cu eutectic alloys were investigated. The results obtained in the present work were compared with the previous experimental results.

Keywords: lead-free solders, microhardness, microstructure, tensile strength

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Authors: J. Tochukwu Omenma

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Buzzword in Nigeria is that democracy has “come to stay”. Politicians in their usual euphoria consider democracy as already consolidated in the country. Politicians linked this assumption to three fundamental indicators – (a) multiparty system; (b) regular elections and (c) absence of military coup after 15 years of democracy in Nigeria. Beyond this assumption, we intend to empirically verify these claims and assumptions, by relying on Huntington’s conceptualization of democratic consolidation. Though, Huntington asserts that multipartism, regular elections and absence of any major obstacle leading to reversal of democracy are significant indicators of democratic consolidation, but the presence of those indicators must result to alternation of executive power for democratic consolidation to occur. In other words, regular conduct of election and existence of multiple political parties are not enough for democratic consolidation, rather free and fair elections. Past elections were characterized of massive fraud and irregularities casting doubts on integrity of electoral management body (EMB) to conduct free and fair elections in Nigeria. There are three existing perspectives that have offered responses to the emasculation of independence of EMB. One is a more popular position indicating that the incumbent party, more than the opposition party, influence the EMB activities with the aim of rigging elections; the other is a more radical perspective that suggests that weakening of EMB power is more associated with the weakest party than with the incumbent; and the last, is that godfather(s) are in direct control of EMB members thereby controlling the process of electoral process to the advantage of the godfather(s). With empirical evidence sourced from the reports of independent election monitors, (European Union, Election Observation Mission in Nigeria) this paper shows at different electoral periods that, in terms of influencing election outcomes, the incumbent and godfather have been more associated with influencing election results than the opposition. The existing nature of executive power in Nigeria provides a plausible explanation for the incumbent’s overbearing influence thereby limiting opportunity for free and fair elections and by extension undermining the process of democratic consolidation in Nigeria.

Keywords: political party, democracy, democratic consolidation, election, godfatherism

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Authors: Zety Shakila Binti Mohd Yusof, Muhammad Adib Bin Ishak, Hajah Fatimah Binti Hussein

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The international shipping business is related to numerous controls or regulations of export and import shipments. It is costly and time consuming, and when something goes wrong or when the buyer or seller fails to comply with the regulations, it can result in penalties, delays, and unexpected costs etc. For the focus of this study, the researchers have selected a local forwarder that provides forwarding and clearance services, Nexus Zone Logistics. It was identified that this company currently has many extra costs to be paid including local and detention charges, which negatively impacts the flow of income and reduces overall stability. Two variables have been identified as factors of extra charges; loaded containers entering the port by exceeded closing time and late delivery of empty containers to the container yard. This study is a qualitative in nature and the secondary data collected was analyzed using self-administered observation. The findings of this study were covered by one selected case for each export and import shipment between July and December 2014. The data were analyzed using frequency analysis based on tables and graphs. The researcher recommends Nexus Zone Logistics impose a 1% deposit payment per container for each shipment (export and import) to its customers.

Keywords: international shipping, export and import, detention charges, container shipment

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Authors: Fabiana Lucena Oliveira, Aristides da Rocha Oliveira Junior

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This article discusses the dependence on air transport mode of agile supply chains. The agile supply chains are the result of the analysis of the uncertainty supply chain model, which ranks the supply chain, according to the respective product. Thus, understanding the Uncertainty Model and life cycle of products considered standard and innovative is critical to understanding these. The innovative character in the intersection of supply chains arising from the uncertainty model with its most appropriate transport mode. Consider here the variables availability, security and freight as determinants for choosing these modes. Therefore, the research problem is: How agile supply chains maintains logistics competitiveness, as these are dependent on air transport mode? A case study in Manaus Industrial Pole (MIP), an agglomeration model that includes six hundred industries from different backgrounds and billings, located in the Brazilian Amazon. The sample of companies surveyed include those companies whose products are classified in agile supply chains , as innovative and therefore live with the variable uncertainty in the demand for inputs or the supply of finished products. The results confirm the hypothesis that the dependency level of air transport mode is greater than fifty percent. It follows then, that maintain agile supply chain away from suppliers base is expensive (1) , and continuity analysis needs to be remade on each twenty four months (2) , consider that additional freight, handling and storage as members of the logistics costs (3) , and the comparison with the upcoming agile supply chains the world need to consider the location effect (4).

Keywords: uncertainty model, air transport mode, competitiveness, logistics

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Authors: Tarathorn Podcharathitikull, Jirarat Teeravaraprug

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Transportation cost is the highest cost in logistics cost of Thailand, and truck transportation is counted as about 90% of the overall transportation cost. The main problem of truck transportation is backhauling. Backhauling has become an attractive cost-saving approach in logistics. To explore such opportunities, this paper investigated the current backhauling systems in Thailand. It was found that the backhauling problem is attracted to both governmental agencies and private sector. They gave attempts to build backhauling systems. This paper investigated two systems built by governmental agencies and one by private sector. Moreover, based on the interviews with the system representatives and users, pros and cons of the systems were found. The obstacles and challenges were obtained. This paper finally proposed a conceptual model of to-be backhauling system in Thailand.

Keywords: backhauling system, backhauls, interview, Thailand

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Authors: Stavros T. Ponis, George D. Plakas-Koumadorakis, Sotiris P. Gayialis

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Augmented Reality (AR) can be defined as a technology, which takes the capabilities of computer-generated display, sound, text and effects to enhance the user's real-world experience by overlaying virtual objects into the real world. By doing that, AR is capable of providing a vast array of work support tools, which can significantly increase employee productivity, enhance existing job training programs by making them more realistic and in some cases introduce completely new forms of work and task executions. One of the most promising AR industrial applications, as literature shows, is the use of Head Worn, monocular or binocular Displays (HWD) to support logistics and production operations, such as order picking, part assembly and maintenance. This paper presents the initial results of an ongoing research project for the introduction of a dedicated AR-HWD solution to the picking process of a Distribution Center (DC) in Greece operated by a large Telecommunication Service Provider (TSP). In that context, the proposed research aims to determine whether gamification elements should be integrated in the functional requirements of the AR solution, such as providing points for reaching objectives and creating leaderboards and awards (e.g. badges) for general achievements. Up to now, there is a an ambiguity on the impact of gamification in logistics operations since gamification literature mostly focuses on non-industrial organizational contexts such as education and customer/citizen facing applications, such as tourism and health. To the contrary, the gamification efforts described in this study focus in one of the most labor- intensive and workflow dependent logistics processes, i.e. Customer Order Picking (COP). Although introducing AR in COP, undoubtedly, creates significant opportunities for workload reduction and increased process performance the added value of gamification is far from certain. This paper aims to provide insights on the suitability and usefulness of AR-enhanced gamification in the hard and very demanding environment of a logistics center. In doing so, it will utilize a review of the current state-of-the art regarding gamification of production and logistics processes coupled with the results of questionnaire guided interviews with industry experts, i.e. logisticians, warehouse workers (pickers) and AR software developers. The findings of the proposed research aim to contribute towards a better understanding of AR-enhanced gamification, the organizational change it entails and the consequences it potentially has for all implicated entities in the often highly standardized and structured work required in the logistics setting. The interpretation of these findings will support the decision of logisticians regarding the introduction of gamification in their logistics processes by providing them useful insights and guidelines originating from a real life case study of a large DC operating more than 300 retail outlets in Greece.

Keywords: augmented reality, technology acceptance, warehouse management, vision picking, new forms of work, gamification

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Authors: Arif Ali, Divya Raj Sapkota

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In this paper, we explain gravitational attraction as the consequence of the dynamics of four-dimensional bodies and the consequent distortion of space. This approach provides an alternative direction to understand various physical phenomena based on the existence of the fourth spatial dimension. For this interpretation, we formulate the acceleration due to gravity and orbital velocity based on the accelerating expansion of three-dimensional symmetric bodies. It is also shown how distortion in space caused by the dynamics of four-dimensional bodies counterbalances the effect of expansion. We find that the motion of four-dimensional bodies through four-dimensional space leads to gravitational attraction, and the expansion of bodies leads to surface gravity. Thus, dynamics in the fourth spatial dimension provide an alternative explanation to gravity.

Keywords: dimensions, four, gravity, voluceleration

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Authors: Sina Keyhanian, Abbas Ahmadi, Behrooz Karimi

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We present a multi-objective binary programming model which considers surgical cases are scheduling among operating rooms and the configuration of surgical instruments in limited capacity hospital trays, simultaneously. Many mathematical models have been developed previously in the literature addressing different challenges in health-care logistics such as assigning operating rooms, leveling beds, etc. But what happens inside the operating rooms along with the inventory management of required instruments for various operations, and also their integration with surgical scheduling have been poorly discussed. Our model considers the minimization of movements between trays during a surgery which recalls the famous cell formation problem in group technology. This assumption can also provide a major potential contribution to robotic surgeries. The tray configuration problem which consumes surgical instruments requirement plan (SIRP) and sequence of surgical procedures based on required instruments (SIRO) is nested inside the bin packing problem. This modeling approach helps us understand that most of the same-output solutions will not be necessarily identical when it comes to the rearrangement of surgeries among rooms. A numerical example has been dealt with via a proposed nested simulated annealing (SA) optimization approach which provides insights about how various configurations inside a solution can alter the optimal condition.

Keywords: health-care logistics, hospital tray configuration, off-line bin packing, simulated annealing optimization, surgical case scheduling

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Authors: Kiatkulchai Jitt-Aer, Graham Wall, Dylan Jones

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As a result of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, logistics applied to disaster relief operations has received great attention in the humanitarian sector. As learned from such disaster, preparing and responding to the aspect of delivering essential items from distribution centres to affected locations are of the importance for relief operations as the nature of disasters is uncertain especially in suffering figures, which are normally proportional to quantity of supplies. Thus, this study proposes a spatial decision support system (SDSS) for humanitarian logistics by integrating Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). The GIS is utilised for acquiring demands simulated from the tsunami flooding model of the affected area in the first stage, and visualising the simulation solutions in the last stage. While CVRP in this study encompasses designing the relief routes of a set of homogeneous vehicles from a relief centre to a set of geographically distributed evacuation points in which their demands are estimated by using both simulation and randomisation techniques. The CVRP is modeled as a multi-objective optimization problem where both total travelling distance and total transport resources used are minimized, while demand-cost efficiency of each route is maximized in order to determine route priority. As the model is a NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem, the Clarke and Wright Saving heuristics is proposed to solve the problem for the near-optimal solutions. The real-case instances in the coastal area of Phuket, Thailand are studied to perform the SDSS that allows a decision maker to visually analyse the simulation scenarios through different decision factors.

Keywords: demand simulation, humanitarian logistics, geographical information systems, relief operations, capacitated vehicle routing problem

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Authors: Xiaoping Qiu, Binci You, Yue Hu

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The executive time of the workflow network has an important effect on the efficiency of the business process. In this paper, the activity executive time is divided into the service time and the waiting time, then the lead time can be extracted from the waiting time. The executive time formulas of the three basic structures in the workflow network are deduced based on the activity lead time. Taken the process of e-commerce logistics as an example, insert appropriate lead time for key activities by using Petri net, and the executive time optimization model is built to minimize the waiting time with the time-cost constraints. Then the solution program-using VC++6.0 is compiled to get the optimal solution, which reduces the waiting time of key activities in the workflow, and verifies the role of lead time in the timeliness of e-commerce logistics.

Keywords: electronic business, execution time, lead time, optimization model, petri net, time workflow network

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Authors: Kuei-Chun Liu, Yu-Yu Lai, Ching-Hong Wu, Hsiao-Han Huang

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The number of Android applications (Apps) has increased rapidly in recent years. In order to get better programmatic control over Apps, we designed a record-and-replay mechanism to record Android input events and accessibility service events then make shortcuts. The shortcut is useful for complicated routine works and to Android beginners. We also generated graphical user interface (GUI) API by these shortcuts. GUI API helps developers make integrated Apps which can control other third-party Apps even if the official API is not offered by their providers. We demonstrated the usage of GUI API with two integrated Apps: Universal Bank App and Universal Communication App. Universal Bank App integrates three accounts from different banks and Universal Communication App integrates Line with WhatsApp. Both of them show the advantage of extendable GUI API. Furthermore, using our mechanism, shortcuts could replay almost all of the Top-100 Apps on Google Play correctly. In sum, the approach we present can help both Android developers and general users.

Keywords: graphical user interface, GUI API, record-and-replay, third-party apps

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Authors: Olusola Ezekiel Abolarin, Gift E. Noah

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This research work considered an innovative procedure to numerically approximate higher-order Initial value problems (IVP) of ordinary differential equations (ODE) using the Legendre polynomial as the basis function. The proposed method is a half-step, self-starting Block integrator employed to approximate fourth and fifth order IVPs without reduction to lower order. The method was developed through a collocation and interpolation approach. The basic properties of the method, such as convergence, consistency and stability, were well investigated. Several test problems were considered, and the results compared favorably with both exact solutions and other existing methods.

Keywords: initial value problem, ordinary differential equation, implicit off-grid block method, collocation, interpolation

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Authors: Florian Mach, Eric Hund, Malte Stonis

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The dismantling of disused industrial facilities such as nuclear power plants or refineries is an enormous challenge for the planning and control of the logistic processes. Existing control models do not meet the requirements for a proper dismantling of industrial plants. Therefore, the paper presents an approach for the control of dismantling and post-processing processes (e.g. decontamination) in plant decommissioning. In contrast to existing approaches, the dismantling sequence and depth are selected depending on the capacity utilization of required post-processing processes by also considering individual characteristics of respective dismantling tasks (e.g. decontamination success rate, uncertainties regarding the process times). The results can be used in the dismantling of industrial plants (e.g. nuclear power plants) to reduce dismantling time and costs by avoiding bottlenecks such as capacity constraints.

Keywords: dismantling management, logistics planning and control models, nuclear power plant dismantling, reverse logistics

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Authors: Sheyla Moroni

Abstract:

A number of scholars around the world have analyzed the great architectural and urban planning revolution proposed by Skopje 2014, but so far, there are no readings of the parallels between the museums in the Balkan area (including Greece) that share the same name as the museum at the center of that political and cultural revolution. In the former FYROM (now renamed North Macedonia), a museum called "Macedonian Struggle" was born during the reconstruction of the city of Skopje as the new "national" capital. This new museum was built under the "Skopje 2014" plan and cost about 560 million euros (1/3 of the country's GDP). It has been a "flagship" of the government of Nikola Gruevski, leader of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party. Until 2016 this museum was close to the motivations of the Macedonian nationalist movement (and later party) active (including terrorist actions) during the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum served to narrate a new "nation-building" after "state-building" had already taken place. But there are three other museums that tell the story of the "Macedonian struggle" by understanding "Macedonia" as a territory other than present-day North Macedonia. The first one is located in Thessaloniki and primarily commemorates the "Greek battle" against the Ottoman Empire. While the first uses a new dark building and many reconstructed rooms and shows the bloody history of the quest for "freedom" for the Macedonian language and people (different from Greeks, Albanians, and Bulgarians), the second is located in an old building in Thessaloniki and in its six rooms on the ground floor graphically illustrates the modern and contemporary history of Greek Macedonia. There are also third and fourth museums: in Kastoria (toward the Albanian border) and in Chromio (near the Greek-North Macedonian border). These two museums (Kastoria and Chromio) are smaller, but they mark two important borders for the (Greek) regions bordering Albania to the east and dividing it to the northwest not only from the Ottoman past but also from two communities felt to be "foreign" (Albanians and former Yugoslav Macedonians). All museums reconstruct a different "national edifice" and emphasize the themes of language and religion. The objective of the research is to understand, through four museums bearing the same name, what are the main "mental boundaries" (religious, linguistic, cultural) of the different states (reconstructed between the late 19th century and 1991). Both classical historiographic methodology (very different between Balkan and "Western" areas) and on-site observation and interactions with different sites are used in this research. An attempt is made to highlight four different political focuses with respect to nation-building and the Public History (and/or propaganda) approaches applied in the construction of these buildings and memorials tendency often that one "defines" oneself by differences from "others" (even if close).

Keywords: nationalisms, museum, nation building, public history

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Authors: Achim Kampker, Christoph Deutskens, Heiner Hans Heimes, Mathias Ordung, Felix Optehostert

Abstract:

In the past years electric mobility became part of a public discussion. The trend to fully electrified vehicles instead of vehicles fueled with fossil energy has notably gained momentum. Today nearly every big car manufacturer produces and sells fully electrified vehicles, but electrified vehicles are still not as competitive as conventional powered vehicles. As the traction battery states the largest cost driver, lowering its price is a crucial objective. In addition to improvements in product and production processes a non-negligible, but widely underestimated cost driver of production can be found in logistics, since the production technology is not continuous yet and neither are the logistics systems. This paper presents an approach to evaluate cost factors on different designs of load carrier systems. Due to numerous interdependencies, the combination of costs factors for a particular scenario is not transparent. This is effecting actions for cost reduction negatively, but still cost reduction is one of the major goals for simultaneous engineering processes. Therefore a concurrent and phase appropriate cost valuation method is necessary to serve cost transparency. In this paper the four phases of this cost valuation method are defined and explained, which based upon a new approach integrating the logistics development process in to the integrated product and process development.

Keywords: research and development, technology and innovation, lithium-ion-battery production, load carrier development process, cost valuation method

Procedia PDF Downloads 594

Authors: Jatinderkumar R. Saini, Nikita. R. Sonthalia, Khushbu. A. Dodiya

Abstract:

Research leads to development of science and technology and hence to the betterment of humankind. Journals and conferences provide a platform to receive large number of research papers for publications and presentations before the expert and scientific community. In order to assure quality of such papers, they are also sent to reviewers for their comments. In order to maintain good ethical standards, the research papers are sent to reviewers in such a way that they do not know each other’s identity. This technique is called double-blind review process. It is called single-blind review process, if identity of any one party (generally authors) is disclosed to the other. This paper presents the techniques by which identity of author as well as reviewer could be made out even through double-blind review process. It is proposed that the characteristics and techniques presented here will help journals and conferences in assuring intentional or unintentional disclosure of identity revealing information by either party to the other.

Keywords: author, conference, double blind paper, journal, reviewer, single blind paper

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Authors: Athirat Intajorn

Abstract:

According to the ASEAN free trade areas (AFTA), Thailand has applied the AFTA agreement for reducing tariffs and reflecting changes in business processes. The reflection of changes in agribusiness processes, in particular, has accumulated as production costs for producers. Palm Oil industry has become an important industry to Thailand economic. Thailand currently ranks the 3rd in the world for Crude Palm Oil CPO. Therefore, the scope of this paper presents a research framework to investigate the supply chain management practices in Thailand palm oil industry. This research is limit to literature review. And the proposed framework identifies the criteria of supply chain management for Thailand palm oil industry in order for linkage among entities within logistics management involving plantation, mill, collection port, refinery and cookie from the data utilization. The Supply Chain Management Practices in Thailand Palm Oil Industry framework has a somewhat different view due to the high complexity of agribusiness logistics management.

Keywords: supply chain management, practice, palm oil industry, Thailand palm oil industry

Procedia PDF Downloads 309