I. Methods and models for planning orders operations and management in supply chains characterised by uncertainty in production due to lack of homogeneity in products (PLANGES-LHP)

UPV R&D Projects - year 2011

Methods and models for planning orders operations and management in supply chains characterised by uncertainty in production dut to lack of homogeneity in products (PLANGES-LHP)

Reference: 1840
Period underway: 01/12/2011 – 01/06/2014
Type: Competitive research projects
Amount: 12,000 €
Financed by: Universitat Politècnica de València
Principal Investigator: Alemany Díaz, María del Mar
Participant: Alarcón Valero, Faustino; Poler R.; Pérez Perales, David; Alemany Díaz, María Del Mar; Hanzel

Description:

The purpose of this project is to contribute to improve the competitiveness of supply chains (SCs) characterised by Lack of Homogeneity in Products (LHP). LHP appears in the production processes that incorporate raw materials directly from nature and/or production processes with operations that lead to heterogeneity in the characteristics of obtained products, even when the raw materials and components used are homogeneous. LHP is present in industries such as ceramics, textiles, wood, the marble industry, skin tanning and leather goods. The SCs in these sectors are forced to classify the final product into different homogeneous subsets and to deal with a new kind of uncertainty: uncertainty in the quantities of homogeneous subsets available for a same product in scheduled production batches. This uncertainty is a problem when orders for customers are promised and are served compulsorily from homogeneous units, which may not opt for mixing heterogeneous quantities of the same final product. Traditionally, LHP problem has been dealt with from a purely technological perspective, and is one of the main contributions of the present draft to provide solutions to this problem from a management perspective. To do this, two key processes of SCs will be studied which LHP impacts and are closely linked: the master scheduling of operations and orders management. Accordingly, solutions will be provided based on methods, models and tools of various types for both processes in a deterministic and uncertain context that foresees and responds flexibly enough to this new uncertainty source in a dynamic environment. Both contexts will be compared for the static and dynamic case through simulation. Finally, the results will be validated through an EPO (Entity Promoter Observer) that corresponds to a SC from the ceramic sector.