Communication is the glue that binds the diverse elements of the national economy. A flexible supply chain system creates postal communication agility and adaptability to respond to the changing technologies of the modern era. This book uses a systems-based approach of the tools and techniques of Industrial Engineering applied to a new concept of flexible supply chain systems, patterned after well-known and successful flexible manufacturing systems. It focuses on how Industrial Engineering can be used to achieve flexibility, resiliency, and efficiency in response to the needs of the global postal system. Flexible Supply Chain: Industrial Engineering Optimization Modeling of the Postal Service System provides an understanding of the techniques of using flexibility to improve operations. It capitalizes on a framework of Industrial Engineering and focuses on a global chain of non-commodity products and services. By using flexibility as the foundation for efficiency, it ties in with the digital revolution of communication and retains an affiliation with community involvement. The book uses the DEJI Systems Model and the Triple C Model as a structure of system productivity and creates a template through which other supply chains can be improved. The global supply chain is presently stressed and in need of new ideas and operational strategies. This book is an ideal read for engineers working in manufacturing production, civil, mechanical, and other industries. It will be of interest to engineering managers and consultants as well as those involved with business management. University students and instructors will also find this book useful.

This work encapsulates the essential developments in this field into a single resource, as well as to set an agenda for further development in the field. This brief focuses on the demand flexibility in supply chains with fragmented results distributed throughout the literature. These results have strong implications for managing real-world complex operations planning problems. This book exploits dimensions of demand flexibility in supply chains and characterizes the best fit between demand properties and operations capabilities and constraints. The origins and seminal works are traced in integrated demand and operations planning and an in-depth documentation is provided for the current state of the art. Systems with inherent costs and constraints that must respond to some set of demands at a minimum cost are examined. Crucial unanswered questions are explored and the high-value research directions are highlighted for both practice and for the development of new and interesting optimization models and algorithms.

This book identifies accounting-based management control system practices for managing integrated and flexible supply chains and increasing customer satisfaction. It further explores how a company can enhance its supply chain integration. The book considers the effects of allocating supply chain's joint profit and incentive alignment as managerial instruments to facilitate integration and cooperation among partners. Furthermore, the book examines how to flexibly manage integrated supply chains from the perspectives of the product/service lifecycle, partner switching, and strategic flexibility. It also examines the use of management accounting systems to improve customer satisfaction in supply chains. Management accounting practices examined in the book involve balanced scorecard, switching cost, target costing, value-based pricing, target-pricing, and quality costing.The book also investigates the different types of supply chains: fabless supply chains, an inter-firm network comprising of parts suppliers and assemblers, non-profit supply chains.

The purpose of this book is to help you with the development and implementation of a successful End-to-End Supply Chain Management - Strategy: optimising your processes from manufacturer to retailer. This book answers four questions: - How to develop an end-to-end supply chain - strategy? - How to create the necessary supply chain infrastructure? - How to make collaboration work between the partners in the network? - How to plan and manage the supply chain flows? It will enable you to: - Systematically improve your sales productivity in the retail stores; - Enhance the operational / qualitative performance of your processes and those of your partners in the supply chain; - More effectively balance the trade-off Time v Costs. This book provides you with: - A Supply Chain System - Model: a framework to develop your End-to-End Supply Chain; - 10 Strategic Building Blocks which can be used as a toolkit; - 50 Lessons Learned based on experiences from practice; - A strategic roadmap: to plan, organise, lead and control your supply chain. The 2nd edition has many new cases, toolboxes and a new chapter on process management. In addition, more attention is given to topics like procurement, demand planning, omnichanneling and supply chain-design, -planning and -execution. For whom has this book been written? This book is useful for thinkers and practitioners! For everyone who wants to learn more about supply chain management and the development and implementation of an end-to-end supply chain strategy.

This book provides a conceptual framework of global value chains, flexibility and sustainability, supported by research projects, case applications and models in various related areas organized into three parts. In the first part of the book, various authors discuss how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of global value chains through various types of analyses. While the focus is on cluster management, and mergers and joint ventures, the legal aspects of control and liability concerning the integration of value chains, is also examined in one of the contributions. The second part includes chapters concerning ‘Strategy and Flexibility’. Strategies concern topics such as inventory management, talent management, strategic alignment, decision making, behavioural change and HR systems. The third and final part of the volume concerns the topic of ‘Sustainability’, wherein the contributions focus on various initiatives intended to promote sustainability across respective value chains bearing in mind the concept of flexibility. The book is a valuable resource for a varied audience, ranging from management students and researchers, to practicing business managers, as well as for professional institutions, consultants, and corporate organizations.

SCM doesn't change management goals, but relies on new knowledge, practices, and skills to better achieve those goals. Going it alone, without collaborating with supply chain partners, is a dead-end strategy. Without a doubt, effective supply chains will be the product of successful application of project management disciplines coupled with innovat

This book shares key insights into system performance and management analytics, demonstrating how the field of analytics is currently changing and how it is used to monitor companies’ efforts to drive performance.Managing business performance facilitates the effective accomplishment of strategic and operational goals, and there is a clear and direct correlation between using performance management applications and improved business and organizational results. As such, performance and management analytics can yield a range of direct and indirect benefits, boost operational efficiency and unlock employees’ latent potential, while at the same time aligning services with overarching goals.The book addresses a range of topics, including software reliability assessment, testing, quality management, system-performance management, analysis using soft-computing techniques, and management analytics. It presents a balanced, holistic approach to viewing the world from both a technical and managerial perspective by considering performance and management analytics. Accordingly, it offers a comprehensive guide to one of the most pressing issues in today’s technology-dominated world, namely, that most companies and organizations find themselves awash in a sea of data, but lack the human capital, appropriate tools and knowledge to use it to help them create a competitive edge.

Integrating theory and practices of supply chain management, this book incorporates more than 15 years of supply chain and operations management research and industry consulting experience to both government and industry firms.The coverage focuses on how to build a competitive supply chain using viable management strategies, operational models, decision-making techniques, and information technology. It includes a core presentation on supply chain management and new initiatives such as e-commerce, collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR), data mining, knowledge management, and business intelligence.

It is almost impossible to conceive of the concept and practical application of supply chain management (SCM) without linking it to the enabling power of today‘s information technologies. Building upon the foundations of the first edition, Introduction to Supply Chain Management Technologies, Second Edition details the software toolsets and suites