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1 – 10 of over 11000Abstract
Purpose
Large supermarkets, chain stores and enterprises with large-scale warehousing put forward higher standards and requirements for the automation and informatization of warehouses. As one of the fast-growing commercial supermarkets in China, the traditional warehouse management mode has restricted the rapid development of Yonghui Superstores to a certain extent. The purpose of this paper is to find out how the existing warehouse mode can be changed and to solve the existing problems of warehouse management of Yonghui Superstores.
Design/methodology/approach
This research puts forward construction of warehouse center, which is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) and sensor technology, then designs the model for receiving, storage, operations management, distribution and outbound to solve the existing problems of warehouse management of Yonghui Superstores.
Findings
What technologies should be adopted to meet storage requirements? How to monitor the storage environment in real time and improve the operation and management level of the warehouse? This study found that building a warehouse center based on RFID and sensor technology was a good solution.
Research limitations/implications
The Yonghui Superstores warehouse center model lacks corresponding simulation experiments, and the investment and income are difficult to estimate quantitatively.
Practical implications
This paper has designed and discussed the warehouse center model based on RFID and sensor technology, which provides a few references for the actual investment and construction of a warehouse center. In addition, the warehouse center model has strong generalized applicability and could be widely used in various enterprises.
Social implications
The warehouse center could improve the warehouse management level of Yonghui Superstores and change the traditional warehouse management mode. To some extent, it improves the enterprise flexibility of the market, which will be of great significance to improve business efficiency and enhance brand image and competitiveness.
Originality/value
This study takes Yonghui Superstores as a case to analyze the problems of warehousing management in detail and then designs a warehouse center based on RFID and sensor technology. The study discusses the location and distribution, software and hardware selection, benefits evaluation, significances and return on investment, which makes the warehouse center model versatile, technically feasible and economically applicable.
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Retail warehousing is a subject of great topicality and interest. The property and planning press regularly contains new superlatives describing the behaviour of this sector of…
Abstract
Retail warehousing is a subject of great topicality and interest. The property and planning press regularly contains new superlatives describing the behaviour of this sector of the retail industry. ‘…furniture and DIY warehouse sales were £658 million in 1984 showing a growth of 25% per annum since 1981.’ ‘Since 1977 retail warehouse rents have increased by a staggering 16.5 per cent per annum…compared with 13.0 per cent per annum for prime town centre retail rents.’ In 1986 there were current planning applications for more than 1.75m sq. ft of retail warehousing in the outer south east alone and ‘there are now over 1,000 stores in the country, with an estimated 40 chains currently seeking sites for 1,900 out‐of‐centre stores.’ Such statements distract the attention and make more difficult an examination of the factors which have underlain the emergence and remarkable growth of retail warehouses. Retail warehouses are one particular type of retail outlet and should be considered within the context of those wider trends evident in the retail sector as a whole.
Anurag Mishra, Pankaj Dutta and Naveen Gottipalli
The supply chain (SC) of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector in India witnessed a significant change soon after introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST). With the…
Abstract
Purpose
The supply chain (SC) of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector in India witnessed a significant change soon after introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST). With the initiation of this tax, companies started moving from individual state-wise warehouses to consolidation warehouses model to save costs. This paper proposes a model that frames a mathematical formulation to optimize the distribution network in the downstream SC by considering the complexities of multi-product lines, multi-transport modes and consolidated warehouses.
Design/methodology/approach
The model is designed as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), and an algorithm is developed that works on the feedback loop mechanism. It optimizes the transportation and warehouses rental costs simultaneously with impact analysis.
Findings
Total cost is primarily influenced by the critical factor transportation price rather than the warehouse rent. The choice of warehouses at prime locations was a trade-off between a lower distribution cost and higher rent tariffs.
Research limitations/implications
The study enables FMCG firms to plan their downstream SC efficiently and to be in line with the recent trend of consolidation of warehouses. The study will help SC managers solve complexities such as multi-product categories, truck selection and consolidation warehouse selection problems and find the optimum value for each.
Originality/value
The issues addressed in the proposed work are transporting products with different sizes and weights, selecting consolidated warehouses, selecting suitable vehicles for transportation and optimizing distance in the distribution network by considering consolidated warehouses.
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Mahsa Pouraliakbarimamaghani, Mohammad Mohammadi and Abolfazl Mirzazadeh
When designing an optimization model for use in a mass casualty event response, it is common to encounter the heavy and considerable demand of injured patients and inadequate…
Abstract
Purpose
When designing an optimization model for use in a mass casualty event response, it is common to encounter the heavy and considerable demand of injured patients and inadequate resources and personnel to provide patients with care. The purpose of this study is to create a model that is more practical in the real world. So the concept of “predicting the resource and personnel shortages” has been used in this research. Their model helps to predict the resource and personnel shortages during a mass casualty event. In this paper, to deal with the shortages, some temporary emergency operation centers near the hospitals have been created, and extra patients have been allocated to the operation center nearest to the hospitals with the purpose of improving the performance of the hospitals, reducing congestion in the hospitals and considering the welfare of the applicants.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors research will focus on where to locate health-care facilities and how to allocate the patients to multiple hospitals to take into view that in some cases of emergency situations, the patients may exceed the resource and personnel capacity of hospitals to provide conventional standards of care.
Findings
In view of the fact that the problem is high degree of complexity, two multi-objective meta-heuristic algorithms, including non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and non-dominated ranking genetic algorithm (NRGA), were proposed to solve the model where their performances were compared in terms of four multi-objective metrics including maximum spread index (MSI), spacing (S), number of Pareto solution (NPS) and CPU run-time values. For comparison purpose, paired t-test was used. The results of 15 numerical examples showed that there is no significant difference based on MSI, S and NPS metrics, and NRGA significantly works better than NSGA-II in terms of CPU time, and the technique for the order of preference by similarity to ideal solution results showed that NRGA is a better procedure than NSGA-II.
Research limitations/implications
The planning horizon and time variable have not been considered in the model, for example, the length of patients’ hospitalization at hospitals.
Practical implications
Presenting an effective strategy to respond to a mass casualty event (natural and man-made) is the main goal of the authors’ research.
Social implications
This paper strategy is used in all of the health-care centers, such as hospitals, clinics and emergency centers when dealing with disasters and encountering with the heavy and considerable demands of injured patients and inadequate resources and personnel to provide patients with care.
Originality/value
This paper attempts to shed light onto the formulation and the solution of a three-objective optimization model. The first part of the objective function attempts to maximize the covered population of injured patients, the second objective minimizes the distance between hospitals and temporary emergency operation centers and the third objective minimizes the distance between the warehouses and temporary centers.
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Marco Fabio Benaglia, Mei-Hui Chen, Shih-Hao Lu, Kune-Muh Tsai and Shih-Han Hung
This research investigates how to optimize storage location assignment to decrease the order picking time and the waiting time of orders in the staging area of low-temperature…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates how to optimize storage location assignment to decrease the order picking time and the waiting time of orders in the staging area of low-temperature logistics centers, with the goal of reducing food loss caused by temperature abuse.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied ABC clustering to the products in a simulated database of historical orders modeled after the actual order pattern of a large cold logistics company; then, the authors mined the association rules and calculated the sales volume correlation indices of the ordered products. Finally, the authors generated three different simulated order databases to compare order picking time and waiting time of orders in the staging area under eight different storage location assignment strategies.
Findings
All the eight proposed storage location assignment strategies significantly improve the order picking time (by up to 8%) and the waiting time of orders in the staging area (by up to 22%) compared with random placement.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this research are based on a case study and simulated data, which implies that, if the best performing strategies are applied to different environments, the extent of the improvements may vary. Additionally, the authors only considered specific settings in terms of order picker routing, zoning and batching: other settings may lead to different results.
Practical implications
A storage location assignment strategy that adopts dispersion and takes into consideration ABC clustering and shipping frequency provides the best performance in minimizing order picker's travel distance, order picking time, and waiting time of orders in the staging area. Other strategies may be a better fit if the company's objectives differ.
Originality/value
Previous research on optimal storage location assignment rarely considered item association rules based on sales volume correlation. This study combines such rules with several storage planning strategies, ABC clustering, and two warehouse layouts; then, it evaluates their performance compared to the random placement, to find which one minimizes the order picking time and the order waiting time in the staging area, with a 30-min time limit to preserve the integrity of the cold chain. Order picking under these conditions was rarely studied before, because they may be irrelevant when dealing with temperature-insensitive items but become critical in cold warehouses to prevent temperature abuse.
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Aviral Shukla, Vishal Agarwal Lalit and Venkat Venkatasubramanian
Supply chain network design is an important strategic decision that firms make considering both the short‐ and long‐term consequences of the network's performance. The typical…
Abstract
Purpose
Supply chain network design is an important strategic decision that firms make considering both the short‐ and long‐term consequences of the network's performance. The typical design approach implicitly assumes that, once designed, the facilities and the links will always operate as planned. In reality, however, facilities and the links connecting them, fail from time to time due to poor weather, natural or man‐made disasters, or a combination of any other factors. This work aims to propose a design framework that addresses the facility and link failures explicitly by accounting for their impact on a network's performance measures of efficiency and robustness.
Design/methodology/approach
The study incorporated a robustness metric for evaluating the resiliency of supply chains in the case of a network disruption. This robustness metric is based on expected losses incurred due to network failures. It defines efficiency and robustness in terms of operational cost and expected disruption cost (EDC), respectively. The EDC is defined in terms of loss of opportunity cost incurred due to not meeting demand on time after a disruption has occurred. The study used a scenario planning approach and formulated a mixed integer linear program model with the objective of maximizing both efficiency and robustness. It also evaluates the trade‐offs between efficiency and robustness.
Findings
The resulting supply chain is much more reliable in the long term since we have shown that a significant amount of robustness can be built into the system without compromising a lot on efficiency.
Originality/value
This work demonstrates a methodology which incorporates such disaster scenarios into the design of a supply chain network. This leads to a more reliable supply chain which would lead to higher profitability and lower disruption rates.
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Robert F. Lusch and Stephen L. Vargo
Globally a new wave of retailers are threatening the viability of many wholesalers, especially smaller more vulnerable wholesale distributors, as these new wave retailers…
Abstract
Globally a new wave of retailers are threatening the viability of many wholesalers, especially smaller more vulnerable wholesale distributors, as these new wave retailers aggressively compete for the business customer. To better understand this new form of competition, a theoretical model is developed from the organizational buyer behavior literature to explain the relative patronage preferences of business customers for wholesale‐distributors as a supply source versus two types of multiplex retailers ‐ warehouse home centers and office supply superstores. The model, previously untested in the business‐to‐business literature, postulates that business buyers select supply sources based on a “total value of purchasing” criterion. The total value is a function of price and the perceived costs associated with credit services, product‐acquisition services, and risk‐reduction services. The model is empirically tested in both an office supply superstore and warehouse home center setting with survey research conducted in six cities in the USA. Substantial empirical support, with the exception of the credit component, is obtained for the model.
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R. Meenakshi Sundaram and Sameer G. Mehta
A comparative study of three different approaches on a hypothetical supply chain model is presented. The three approaches investigated are: independent; semi‐integrated; and…
Abstract
A comparative study of three different approaches on a hypothetical supply chain model is presented. The three approaches investigated are: independent; semi‐integrated; and integrated. In the independent approach, it is assumed that decisions are made independently at three different levels. Decisions are assumed to be made at two different levels in the semi‐integrated approach. In the integrated approach, all decisions are assumed to be made at a single level.
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Seock-Jin Hong, Kwang-Seog Kim and Choon-Woo Leem
This article reports on the current state of Common Logistics Center (CLC) adoption in Korea’s industrial complex, identifies the benefits of and barriers of adopting Common…
Abstract
This article reports on the current state of Common Logistics Center (CLC) adoption in Korea’s industrial complex, identifies the benefits of and barriers of adopting Common Logistics Centers, and provides recommendations for the adoption/expansion of Common Logistics Centers. The author surveyed a cross-sectional of 175 firms in the industry, followed by interviews in an industrial complex in Incheon, Korea. The author founded the benefits and barriers of Common Logistics Centers and the major factors that encourage companies’ participation.
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Noorul Shaiful Fitri Abdul Rahman, Nur Hazwani Karim, Rudiah Md Hanafiah, Saharuddin Abdul Hamid and Ahmed Mohammed
The warehouse industry is one of the backbones in the logistics operation which involves several activities i.e. storage, receiving, picking and shipping of goods/cargoes. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The warehouse industry is one of the backbones in the logistics operation which involves several activities i.e. storage, receiving, picking and shipping of goods/cargoes. This study analyzes the most important warehouse productivity indicators for improving warehouse operation efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents an empirical methodology of the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) method, an integration between the fuzzy logic method with an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method incorporated with the adoption of quantitative and systems theories under the modern management theory approach.
Findings
The results indicate that the weight values of the main criteria which lead by the criterion “Space (0.4005)” at the top ranking, followed by Information System (0.2445), Labor (0.2065) and Equipment (0.1484). In addition, the weight values and ranking of the 16 sub-criteria are also highlighted which the sub-criterion “Warehouse Management System (0.2445)” scores the highest weight value and followed by Storage Space Utilization (0.1043) and Throughput (0.0722) accordingly.
Research limitations/implications
Finally, this research contributed to enrich the literature, while highlighting a series of recommendations on the top three most significant productivity performance indicators that can be useful in further research.
Originality/value
A generic analysis model developed with the adoption of three study theories: quantitative, system and productivity theories.
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