Supply Chains and Total Product Systems

Features emerging trends that are shaping supply chain operations worldwide as well as impacting the global business landscape Beginning with the assertion that supply chains are an overlooked factor behind anemic economic growth, Protean Supply Chains: Ten Dynamics of Supply and Demand Alignment provides a comprehensive overview of the developments occurring in the field of supply chain management. A broad range of topics in facility location, inventory, strategic sourcing, and supply chain coordination are addressed in addition to coverage of major developments within the field. The author’s main position is that supply chains must be more than agile or flexible; rather, they must become protean and capable of changing shape in response to a volatile global business landscape. The author, a well-known editor and researcher in the field, presents current real-world examples combined with insights into the impact of recent trends that are expected to affect the global business landscape over the next decade. Highlighting companies with leading-edge supply chains as examples, the book discusses methods to reduce spending, increase revenues, and achieve streamlined productivity in a changing economic climate. The book utilizes further examples from the growth of online retailing and automation in distribution centers, as well as the use of protean supply chains to gain competitive advantages internationally. In addition, the book features the following ten emerging trends, which are shaping supply chain operations worldwide: The rise of regional theatres of supply Global risk management through control towers Customer segmentation Real demand realization Omniichannel retailing challenges Demand swing alignment with production and distribution Customer of one service Sustainability challenges Collaboration vs. competition in the new economy Financial dynamism The book is an ideal reference for professionals and practitioners in operations research, business/management science, applied mathematics, and industrial engineering as well as an appropriate supplement for undergraduate and graduate-level courses in supply chain management.

The Politics of Global Supply Chains analyses the changing politics of power and distribution within contemporary global supply chains. Drawing on over 300 interviews with farmers, workers, activists, businesses and government officials in garment and coffee sector supply chains, the book shows how the increased involvement of non-state actors in supply chain governance is re-shaping established patterns of global political power, responsibility and accountability. These emerging supply chain governance systems are shown to be multi-layered and politically contested, as transnational governance schemes interact with traditional state governance arrangements in both complementary and conflicting ways. The book’s analysis of changes to the relationship between state and non-state actors within transnational governance processes will be of particular interest to scholars and students of globalisation, global governance and regulation. The Politics of Global Supply Chains also suggests some practical ways by which the effectiveness and accountability of supply chain governance could be strengthened, which will interest both scholars and practitioners in fields of global business regulation and corporate social responsibility. Conclusions are relevant to the business and civil society actors who participate directly in non-state governance schemes, and to state regulators whose distinctive governance capacities could play a much greater role than at present in supporting transnational, non-state governance processes.

The concrete tools manufacturing enterprises need to thrive in today's global environment For a manufacturing enterprise to succeed in this current volatile economic environment, a revolution is needed in restructuring its three main components: product design, manufacturing, and business model. The Global Manufacturing Revolution is the first book to focus on these issues. Based on the author's long-standing course work at the University of Michigan, this unique volume proposes new technologies and new business strategies that can increase an enterprise's speed of responsiveness to volatile markets, as well as enhance the integration of its own engineering and business. Introduced here are innovations to the entire manufacturing culture: An original approach to the analysis of manufacturing paradigms Suggested methods for developing creativity in product design A quantitative analysis of manufacturing system configurations A new manufacturing «reconfigurable» paradigm, in which the speed of responsiveness is the prime business goal An original approach to using information technology for workforce empowerment The book also offers analysis and original models of previous manufacturing paradigms' technical and business dimensions—including mass production and mass customization—in order to fully explain the current revolution in global manufacturing enterprises. In addition, 200 original illustrations and pictures help to clarify the topics. Globalization is creating both opportunities and challenges for companies that manufacture durable goods. The tools, theories, and case studies in this volume will be invaluable to engineers pursuing leadership careers in the manufacturing industry, as well as to leaders of global enterprises and business students who are motivated to lead manufacturing enterprises and ensure their growth.

Transnational spatial relations offer a key point from which to study the geographies of contemporary globalization. This book assesses the possible cross-fertilization between two of the most notable analytical frameworks – the world city network framework and the global commodity chain framework. Transnational spatial relations have become a key analytical lens through which to study the geographies of contemporary globalization Brings together contributions of key researchers from different backgrounds and different parts of the world Offers a set of original approaches to the study of the networked geography of globalization

With the global population projected to reach 9 billion by the year 2050, the need for nations to secure food supplies for their populations has never been more pressing. Finding better supply chain solutions is an essential part of achieving a secure and sustainable diet for a rapidly increasing population. We are now in a position, through methods including life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon footprinting and other tools, to accurately measure and assess our use – or misuse – of natural resources, including food. The impact of new technologies and management systems can therefore improve efficiencies and find new ways to reduce waste. Global Food Security and Supply provides robust, succinct information for people who want to understand how the global food system works. The book demonstrates the specific tools available for understanding how food supply works, addresses the challenges facing a secure and safe global food supply, and helps readers to appreciate how these challenges might be overcome. This book is a concise and accessible text that focuses on recent data and findings from a range of international collaborations and studies. The author provides both a snapshot of global food supply and security today, and a projection of where these issues may lead us in the future. This book will therefore be of particular interest to food policy leaders, commercial managers in the food industry, and researchers and students seeking a better understanding of a rapidly evolving topic.

This book provides a highly illustrated guide to the design, installation and maintenance of hot and cold water supply systems for domestic buildings. Based on British Standard BS 6700, the new edition takes into account revisions to the standard since the book was first published in 1991. It has also been updated to give guidance on the 1999 Water Supply Regulations and includes revisions to the Building Regulations. Written for designers and installers, this immensely practical book will also be of interest to technical staff of water undertakers, property services managers and students of NVQ and BTech courses. It was specially commissioned by the British Standards Institution and written for BSI by Bob Garrett, formerly of Langley College of Further Education and past President of the National Association of Plumbing Teachers.

Sustainable Operations and Supply Chain Management addresses the most relevant topics of operations and supply chain management from the perspective of sustainability. The main focus is to provide a step by step guide for managerial decisions made along the product life-cycle, following a path made up of the following steps: product design, sourcing, manufacturing, packaging and physical distribution, reverses logistics and recovery.

This book presents the different models of supply chain performance evaluation for global supply chains. It describes why it is necessary to evaluate global performance both to assess the contribution of the supply chain to achieve the goals of creating value throughout the chain and also to meet customer requirements in terms of time, responsiveness and reliability. The author provides an understanding of how evaluation models are chosen according to criteria including the level of maturity of the organization, the level of decision-making and the level of value creation desired.

Provides an introduction to basic structures of probability with a view towards applications in information technology A First Course in Probability and Markov Chains presents an introduction to the basic elements in probability and focuses on two main areas. The first part explores notions and structures in probability, including combinatorics, probability measures, probability distributions, conditional probability, inclusion-exclusion formulas, random variables, dispersion indexes, independent random variables as well as weak and strong laws of large numbers and central limit theorem. In the second part of the book, focus is given to Discrete Time Discrete Markov Chains which is addressed together with an introduction to Poisson processes and Continuous Time Discrete Markov Chains. This book also looks at making use of measure theory notations that unify all the presentation, in particular avoiding the separate treatment of continuous and discrete distributions. A First Course in Probability and Markov Chains: Presents the basic elements of probability. Explores elementary probability with combinatorics, uniform probability, the inclusion-exclusion principle, independence and convergence of random variables. Features applications of Law of Large Numbers. Introduces Bernoulli and Poisson processes as well as discrete and continuous time Markov Chains with discrete states. Includes illustrations and examples throughout, along with solutions to problems featured in this book. The authors present a unified and comprehensive overview of probability and Markov Chains aimed at educating engineers working with probability and statistics as well as advanced undergraduate students in sciences and engineering with a basic background in mathematical analysis and linear algebra.

The up-to-date edition of the bestselling guide to the basics of telecommunications and digital technology Understanding Telecommunications and Lightwave Systems presents a nontechnical treatment of how voice, video, and multimedia can simultaneously travel over today's evolving telecommunications systems. This updated Third Edition provides a comprehensive overview of the telecommunications field as well as a detailed introduction to the latest lightwave technology. The author's examination of recent techniques and developing technologies in telecommunications includes: Third-generation cell phones with microbrowser capabilities Changes in the global PCS network Optical switching and transmission parameters Lightwave systems and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing A new chapter (Chapter 17: The Internet) that examines this multimedia structure and the network economy it has created Satellite communications, new transcontinental carriers, lightwave undersea systems, and other advances toward improving global communication Understanding Telecommunications and Lightwave Systems is the perfect introduction for anyone whose work requires a fundamental understanding of current developments in telecommunications, as well as for students or inquiring readers who want an overview of telecommunications and the exciting technology of lightwave communications.