Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization for Solving Balanced Allocation Problem of Third Party Logistics Providers

Author(s):  
R. Rajesh ◽  
S. Pugazhendhi ◽  
K. Ganesh

Third party logistics (3PL) service providers play a growing responsibility in the management of supply chain. The global and competitive business environment of 3PLs has recognized the significance of a speedy and proficient service towards the customers in the past few decades. Particularly in warehousing, distribution, and transportation services, a number of customers anticipate 3PLs to improve lead times, fill rates, inventory levels, etc. Therefore, the 3PLs are under demands to convene a range of service necessities of customers in an active and uncertain business environment. As a consequence of the dynamic environment in which supply chain must operate, 3PLs should sustain an effective distribution system of high performance and must make a sequence of inter-related decisions over time for their distribution networks. Warehouses play an important role in sustaining the continual flow of goods and materials between the manufacturer and customers. The performance of the 3PL supply chain network can be effortlessly enhanced by a balanced allocation of customers to warehouses. In this paper, the authors develop a genetic algorithm and a particle-swarm-optimisation algorithm for solving the balanced allocation problem and the results are encouraging.

Author(s):  
R. Rajesh ◽  
S. Pugazhendhi ◽  
K. Ganesh

Third party logistics (3PL) service providers play a growing responsibility in the management of supply chain. The global and competitive business environment of 3PLs has recognized the significance of a speedy and proficient service towards the customers in the past few decades. Particularly in warehousing, distribution, and transportation services, a number of customers anticipate 3PLs to improve lead times, fill rates, inventory levels, etc. Therefore, the 3PLs are under demands to convene a range of service necessities of customers in an active and uncertain business environment. As a consequence of the dynamic environment in which supply chain must operate, 3PLs should sustain an effective distribution system of high performance and must make a sequence of inter-related decisions over time for their distribution networks. Warehouses play an important role in sustaining the continual flow of goods and materials between the manufacturer and customers. The performance of the 3PL supply chain network can be effortlessly enhanced by a balanced allocation of customers to warehouses. In this paper, the authors develop a genetic algorithm and a particle-swarm-optimisation algorithm for solving the balanced allocation problem and the results are encouraging.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Ahmed Ali ◽  
Kaushal Chauhan ◽  
Mahmoud Barakat ◽  
Ahmed Eid

Technological development and globalization made the supply chain more complex in today’s business environment. In competitive market conditions, shippers tend to outsource most of their logistical activities to Third-Party Logistics (3PL) service providers. These activities have drawn attention of decision makers regarding sustainability concerns. This study examines sustainability initiatives which have been implemented particularly for the 3PL functions namely; transportation, warehousing and packaging services and their influence on performances. Empirical data have been collected through a worldwide online survey which has been sent to industrial experts working in logistics and supply chain management fields. The results were analyzed through the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The analysis indicated that, the 3PL functions significantly affect environmental, economic, social and operational performance, except packaging which had no significant impact on economic, operational and social performance, in addition to transportation which had no significant impact on social performance. Regarding the performance outcome and its impact on logistics efficiency, logistics effectiveness and competitiveness, empirical results indicated that there is no significant impact between the variables except, social performance which had a significant impact on logistics efficiency and competitiveness, operational performance which had a significant impact on logistics efficiency, logistics effectiveness and competitiveness. The proposed model and hypotheses developed give further understanding regarding 3PL industries thereby help decision makers in solving the problems related to 3PL sustainability initiatives.


Transport ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidas Vasilis Vasiliauskas

The principle of third party logistics has grown into a very important and a well‐functioning logistics concept, mainly due to outsourcing trends in transport business. Providers of 3PL services complemented the effectiveness of logistics supply chain management extending the performance of hauliers and forwarders to what might be called outsourced logistics services providers. The main driver for this was large transportation companies that have striven to render their limited services to the whole transport chain. Firstly, this extended to what now is called forwarding services, i.e. responsibility and transport service was extended from only physical transportation to additional services. Then some transport and forwarding companies continued enlarging their responsibility so that it included an increased part of the transport chain up to a total responsibility for the entire transportation, from production to consumption. A nature of transportation services became more and more the nature of logistics. Companies started offering complete logistics solutions, instead of only isolated physical transportation services. This allowed a customer to concentrate on the core business instead of paying much attention to material flows.


Author(s):  
Aicha Aguezzoul

Many companies outsource their logistics functions to Third-Party Logistics providers (3PL) instead of achieving them internally. The studies on this field are mostly of empirical type and focused on reasons, benefits, and risks of working with 3PL as well as the role of those on supply chain management. This chapter focuses on 3PL selection problem and presents a literature analysis of 47 articles published within 2001-2011 period. The objective is to identify the mainly approaches applied and their evaluating criteria in measuring the performance of 3PL.


Author(s):  
Diego Fernando Manotas-Duque ◽  
Juan Carlos Osorio-Gómez ◽  
Leonardo Rivera

Supply chain risk management processes are among the most important activities in the value chain of any industry. The supply chain risk management process includes different activities, focused on the identification, measurement, assessment, and mitigation of the main risk sources that can affect a supply chain. The increasing complexity facing global supply chains generates the need for suppliers to collaborate in different processes in a supply chain. In this context, Third Party Logistics Providers (3PL) have been widely promoted by the phenomenon of outsourcing, on which companies increasingly rely. The growth in logistics outsourcing is mainly attributed to the benefits it brings in terms of reducing costs, improving performance, allowing companies to focus on their core businesses and building virtual enterprises through strategic alliances. In this chapter we develop a model to identify the operational risk factors of a 3PL provider.


Author(s):  
Mahesh S. Raisinghani

A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers. In other words, supply chain encompasses all of the activities associated with moving goods from raw-materials stage through to the end user. The information systems needed to monitor all of these activities are a critical part of the mix. Successful supply chain management (SCM), then, coordinates and integrates all of these activities into a seamless process. It embraces and links all of the partners in the chain. In addition to the key functional areas within the organization, these partners include vendors, carriers, third-party logistics companies, and information systems providers.


Author(s):  
Vicky Ching Gu ◽  
Ray Qing Cao ◽  
Ken Black ◽  
Hansen Zeng

Some supply chain management researchers have realized the potential of collaborative activities for enhancing supply chain performance while other researchers have explored the positive impact of relationship quality on supply chain performance. To date, however, no empirical research has integrated these two research streams. Drawing upon social exchange theory, the authors propose a holistic research framework to explore the relationships among collaborative activities, the inter-organizational relationship quality, and supply chain performance. Specifically, they examine the mediating effect of relationship quality on the association between collaborative activities and supply chain performance. The research model is then tested using survey data (n=219). The authors' results illustrate a positive impact of both collaborative activities and relationship quality on enhancing supply chain performance. Moreover, this paper also supports the hypothesis that relationship quality mediates the relationship between collaborative activities and supply chain performance in third party logistics.


Complexity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zusheng Zhang ◽  
Xu Wang ◽  
Qianqian Guo ◽  
Zhenrui Li ◽  
Yingbo Wu

Under the third-party logistics management inventory model, the system dynamics method is used to establish a nonlinear supply chain system model with supply capacity limitation and nonpermissible return, which is based on unsatisfied demand nonaccumulation. The theory of singular value and the Jury Test are used to derive the stable interval of the model which is simplified. The Largest Lyapunov Exponent (LLE) of the system is calculated by the Wolf reconstruction method and used to analyze the influence of different parameters of system’s stability. Then, the most reasonable and unreasonable combination of decision parameters under different demand environment is found out. Next, this paper compared and analyzed the change of inventory or transportation volume of system members under the combination of rational and irrational decision parameters. All of these provided guidance for decision making, which shows an important practical significance.


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