Deploying Big Data Enablers to Strengthen Supply Chain Agility to Mitigate Bullwhip Effect: An Empirical Study of China’s Electronic Manufacturers

With the development of economic globalization, the uncertainty of supply chains is also increasing, and alleviating the bullwhip effect has become an important issue. From previous discussions on alleviating the bullwhip effect, there was no research on alleviating it by enhancing supply chain agility through improving big data. Moreover, it has not been found that quality function deployment is used to analyze the interdependence between big data and supply chain agility, as well as between supply chain agility and the bullwhip effect. In particular, the interaction of bullwhip effect factors are not considered. In this study, the multicriteria decision-making integrated framework is proposed and the largest relay manufacturer in China is taken to identify key big data enablers to enhance supply chain agility and mitigate the bullwhip effect, thus providing an effective method for electronic equipment manufacturing enterprises to develop a supply chain that can quickly respond to changes and uncertainties. These big data enablers can enhance supply chain agility and reduce the bullwhip effect. This framework provides an effective method for electronic manufacturers to formulate supply chain agility indicators and big data enablers to mitigate the bullwhip effect and also provides a reference for other manufacturing enterprises in supply chain management.

A need of COVID19 vaccination for children aged <12 years: Comparative evidence from the clinical characteristics in patients during a recent Delta surge (B.1.617.2)

Objective: To evaluate the necessity of Covid-19 vaccination in children aged < 12 y by comparing the clinical characteristics in unvaccinated children aged < 12 y with vaccinated patients aged > 12y during the Delta surge (B.1.617.2) in Putian, Fujian, China. Methods: A total of 226 patients with SARS-Cov-2 Delta variant (B.1.167.2; confirmed by Realtime PCR positive and sequencing) were enrolled from Sep 10th to Oct 20th, 2021, including 77 unvaccinated children (aged < 12y) and 149 people aged > 12y, mostly vaccinated. The transmission route was explored and the clinical data of two groups were compared;the effect factors for the time of the nucleic acid negativization (NAN) were examined by R statistical analysis. Results: The Delta surge in Putian spread from children in schools to factories, mostly through family contact. Compared with those aged; 12y, patients aged < 12y accounted for 34.07% of the total and showed milder fever, less cough and fatigue; they reported higher peripheral blood lymphocyte counts [1.84(1.32,2.71)× 10^9/L vs. 1.31(0.94,1.85)× 10^9/L; p<0.05), higher normal CRP rate (92.21% vs. 57.72%), lower IL-6 levels [5.28(3.31,8.13) vs. 9.10(4.37,15.14); p<0.05]. Upon admission, their COVID19 antibodies (IgM and IgG) and IgG in convalescence were lower [0.13(0.00,0.09) vs. 0.12(0.03,0.41), p<0.05; 0.02(0.00,0.14) vs. 1.94(0.54,6.40), p <0.05; 5.46(2.41,9.26) vs. 73.63 (54.63,86.55), p<0.05, respectively], but longer NAN time (18 days vs. 16 days, p=0.13). Conclusion: Children aged < 12y may be critical hidden spreaders, which indicates an urgent need of vaccination for this particular population.