Rethinking AFSA Supply Chain Strategy

AFSA is an industrial company that produces flexible packaging and has more than 200 plants on five continents. It has an important presence in South America with five plants in the region. Among its main features is to supply other industries (B2B) produce under the strategy make-to-order, with local, regional, and corporate hierarchies. Its value proposition is aimed at delivering superior customer service to the market with innovative and quality products. However, due to the acquisitions that the company has made in the last two years in different countries of the region and the growth in the consumption of flexible packaging, the strategies among the different areas of the company have not been aligned, creating incompatibilities between the strategies of the functional areas like sales, operations, finance, and supply chain. This chapter proposes to optimize the supply chain of AFSA, using a strategic methodology of diagnosis and operational analysis to have a multidimensional approach that allows for decision-making.

An Analysis of the Traveling Speed in the Traveling Hoist Scheduling Problem for Electroplating Processes

The Hoist Scheduling Problem is combinatory, so tools such as mathematical programming need to be used to get the sequence of movements, respecting the constraints of the process by minimizing the cycle time. A sequence in which the order of movements follows the order of the process is known as the basic diagram. These schedules do not have any clearance for the hoist to make any other movements, resulting in a loss in productivity. This chapter takes the production line of a Mexican factory as a case study, analyzing the hoist's travelling speed to find sequences of movements that could improve productivity. The results of the study indicate that the cycle time has a nonlinear behavior in respect of the hoist's travelling speed and it was determined that there are travelling speeds for which sequences are obtained with enough clearance to make other movements and keep other carriers on the line. A suitable speed was estimated in the case.

Case-Based Reasoning

Companies must deal with a high uncertainty caused by the characteristics of the markets and the economic, political, and social environment in which they offer their products and services. These characteristics are defined by the preferences of the consumers, which have a high variety coupled with the digital era. On the other hand, there is the necessity to implement measures that align the companies with the sustainability concepts, because of both legislations as well as the image that the customer could have of them. Due to this context, the organizations must find a way to optimize process and structures that require high flexibility given the need of combining perfect innovation, customization, standardization, and sustainability. Part of this planning process is the construction of forecast models that allows predicting with high precisión. In this chapter, a theoretical exposition is done and a literature revision of machine learning techniques is applied to try to solve the forecasting problem with special emphasis in neural networks and Case-Based Reasoning - CBR.

Application of System Dynamics in a Gasoline Service Station

The objective was to build a graphical interface based on quantitative scenarios to track and show the performance of the main productivity indicators to support senior management decision-making. The problems detected within the organization was related to the number of productivity indicators that were independently analyzed without considering the causes and effects that indicators have over one another. The research was carried out by following the proposed system dynamics methodology. The proposal presented to senior management supports decision-making improving efficiency in three respects: 1) service times, 2) responsiveness, and 3) savings and income for the company. Competitiveness is measured in terms of the company's productivity and positioning when improving its operating efficiency. The contribution to the state of the art is the inclusion of an additional phase to the system dynamics methodology related to the development of the graphic user interface for decision-making.

A Causal Model to Find the Relationships Between 3PL Service Providers and the Performance of the Logistics Process in Mexican Manufacturing Companies

The purpose of this chapter is to present the relationship between the external service provider named Third Party Logistics 3PL and the performance of the logistics process in Mexican manufacturing companies, in order to ascertain the contribution of the aspects considered, allowing companies' suggested improvement actions. Through a field research in Ciudad Juarez and making use of an instrument about 3PL, authors considered four variables: transport, transport management, information technologies, and warehouse. To find the causal model with the relationships between the variables, authors used structural equations modelling. That also identified the relevant aspects in 3PL providers companies' manufacturing and collaboration activities realized in the practice. The results indicate that mainly the information technologies and the transport management have a greater influence on the performance of the logistics process in this type of company.

Procurement Process and Supply Chain

Organizations are operating in an environment which offers opportunities but also dangers, risks, changes, and challenges. To face these changes, organizations must develop effective strategies based on relationships with stakeholders and profit decisions, and cost-based in order to obtain competitive advantage. To satisfy customers' needs, the organizations seek a position of superiority over its competitors. To deploy its activities and to achieve its objectives, any organization must dispose resources such as material, human, financial, informational, and technological. This chapter treats a very interesting theme, that of procurement, as commercial activity, in the complex activities of organizations. The chapter starts with the literature in the field and presents the evolution of the process, the objectives, the roles, the functions, the activities, and the typology. The author presents the impact the new technologies have on procurement process, using a simulation model, based on mathematical and statistical models and IT programs.

Selecting the Most Appropriate Supplier in the Green Environment

Nowadays, supply chain management decisions have become strategic decisions. Also, greening process of supply chain activities were required due to satisfy the customer expectations, and protect the environmental life. Since one of the strategic decisions for supply chains is the supplier selection, greening process also became necessary for supplier evaluations. Within this context, in this chapter, a comprehensive list of the criteria for green supplier selection was determined. Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was applied to determine the cause-effect relationships between the main criteria. Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (ANP) method was used to find the relative weights of the criteria. Finally, fuzzy VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method was applied to prioritize the various suppliers.

Effect of Green Attributes in Obtaining Benefits in the Manufacturing and Marketing Process

New environmental tendencies have been incorporated into supply chains, and suppliers are playing an important role. However, the main problem when selecting a green supplier is determining the attributes that contribute to a green supply chain. Moreover, a lot of companies ignore the benefits gained from green suppliers on economic performance and marketing. Therefore, this chapter reports a structural equation model with three latent variables (Green attributes of suppliers, Marketing benefits, and Manufacturing processes benefits) and three hypotheses are proposed with relationship among them. The model is validated with information from 253 questionnaires administered to Mexican maquiladoras and evaluated using partial least squares. Findings demonstrate that maquiladoras that consider Green attributes in supplier selection process are gaining marketing and economic benefits, contributing to a green supply chain, and improving the corporate image as socially responsible organizations.

Supply Chain for Remanufacturing Operations

Remanufacturing requires new skills in forecasting, planning, inventory management, and many other supply chain practices. The main complicating characteristics of remanufacturing were identified in 2000. In 2011, the evolution in the solution of these complications from 2000 to 2009 was identified, but more practical research was needed. The tools developed during that period were mostly quantitative, based on mathematical models and simulation but not associated with any kind of specific remanufacturing operation. For this reason, this chapter analyzes practical research developed from 2010 to 2019 by including tools methods and techniques related to supply chain for remanufacturing operations. The contribution of this literature review is to determine the trends developed in the last 10 years to mitigate the effects of the complications generated by the remanufacturing operations. As an added value, the cases of studies that include applications to specific remanufactured products is highlighted.

A Plan to Improve Recycled Raw Material Supply in a Production Company of RPET

The world is facing a problem caused by the management of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging. In the Peruvian context, the studied company is the only local company that has a factory which is able to process post-consumer plastic bottles in order to transform them into recycled resin; this is why it performs a fundamental role. This recycled resin is used for elaborating new packages, generating a circular economy into line with the new global paradigm of switching to a model that seeks to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Finally, it was concluded that the collection center implementation will allow the recycling unit to purchase an average of 76 TN additional annual raw materials. The project would have a cost of US$ 151,383, generating a Net Present Value (NPV) of US$ 144,500 with a 25.9% of Internal Rate of Return (IRR), making it viable in a moderate scenario with a recovery period of five years.