The Textile and Apparel industry of Malaysia used to contribute about 1.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the past. However, this position has followed a reverse trend in recent years. The imports were increased as compared to the exports which decreased the overall contribution of Textile and Apparel industry between 2015 and 2016. To address this issue, this study examined the effective supply chain activities through radio frequency identification (RFID) using survey method to collect the necessary data. Questionnaires were distributed among the employees of Textile and Apparel companies. While analyzing the data by using PLS-SEM, it was found that RFID was contributing majorly in supply chain operations and maintained significant and positive effect on the performance of supply chain. Moreover, staff services quality had moderating role between RFID and the operations of Textile and Apparel industry. The study is one of the first attempts to examine the effect of RFID on supply chain operations of Textile and Apparel companies. Thus, the current study is helpful for practitioners to resolve the issues of concerned industry.

Multi-period models of portfolio selection have been developed in the literature with respect to certain assumptions. In this study, for the first time, the portfolio selection problem has been modeled based on mean-semi variance with transaction cost and minimum transaction lots considering functional constraints and fuzzy parameters. Functional constraints such as transaction cost and minimum transaction lots were included. In addition, the returns on assets parameters were considered as trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. An efficient genetic algorithm (GA) was designed, results were analyzed using numerical instances and sensitivity analysis were executed. In the numerical study, the problem was solved based on the presence or absence of each mode of constraints including transaction costs and minimum transaction lots. In addition, with the use of sensitivity analysis, the results of the model were presented with the variations of minimum expected rate of programming periods.

One of the most important questions in outsourcing management is to decide on the allocation of the activities, processes or services either from the inside or from the outside of the organizations through outsourcing operations. It is necessary to determine the factors influencing outsourcing decision making as well as their impacts on decisions. In this paper, the existing approaches and models and their related criteria are studied and the necessary criteria are explored based on different conditions in marine manufacturing industries. These criteria are categorized in four dimensions; namely Capacity, Technology, Strategy and financial, and Risk called CTSR. After determining the weights of the criteria based on paired-wise comparisons, the related calculations are carried out using PROMETHEE method. Finally, a Black, White, Gray (BWG) analysis is executed to determine whether a candidate should be outsourced or not.

This paper discusses an integrated model of batch production and maintenance scheduling on a deteriorating machine producing multiple items to be delivered at a common due date. The model describes the trade-off between total inventory cost and maintenance cost as the increase of production run length. The production run length is a time bucket between two consecutive preventive maintenance activities. The objective function of the model is to minimize total cost consisting of in process and completed part inventory costs, setup cost, preventive and corrective maintenance costs and rework cost. The problem is to determine the optimal production run length and to schedule the batches obtained from determining the production run length in order to minimize total cost.

This paper investigates the impact of employee commitment as well as the recruitment process on the performance of internal supply chain. Additionally, the current study is intended to investigate the mediating role of the recruitment process on the relationship between employee commitment and firm supply chain performance. The main objective behind any recruitment process is to recruit committed employees to help a firm enhance the performance of the organizations. Therefore, the current study is carried out to fill a gap by exploring the relationship between recruitment processes, employee commitment, and firm supply chain performance. To achieve the research objective, the study has analyzed the data gathered from 284 mangers of manufacturing organizations of United Arab Emirates. 284 questionnaires out of 550 are found useful, so the response rate is 52 percent. The structural equation modelling using AMOS is used to analyze the data. The results of the study show an agreement with the results of the hypotheses. The direct relationship between commitment types and firms’ internal supply chain performance, and between recruitment process and firms’ internal supply chain performance are found positive and significant. The results of the study will be helpful for HR practitioners, operation managers, researchers, and policy makers in understanding the impact of employee commitments and recruitment process on internal supply chains’ performance of manufacturing firms.

This paper presents the implementation of an efficient modified genetic algorithm for solving the multi-traveling salesman problem (mTSP). The main characteristics of the method are the construction of an initial population of high quality and the implementation of several local search operators which are important in the efficient and effective exploration of promising regions of the solution space. Due to the combinatorial complexity of mTSP, the proposed methodology is especially applicable for real-world problems. The proposed algorithm was tested on a set of six benchmark instances, which have from 76 and 1002 cities to be visited. In all cases, the best known solution was improved. The results are also compared with other existing solutions procedure in the literature.

Machine failures during production period may impose thousands to millions of dollars to a manufacturing system. In this paper, the impact of machine failures on production lines in a closed-loop supply chain systems is examined. For this purpose, a new method is proposed for scheduling manufacturing workshops in a supply chain systems. The aim is to determine the best production plans in a manufacturing system by considering alternative preventive maintenance programs while machine failures can affect system performance. To solve the model, a hybrid Ant Colony and Simulated Annealing algorithms is developed and the results are compared with branch and bound method. Our findings show that the condition of emerging machine failure affects machines’ capacity which yields to lost sale. The impacts of using appropriate preventive maintenance on reducing lost sale is also examined. The results indicate that the proposed method can significantly reduce the level of sale variation in supply chain systems.

The study examines the effect of board size, frequency of board meetings and frequency of audit committee meetings on the market value of 11 Jordanian commercial banks as measured by Tobin’s Q. Random effect panel data regression is employed to test the study hypotheses. Results reveal that board size has a significant and negative effect on bank market value. Results also show that frequency of board meetings has no effect on bank value, while the frequency of audit committee meetings has a significant and positive effect on bank value. The results suggest that the argument of agency theory and resource independence theory towards the role of board and its committees in supporting firm value should be always combined with the appropriate size. Accordingly, one important implication of the study is that the selection of an appropriate number of board members and the prior effective preparation for their meetings are critical factors to enhance the value of banks in Jordan.

This paper investigates the effect of cutting parameters on the surface roughness and cutting force of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V ELI when turning using PVD TiAlN coated tool in dry environment. Taguchi L9 orthogonal array design of experiment was used for the turning experiment 2 factors and 3 levels. Turning parameters studied were cutting speed (50, 65, 80 m/min), feed rate (0.08, 0.15, 0.2 mm/rev) and depth of cut 0.5 mm constant. Linear and second order model of the surface roughness and cutting force has been developed in terms of cutting speed and feed. The results show that the feed rate was the most impact factor controlling the cutting force and surface roughness produced. MINITAB 17software was used to develop a linear and second order model of surface roughness and cutting force. Optimum condition was at 66.97 m/min of cutting speed, 0.08 mm/rev of feed rate. Surface roughness 0.57?m and cutting force 54.02 N were obtained at the optimum condition. A good agreement between the experimental and predicted surface roughness and cutting force were observed.

As the long arm of the grinding, deep financial crisis continues to haunt the global economy, the effects of inflation and time value of money cannot be oblivious to an inventory system. Inflation, defined as a general rise in the prices of goods and services over a period of time, has monetary depreciation as one of its major side effects. And, since inventories correspond to substantial investment in capital for any organization, it would be unethical if the effects of inflation and time value of money are not considered while determining the optimal inventory policy. Moreover, deterioration of items is a phenomenon which cannot be ignored, as it may yield misleading results. Further, under the inflationary conditions, the different cost parameters including the price are bound to vary from cycle to cycle over the planning horizon. Another important factor is shortages which no retailer would prefer, and in practice are partially backlogged and partially lost. In order to convert the lost sales into sales, the retailer offers such customers an incentive, by charging them the price prevailing at the time of placing an order, instead of the current inflated price. Therefore, bearing in mind these facts, the present paper develops an inventory model for a retailer dealing with deteriorating items under inflationary conditions over a fixed planning horizon. The objective is to derive the optimal number of cycles and cycle length that maximizes the net present value of the total profit over a fixed planning horizon. An appropriate algorithm has been proposed to obtain the optimal solution. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the proposed model. Sensitivity analysis of the optimal solution with respect to major parameters is carried out and some managerial inferences have been presented.