Performance measurement of supply chain flexibility using witness


Rituraj Ch and Robin Joy


In today’s global scenario of intense competition and environmental uncertainty flexibility in supply chain has an important role to play for the existence of any supply chain business. A need to be responsive to the constantly changing market scenario and cater to the customer needs, a certain degree of flexibility is required, which requires the coordination of many plants to produce and deliver goods to customers located in different places, and suppliers, which provide each plant with the required components. This paper intends to measure the degree of flexibility required for a two stage supply chain and assessing both the supplier flexibility and the assembler flexibility. In this paper, nine configurations of the SC are considered resulting from the combination of the three degrees of supplier and manufacturer flexibility, i.e. no flexibility, limited flexibility and total flexibility, respectively. Simulation model representing the different flexibility configurations are evaluated and the performance of each configuration analyzed to determine the flexibility configuration suitable to a supply chain. In particular the performance analysis of lead time, work-in-process, service level and cost are measured to determine the suitable flexibility.


DOI: j.msl.2012.07.005

Keywords: Supply chain flexibility Responsiveness ,No flexibility ,Limited flexibility ,Total flexibility ,Simulation ,Performance

How to cite this paper:

Ch, R & Joy, R. (2012). Performance measurement of supply chain flexibility using witness.Management Science Letters, 2(7), 2581-2590.


References

Avittathur, B., & Swamidass, P.M. (2007). Matching plant flexibility and supplier flexibility: lessons from small suppliers of US manufacturing plants in India. Journal of Operations Management 25 (3), 717–735.

Barad,M., & Sapir,D.E. (2005). Flexibility in logistics systems-modelling and performance evaluation. International Journal of Production Economics, 85, 155-170.

Chan, H.K., & Chan, F.T.S. (2010). Comparative study of adaptability and flexibility in distributed manufacturing supply chains. Decision Support Systems 48, 331-341.

Chang, S.-C.,Chen, R.-H., Lin, R.J., Tien, S.-W., & Shew, C. (2006). Supplier involvement and manufacturing flexibility. Techovation, 26, 1136–1146.

Chuu, S.J.(2011), Integrating group decision-making using a fuzzy linguistic approach for evaluating the flexibility in a supply chain, European Journal of Operational Research, 213, 279-289.

Das, K. (2011). Integrating effective flexibility measures into a strategic supply chain planning model, European Journal of Operation Research, 211, 170-183.

Escudero, L.F., Galindo, E., García, G., Gómez, E., & Sabau,V. (1999), A modelling framework for supply chain management under uncertainty. European Journal of Operational Research, 119(1),14–34.

Fisher, M.L. (1997). What Is the Right Supply Chain for your product?, Harvard Business Review, 75 (1), 91-101.

Garavelli, A.C. (2003). Flexibility configurations for the supply chain management. International Journal Production Economics, 85, 141-153.

Gerwin, D., (1993). Manufacturing flexibility: a strategic perspective. Management Science 39 (4), 395–410.

Golden,W., & Powell, P.(2000). Towards a definition of flexibility: in search of the holy grail?. Omega, 28, 373-384.

Gong, Z. (2008). An economic evaluation model of supple chain flexibility, European Journal of Operational Research, 184 745–758.

Gunasekaran, A., Patel, C., & Tirtiroglu, E. (2001) Performance measures and metrics in a supply Chain environment, International Journal of Operations Management, 21 (1/2), 71-87

Gunasekran, A., Patel, C., & McGaughey, R.E. (2004) A framework for supply performance measurement, International Journal of Production Economics, 87, 333-347.

Holweg, M., Disney S. M., Hines P., & Naim. M. M. (2005). Towards responsive vehicle supply: a simulation-based investigation into automotive scheduling systems. Journal of Operations Management, 23, 507-530.

Holweg, M., Disney S. M., Hines P., & Naim. M. M. (2005). Towards responsive vehicle supply: a simulation-based investigation into automotive scheduling systems, Journal of Operations Management, 23, 507-530.

Jansen, D. R., Weert, A., Beulens, A. J. M., & Huirne, R. B. M. (2001). Simulation model of multi-compartment distribution in the catering supply chain, European Journal of Operational Research, 133, 210-224.

Jain, S, Collins, L.M, Workman, R.W, & Ervin, E.C. (2001). Development of a high-level supply chain simulation model. Proceedings of the 2001 Winter Simulation Conference, 1129-1137.

Prater E., Beihl M. And Smith M.A, (2001). International supply chain agility; Tradeoffs between flexibility and uncertainty. International Journal of Operations Management, 21 (5/6), 823-839

Pujwan, N. (2004). Assessing supply chain flexibility: conceptual framework and case study. International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 1, 79-94

Lummus, R.R., Duclos, L.K., & Vokurka, R.J. (2003). Supply chain flexibility: Building a new model. Global journal of Flexible Systems Management, 4(4) 1-13.

Reiner, G. (2005). Customer-oriented improvement and evaluation of supply chain processes supported by simulation models. International Journal of Production Economics, 96, 381-395.

Sanchez, A.M., Perez, M.P. (2005). Supply chain flexibility and firm performance: A conceptual model and empirical study in the automotive industry. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 25(7), 681–700.

Sink, D.S. (1991). The role of measurement in achieving world class quality and productivity management. Industrial Engineering, 23(6), 23-28.

Swafford, P.M., Ghosh, S., & Murthy, N. (2008). Achieving supply chain agility through IT integration and flexibility. International Journal of Production Economics 116, 288–297.

Tang, C., & Tomlin, B.(2008). The power of flexibility for mitigating supply chain risks. International Journal of Production Economics, 116, 12-27.

Towill, D. R., Naim, M. M., & Wikner, J. (1992). Industrial Dynamics Simulation Models in the Design of Supply Chains. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 22(5), 3-13.

Vickery, S.K., Calantone, R., & Droge, C. (1999). Supply chain flexibility: An empirical study. The Journal of Supply Chain Management: A Global Review of Purchasing and Supply, 35(3), 16–24.