Palgrave Studies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management – serie

This book illustrates the applications of mobile robot systems in warehouse operations with an integrated decision framework for their selection and application. Mobile robot systems are an automation solution in warehouses that make order fulfillment agile, flexible and scalable to cope with the increasing volume and complexity of customer orders. Compared with manual operations, they combine higher productivity and throughput with lower operating costs. As the practical use of mobile robot systems is increasing, decision-makers are confronted with a plethora of decisions. Still, research is lagging in providing the needed academic insights and managerial guidance. The lack of a structured decision framework tailored for mobile robot system applications in warehouses increases the probability of problems when choosing automation systems.This book demonstrates the characteristics of mobile robot systems which reinforce warehouse managers in identifying, evaluating and choosingcandidate systems through multiple criteria. Furthermore, the managerial decision framework covering decisions at strategic, tactical and operational levels in detail helps decision-makers to implement a mobile robot solution step-by-step. This book puts special emphasis on change management and operational control of mobile robots using path planning and task allocation algorithms. The book also introduces focus areas that require particular attention to aid the efficiency and practical application of these systems, such as facility layout planning, robot fleet sizing, and human-robot interaction. It will be essential reading for academics and students working on digital warehousing and logistics, as well as practitioners in warehouses looking to make informed decisions.

This book provides a methodology, grounded in prior research, for analyzing supply chain vulnerabilities and determining appropriate strategic sourcing approaches firms can adopt for managing risk and ensuring supply chain resilience. Supply chain risk affects firms in a multitude of ways. The detrimental results of failing to manage supply chain risk includes, but is not limited to, disruptions that lead to the inability of firms to meet customer requirements, increased costs due to holding excessive inventory, paying employee overtime and expediting orders, financial losses due to increases in commodity prices and unfavorable exchange rates, and tarnishing firm reputation due to poor performance. Although supply chain risk can detrimentally affect firms in many ways, there are approaches organizations can implement for identifying, assessing, and managing risk in order to foster resiliency. This work focuses on strategic sourcing approaches for identifying, assessing and managing supply chain risk. It provides readers with insight into strategic sourcing and risk management approaches for managing supply chain risk and attaining resilience and will appeal to researchers in supply chain management, sourcing, and procurement.

In today’s increasingly service-oriented global economy, the activities and transactions within and between supply chain members in the service sector have experienced substantial growth. This book addresses the unique challenges faced by service businesses and emphasizing the importance of service supply chain management decisions on competitiveness and performance.By adopting a service supply chain perspective, this book offers valuable insights for defining, designing, and effectively managing service procurement processes for all stakeholders involved, such as service suppliers, service providers, and customers. This inclusive viewpoint ensures a holistic understanding of the entire service supply chain, considering the interconnected relationships and dependencies among its members. By combining scholarly insights, practical examples and guidelines, it will be of great interest to students and academics of supply chain management and procurement, as well as service supply chain managers looking for advanced strategies.

Supply chain disruptions typically hurt stock prices, particularly if the disruption is caused by a natural disaster. While supply chains in the United States suffer from a wide range of supply chain disruptions induced by hurricanes, the impact of these disruptions on stock prices remains unexplored, even though the annual average damage in the US due to hurricanes is $54bn of which $9bn is to businesses.This book explores, classifies, and connects natural disasters, supply chain disruption (SCD), and firm financial performance. It identifies influencing factors and how they impact the effect of hurricanes on stock prices. It defines a statistical model to quantify the effect of hurricanes on stock prices and provides guidelines to managers who need to decide how to communicate supply chain disruptions to their customers and shareholders. It will be of great interest to scholars and students in supply chain management, disaster management, and finance.

Supply chain disruptions typically hurt stock prices, particularly if the disruption is caused by a natural disaster. While supply chains in the United States suffer from a wide range of supply chain disruptions induced by hurricanes, the impact of these disruptions on stock prices remains unexplored, even though the annual average damage in the US due to hurricanes is $54bn of which $9bn is to businesses.This book explores, classifies, and connects natural disasters, supply chain disruption (SCD), and firm financial performance. It identifies influencing factors and how they impact the effect of hurricanes on stock prices. It defines a statistical model to quantify the effect of hurricanes on stock prices and provides guidelines to managers who need to decide how to communicate supply chain disruptions to their customers and shareholders. It will be of great interest to scholars and students in supply chain management, disaster management, and finance.

From the field to the cup, this book investigates sustainability issues along the coffee supply chain, identifying the challenges that firms face when they are called to reach sustainability goals. In particular, it explores the relationships involving the actors throughout the broad coffee supply chain, among which some tensions may emerge. Firms increasingly need to interact with various supply chain members to achieve their sustainability goals and with a variety of other stakeholders as well, such as NGOs or regulators. Therefore, in order to fully investigate sustainability, it is fundamental to adopt a broader view of the supply chain that goes beyond dyadic relationships (typically, between customer and supplier).This book adopts an “integrative logic” of sustainability and aims to explore the “hidden” or “dark side” of sustainable practices in the supply chain, for example, trade-offs, tensions and paradoxes. Overlooking these aspects can create serious impediments to a real-world progress toward sustainability. The empirical part of the book is focused on the coffee supply chain, which represents one of the most complex, globalized and inequitable supply chains, impacting communities and the environment worldwide. These characteristics make it particularly challenging for the industry to transition towards sustainability. Sustainability in the coffee sector is increasingly at risk in economic, social, and environmental terms, and there are several interdependencies among these three dimensions. The book will be of great interest to scholars and students of supply chain management, sustainability, and corporate and consumer responsibility. In addition, practitioners operating in the coffee industry could gain interesting findings about the most critical issues pertaining to sustainable practices and activities.

In a rapidly changing e-commerce environment, effective supplier selection and inventory management are critical to maintaining competitive advantage and operational efficiency. This book introduces innovative multi-criteria decision-making models (MCDMs) and improved inventory classification systems tailored specifically for online retail environments.Combining theory and research-based case studies, the book highlights the importance of comprehensive criteria in supplier and assortment evaluation and the application of artificial intelligence in optimising decision models. It provides valuable insights and practical solutions for improving supply chain performance and inventory management in the e-commerce sector. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of logistics and e-commerce and supply chain management.

This book adopts a managerial perspective to explore supply chain resilience and network design (and redesign), two interconnected, crucial topics in a world in which major disruptions are affecting global supply and value chain networks. Based on an analysis of the opinions of supply chain managers, it highlights the different way in which practitioners and academics look at supply chain resilience and network design and redesign strategies. Employing a scenario analysis framework, it features detailed case studies from the pharmaceutical, semi-conductor and automotive industry. The book concludes with an analysis of the relationship between practitioner perspectives and research trends on supply chain resilience and network design, ultimately providing suggestions for improved mutual collaboration and future studies.

Due to the increasing frequency and severity of disruptions and disasters around the world, current supply chains of almost every type are experiencing uncertainties, and supply chain resilience capabilities are one of the major concerns for every manager. Humanitarian supply chains are often at the forefront of this. However, the extant literature often keeps them separate from commercial supply chains and focuses more on their differences than similarities. This short-format research work analyses four case studies of recent humanitarian supply chains formed in response to natural and man-made disasters and how these supply chains endure proactive and reactive resilience capabilities. The lessons learned from these disaster responses in resilience will be of great value to supply chain scholars, students, and practitioners.