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Reiner, Gerald
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Reiner, Gerald
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- PublicationAccès libreInvesting in disaster management capabilities versus pre-positioning inventory: A new approach to disaster preparedness(2014-11-11)
; ; Disaster preparedness has been recognized as a central element in reducing the impact of disasters worldwide. The usual methods of preparedness, such as pre-positioning relief inventory in countries prone to disasters, are problematic because they require high investment in various locations, due to the uncertainty about the timing and location of the next disaster. Investing in disaster management capabilities, such as training staff, pre-negotiating customs agreements with countries prone to disasters, or harmonizing import procedures with local customs clearance procedures, has been recognized as a way to overcome this constraint. By means of system dynamics modeling, we model the delivery process of ready-to-use therapeutic food items during the immediate response phase of a disaster, and we analyze the performance of different preparedness scenarios. We find that pre-positioning inventory produces positive results for the beneficiaries, but at extremely high costs. Investing in disaster management capabilities is an interesting alternative, as it allows lead time reductions of up to 67% (18 days) compared to a scenario without preparedness, at significantly lower costs than pre-positioning inventory. We find that the best performance can be achieved when combining both preparedness strategies, allocating part of the available funding to disaster management capabilities and part to pre-positioning inventory. We analyze 2828 such combined scenarios to identify the best mix of preparedness strategies for different levels of available funding. On the basis of our findings, we provide recommendations for relief organizations on how to allocate their preparedness budget. - PublicationAccès libreEvaluation of the dynamic impacts of customer centered lead time reduction improvements on customer-oriented and financial performance: a hybrid approach of system dynamics and queuing network analysis(2014)
; Motivated by the strategic importance of reduced lead times in today’s competitive business environment, this doctoral dissertation analyzes the dynamic impacts of lead time reduction (LTR) improvements on customer satisfaction and related financial performance metrics. The core thesis is centered on development of an integrated dynamic performance measurement framework which covers operational, customer-oriented and financial performance dependencies over time. The framework is demonstrated through two empirical industrial cases.
Effective reduction of lead time is possible through understanding the relationship between lead time and lead time related factors, and the implications of these relations on system performance. Reducing lead time can have direct and indirect effects, improving overall company performance in short-term and long-term. Due to certain system interactions, not only does operational performance improve, but so do customer satisfaction and financial measures which are affected in terms of, e.g., reduced inventories and inventory carrying costs; improved service quality, diminished cancelled orders and reduced penalty costs; increased sales, improved market shares and profitability.
In particular, this research targets to identify which situational factors play a critical role between lead time reduction strategies and related effect on performance, and to understand how reduction of lead time impacts long-term performance compared to short-term effects.
In this direction, an integrated performance measurement framework has been developed by considering mathematical principles of lead time reduction and covering dynamic dependencies between financial and non-financial performance dimensions. The framework is comprehensive yet simple enough to consider trade-off characteristics among both time-based and non-time-based metrics. The application of the framework was based on hybrid use of two methods: Queuing Theory Based Modeling (QTM) and System Dynamics Modeling (SD) .
Illustration of the lead time reduction framework is provided through two interrelated studies based on industrial applications done collaboratively with two international manufacturing companies. In this regard, two studies summarize these stages:
• The first study focuses on integrated analysis of some lead time reduction strategies on system performance (locating bottleneck capacity buffers, eliminating sources of waiting, setup time and reducing variability). In particular, we focus on the dynamic dependencies between bottleneck buffer configuration and station loading policies in order to analyze how those dependencies affect operational performance improvement: Throughput increase and reduction of lead time while considering various levels of demand variability. In particular, our analysis provides evidence for performance improvement without needing to invest to increase the bottleneck resource. Application of a particular station loading strategy and usage of multiple buffers (moving from a single common buffer to multi-buffers) yields better performance when variability increases.
• The second study focuses on analyzing the dynamic impacts of lead time reduction approaches on customer satisfaction and financial performance based on an industrial case created in joint collaboration with a European-based international company operating under make-to-stock manufacturing strategy. Based on the system’s characteristics some lead time reduction strategies are selected (i.e. optimization of batch size, reallocation of system resources by pooling labor and improving the setup time) and the industrial production process is successfully improved without significant cost and time investments. Subsequently, related effects on customer-based performance and corresponding financials such as capacity investment (i.e. buying a new machine) are analyzed. Key cost figures, such as processing, inventory, labor costs and others were determined by evaluating the underlying cost accounting system. Later, motivated by the industrial application, the framework was further analyzed using sensitivity analysis. The insights gathered through industrial applications are used to present a sensitivity analysis based on short and long-term demand and lead time interaction. The sensitivity analysis is used for two main purposes: (i) to analyze the long-term performance impacts of lead time reduction under the extreme conditions of market demand; (ii) to question the conditions to maintain the long-term sustainability of lead time reduction. The sensitivity analysis provided additional insight into the dynamic behavior of the demand and lead time interaction. - PublicationMétadonnées seulementCapabilities investment versus prepositioning inventory: a new approach to disaster preparedness(2012-8-23)
; ; Disaster preparedness has been recognized as a central element in reducing the impact of disasters worldwide. However, donors are reluctant to finance such efforts, as there is no certainty that a disaster will strike. Usual methods of preparedness, such as prepositioning of supplies in countries prone to disasters, are problematic because they require high investment costs at various locations, due to the high uncertainty about the timing and location of the next disaster. Product expiry is a major problem, as there is no inventory turnover (Whybark, 2007). Therefore, Van Wassenhove (2006) proposes relief organizations to invest in effective disaster management capabilities, such as human resources, knowledge management, process management, resources and community. Investing in such capabilities instead of physical assets has several benefits. First, in opposition to prepositioning supplies in specific locations, such capabilities acquired by the organization can be used worldwide. Second, these capabilities, in particular those related with import processes, allow organizations to deliver supplies quickly from a central warehouse in case of disaster. Finally, investments in capabilities cost less than prepositioning supplies in large quantities in many locations. In this paper, we analyze the effect of investing in these disaster management capabilities, through a system dynamics model. We model the delivery process of a therapeutic food item during the immediate response phase of a disaster. By comparing a standard import scenario with one where investments in capabilities have been made, we quantify the improvement potential of such preparation efforts (i.e., lead time and inventory reduction). We find that with capabilities investment, goods can be delivered to beneficiaries almost as fast as if supplies were prepositioned in the country, but at lower inventory costs (lower opportunity costs and physical holding costs, less product expiry and obsolescence, etc.). Transportation costs are higher, but occur only where the disaster strikes, and not in each country where inventory is prepositioned. The managerial implication of our research will encourage relief organizations to invest more into capabilities instead of prepositioned physical inventories during the preparedness phase of a disaster. Because of lower costs and risks involved, donors are encouraged to finance such pre-disaster efforts which have a strong potential to improve disaster response.