The thesis focuses on three areas of the downstream order fulfillment cycle from the retail delivery company to the customer. The first is materials innovation, the analysis of suitable alternative materials. The second involves waste elimination, the reduction and reuse of packaging material. Lastly, we address implementation, strategies that affect...
This project focuses on the impacts of fuel price volatility and its distribution throughout the supply chain, with the goal of stabilization. Hedging and fuel surcharges are analyzed as tools for stability, with research including: a market benchmarking survey, fuel surcharge component sensitivity testing and a simulation of varying derivative...
This project developed a model to evaluate the cost effects of lane aggregation in long-haul, truckload trucking in the United States. The model provides simple guidelines for determining how shippers should bid out lanes to elicit the best rates from carriers. Authors: Julia Collins and Ryan Quinlan Advisor: Chris Caplice
Using a large-scale worldwide, online survey conducted by the MIT Global SCALE Initiative as a base, this thesis analyzed the relationship between attitudes towards Prevention vs. Response (the dependent variable) and demographics (the independent variables). The analysis shows that the demographic factors of country of origin, gender, primary field of...
Most supply chains today cuts across multiple countries, languages, income levels, and industries, meaning that there are differences in supply chain risk management behaviors or attitudes. Do demographic factors play a role supply chain risk management decisions? The data show that geography and firm size fundamentally drive risk management practices...
Evidence suggests that incorporating travel time data in route plan development produces improved solutions compared to standard, deterministic approaches. A holistic approach was used to evaluate the delivery process, determine why differences exist between route planning methods, examine the impact of drivers’ actions, and consider opportunities for further exploration. Authors...
This project developed a model that uses historical consumption data of Partners in Health’s (PIH) drugs and medical supplies to forecast demand over the next three years. This demand data is then used to compare PIH’s current annual order policy with ordering policies having more frequent reviews. Our model shows...
Companies engaged in sustainable supply chain management face the challenges of selecting sustainability initiatives, measuring those initiatives, and assessing their overall progress toward sustainability. Three hundred sustainability initiatives implemented by eight apparel companies were compiled to explore the metrics of individual initiatives and provide a system for assessing sustainability programs...
This project developed an assortment planning tool allowing a consumer goods manufacturer to assess its product mix from the perspective of cooperating retailers. Thanks to the tool, the manufacturer can rationalize its product portfolio in a way which increases utilization of its clients’ supply chains and improves their financial results...
Chiquita, a fresh produce distributor with a multi-echelon supply chain, wants to develop an optimal inventory policy that results in the lowest inventory costs, while maintaining 95% service levels at each echelon. We developed a simulation model to determine the optimal inventory policy. The model’s input parameters include inventory holding...
This project determined the effects of risk from supply chain disruptions using a space vehicle production process as the example, primarily through the use of a computer simulation model and various disruption scenarios. Output of the model was used to develop confidence percentiles for the complete duration times. Author: Bryan...
Why are some companies more effective within disaster relief supply chains than others? Our research explores and consolidates best practices applied by companies effectively during past disasters. We conclude with a framework of nine best practices and suggest how to apply it across a range of ten industries. Author: Karn...
This project developed a total landed cost model to analyze the cost from raw material to the customer for one sample Electronics Company, Tel Co. The total landed cost model was also used to predict the impact of global supply chain risks. The result assists firms make a strategic decision...
The WFP’s transport of food aid to Ethiopia’s landlocked population is constrained by transshipment processing bottlenecks at the port, and limited availability of trucks for inland transport. We analyzed the quantitative and qualitative factors used in selecting routes and mitigating port bottleneck issues. Our results will be used by the...
The percent increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) concentration in the atmosphere maybe harmful. There is no single preferred method for measuring GHG output. How can one classify and choose an appropriate method? This thesis offers a classification of current methods used by companies to measure their GHG output. Author: Suzanne...
Lockheed Martin designs and builds commercial satellites to customers’ specifications. The customers, such as telecommunications companies and weather forecasters, are very price sensitive and, usually, award contracts to the lowest priced bids. Lockheed manufactures satellites using a combination of in-house manufacturing, purchasing, and subcontracting (for subcontract parts). The subcontract parts...
This project developed an optimization model to assess the benefits of hub capability in an international distribution network. Our model shows that a hub in this setting can provide savings of both holding and transportation costs. Hub capability can also provide companies with the flexibility to take advantage of potential...
The pharmaceutical industry creates products which often have more than one supply chain channel, defined as a route through the supply chain network from sourcing to the end market. Each channel’s specific cost characteristics are important to the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to maintain positive profit margins while meeting high customer...
This thesis discusses the tradeoff between transportation cost and the level of service in cold chain transportation. Regression models are built to quantify the additional cost of superior quality cold chain for both the shipper and its carriers, and analyze the relationship between such cost and customer service level. No...
This project performed an assessment of the costs of multiplicity in the public health supply chains in Burundi in the context of proposed structural reform from a province-based to a district-based system. The study demonstrated that significant cost-savings and improved service levels can be realized with better transportation and inventory...
This paper examines the logistical challenges and inventory management issues a prospective operator of a floating offshore wind farm would encounter in generating electricity. The author studied economic distance from shore to locate a wind for optimal electricity generation and examined suitable inventory policies for a floating offshore wind farm...
For detailed business decisions like forecasting which involve precise quantitative information, our experiment involving 169 participants in 20 Prediction Markets at General Mills found Prediction Market Forecast accuracy to be comparable to General Mills’ collaborative forecasting process. Author: Rajaram Narayanaswamy and Kai Trepte Advisor: Larry Lapide
Political instability, rebel activity, ethnic tensions, and poor infrastructure plague the Somali region of Ethiopia and consequently endanger and delay the World Food Programme’s (WFP’s) food-aid supply chain. Our study quantifies the risk in the region and proposes methods by which the WFP, and other humanitarian organizations, can use to...
Cost evaluations do not always include the costs associated with risks when organizations make strategic sourcing decisions. This research was conducted to establish and quantify the impact of risks and risk-related costs on sourcing decisions for the automotive industry. The focus is on comparing distant, global suppliers entailing long supply...
This thesis presents a road map for companies to follow as they manage multi-tiered suppliers in the high-tech industry. Our research covered a host of sources including interviews and publications from various companies, consulting companies, software companies, the computer industry, trade associations, and analyst firms among others. While our review...
