Global Supply Chain Management with Advanced Information and Production Technologies

Abstract

Advanced information and production technologies are transforming the ways products can be produced and delivered, and hence present tremendous opportunities to reshape the global supply chains. This dissertation examines the operational implications of these technologies on production sequencing, supply chain inventory positioning, and spare parts logistics. These studies result in the following three essays. The first essay studies the optimal sequencing of two consecutive production stages when the random demands for multiple end products are correlated. We provide conditions to determine when operations reversal is beneficial under the long run average cost measure. The second essay examines a multi-echelon supply chain under evolving demand distributions, which is due to the dynamic world state driven by external factors. We provide analytical bounds for the optimal solutions, and further obtain easy-to-compute heuristics with superior performance. The third essay investigates the impact of adopting 3D printing technology on the spare parts logistics design. We construct a general framework for identifying the optimal supply option for each type of part: which part should be stocked, which should be printed, and which should be sourced in a hybrid way. We also propose simple heuristic solutions that yield close to optimal performance and interesting managerial insights. Collectively, the studies in this dissertation provide useful modeling ideas, decision tools, and guidance for firms to improve the operational performance of their supply chains.