Facoltà: Ingegneria Gestionale per la Produzione Industrial
Collocazione: 7764
Autore: Benike Zane
Data: 24/09/2009
Titolo: Modelling inbound supply chain processes under uncertainty: the Whirlpool case study
Relatore: Dallari Fabrizio
Correlatore: Colicchia Claudia
Autorizzazione per la consultazione: NO
Le tesi si possono consultare unicamente in sede
Supply chain risk management has gained considerable importance in the last few decades. However, in spite of numerous studies on the topic, there is still a lack of research on the inbound supply chain risk management. Thus the focus of this paper is placed exactly on this area. The current research combines the methods identified in the literature with the real life situation based on Whirlpool (a multinational producer of home appliances and a leader in the industry) case study. A specific transportation lane from the Whirlpool microwaves production plant in the Far East to Italy is examined. As the first step a through analysis of Whirlpool supply chain (SC) is performed via on site research, through interviews and company data gathering. Then a mathematical SC simulation model is created including all SC phases (planning, net requirement calculations, container optimization and shipments). The model works using the Monte Carlo simulation method, performs 250 runs to test each SC configuration and is a reflection of the real business processes of the company. Further on alternative SC management strategies are tested. The construction of these strategies is based on methods suggested by the literature review and includes the use of mitigation actions, contingency plans and buffer safety stocks. All of these actions bear impact on the SC performance in terms of lead times, service level and costs. Finally the proposed SC strategies are evaluated; a particular attention is placed on total SC costs and lead times. While it is true that the use of contingency actions increases the company’s internal service level from 76% to 97%, the obtained benefit does not outweigh the costs of these corrective actions. This is because Whirlpool has already adapted a very cost efficient strategy. Nevertheless the developed model offers a good analytical tool to perform sensitivity analysis. The tool can be easily adapted to any transportation lanes and/or products and facilitates the testing of what-if scenarios. This opportunity is particularly important in the current business environment and enables to monitor (a) how the introduction of new cost items and (b) how the change of relative weight of the current cost items influences the total supply chain costs.
