A web-based logistics management system for agile supply demand network design.

LM 03

Petri Helo

Department of Production, University of Vaasa,

Logistics Systems Research Group, Finland, and

You Xiao and Jianxin Roger Jiao

Division of Systems and Engineering Management,

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Abstract

Purpose – Online, on-demand and real-time availability of information to all members of a manufacturing system enables them to be agile and in the best position to react quickly, efficiently, synchronously, and collectively to the changing market. This paper proposes an integrated web-based logistics management system for agile supply demand network design (ASDN).

Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a software system, which is distributed as open source. A case study of ABB Company in Finland has been undertaken and this demonstrates the validity of ASDN in designing and managing supply demand networks.

Findings – Current software applications, such as ERP, WMS and EAI do not support a higher-level decision making. There are several performance measures, which are directly connected to structure of the network.

Practical implications – The presented software supports modeling, analyzing and limited optimizing of supply demand networks. Also discussed is the network level logistics analysis that is behind the modeling tool.

Originality/value – The paper introduces the ASDN software, which is freely available for research and commercial uses. The case example shows how this type of network architecture-related decisions can be analyzed.

Keywords Logistics data processing, Agile production, Supply and demand, Network operating systems, Software tools

Paper type Case study