International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Research

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In this article, we propose a special case of two-echelon location-routing problem (2E-LRP) in cash-in-transit (CIT) sector. To tackle this realistic problem and to make the model applicable, a rich LRP considering several existing real-life variants and characteristics named BO-2E-PCLRPSD-TW including different objective functions, multiple echelons, multiple periods, capacitated vehicles, distribution centers and automated teller machines (ATMs), different type of vehicles in each echelon, single-depot with different time windows is presented. Since, routing plans in the CIT sector ought to be safe and efficient, we consider the minimization of total transportation risk and cost simultaneously as objective functions. Then, we formulate such complex problem in mathematical mixed integer linear programming (MMILP). To validate the presented model and the formulation and to solve the problem, the latest version of ε-constraint method namely AUGMECON2 is applied. This method is especially efficient for solving multi objective integer programing (MOIP) problems and provides the exact Pareto fronts. Results substantiate the suitability of the model and the formulation.
 

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Supplying of blood and blood products is one of the most challenging issues in the healthcare system since blood is as extremely perishable and vital good and donation of blood is a voluntary work. In this paper, we propose a two-stage stochastic selective-covering-inventory-routing (SCIR) model to supply whole blood under uncertainty. Here, set of discrete scenarios are used to display uncertainty in stochastic parameters. Both of the fixed blood center and bloodmobile facilities are considered in this study. We suppose that the number of bloodmobiles is indicated in the first stage before knowing which scenario is occurred. To verify the validation of the presented SCIR model to supply whole blood, we examine the impact of parameters variation on the model outputs and cost function using the CPLEX solver. Also the results of comparison between the stochastic approach and expected value approach are discussed.
 

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In today complex worldwide supply chains, intermediary organizations like Contract manufacturers and GPOs are mostly used. Well-known OEMs delegate their purchasing and procuring to these intermediaries. Because of their positive influence on supply chain efficiency, it is very important to investigate the role of intermediaries in today competitive supply chains. One important question arising about intermediaries is the conditions that the OEM controls his procurement or delegates this task to the intermediary organization?

To answer this question, this paper studies the equilibrium for component procurement strategies of two competing OEMs that produce substitutable products. Each OEM may either directly procure the input from the component supplier, or delegate the procurement task to the contract manufacturer. We analyze the OEMs’ procurement game under two contracting power schemes in such a supply chain: the supplier Stackelberg, where the component supplier acts as the Stackelberg leader, and the OEM Stackelberg, where the OEMs are the first movers.

We show that, the smaller OEM always prefers direct control of component procurement. This is because the OEM will receive a lower component price if the component supplier can price discriminate the OEMs. In contrast, the larger OEM’s preference depends on the contracting power scheme. Under the supplier Stackelberg, the larger OEM never prefers direct procurement; however, under the OEM Stackelberg, the larger OEM may have incentives to use direct procurement under reasonable conditions. This implies that a shift of the market power from the supplier to the OEMs may lead to more OEMs deviating from delegation to direct control.

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Nowadays, automakers have faced complexity of supply chain that have to improve procedures and processes in order to access high performance in both strategic and operational. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate model of strategic performance of supply chain (SPSC), which include information technology (IT), organizational learning (OL), and Product innovation (PRI) via qualitative research. In fact, this research follows how these factors effect on SPSC. IRANKHODRO Company (IKCO) as the biggest automaker in Middle East is our case study in order to research and evaluate mentioned model. A total number of 12 interviews were done based on a list of semi-structured open-ended questions in order to evaluate constructs and model. The development of constructs in IKCO according to respondents’ opinion was classified at three categories including high, medium and low levels. In high level, IT has been developed in IKCO more than another constructs, which consists of development of ORACLE system, SAP and KANBAN in order to cover information, procedures and processes across supply chain. While SPSC has been developed less than others.
 

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In recent years, comprehensive researches have provided ample support for the supply chains in the coordinated decision-making framework. However, the issue of closed-loop supply chain coordination considering various transportation modes has not yet been addressed in the literature. In this paper, a two-echelon closed-loop supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer is investigated in which the manufacturer acts as a Stackelberg leader and the retailer plays follower role. All transportation activities between the channel members are carried out via two transportation types including the economic and green modes. First, the proposed problem is examined under the decentralized and centralized settings. Then, a mathematical modeling is developed to coordinate the decisions related to retail price, collection effort, and ratio of transportation mode selection. Finally, some numerical examples are applied with the aim of analyzing the performance of decentralized, centralized, and coordinated decision-making structures. The results reveal that not only the Pareto optimal solution is achievable for both channel members but also the coordination scheme has sufficient efficiency to reach the best solution up to the centralized setting.

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In today's world, natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, crises such as terrorist attacks and protests threaten the lives of many people. Hence, in this research we present a mathematical modeling that provide efficient and effective model to locate temporary depot, equitable distribution of resources and movement of injured people to health centers, with the aim of developing the multi-objective model and considering multiple central depot, multiple temporary depot and several type of relief items in the model . This paper is considered certainty state and uncertainty of influencing parameters of the models in robust optimization for three different levels uncertainty and in different size with consideration of traditional goals function and humanitarian purposes functions simultaneously. The model has been solved with multi-objective Particle Swarm optimization algorithm (MOPSO) and GAMS software to validate the model. Some numerical examples are presented. In Addition, we present sensitivity analyzes of model and study the relationship of the number of temporary depot location and the number of injured people to move to health centers and the number of uncovered damaged points.

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Supply chain members coordinate with each other in order to obtain more profit. The major mechanisms for coordination among supply chain echelons are pricing, inventory management, and ordering decisions. This paper concerns these mechanisms in a multi-echelon supply chain consisting of multiple suppliers, one manufacturer, and multiple retailers in order to study the price and leadtime competition, where the make-to-order production mode is employed and consumers are sensitive to retail price and leadtime. In the current study, a novel inventory model is presented, where the manufacturer has an exclusive supplier for every required component of its final product. The interactions and decisions of the firms are observed in multiple time periods. Moreover, each supply chain member has equal power and make their decisions simultaneously. The proposed model considers the relationships among three echelon supply chain members based on a non-cooperative Nash game with pricing and inventory decisions. An iterative solution algorithm is proposed to find Nash equilibrium point of the game. Several numerical examples are presented to study the application of the model as well as the effectiveness of the algorithm. Finally, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis is performed and some important managerial insights are highlighted.
 

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In this research, a new bi-objective routing problem is developed in which a conventional vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) is considered with environmental impacts and heterogeneous vehicles. In this problem, minimizing the fuel consumption (liter) as well as the length of the routes (meter) are the main objectives. Therefore, a mathematical bi-objective model is solved to create Pareto's solutions. The objectives of the proposed mathematical model are to minimize the sum of distance cost as well as fuel consumption and Co2 emission. Then, the proposed Mixed-Integer Linear Program (MILP) is solved using the ε-constraint approach Furthermore, numerical tests performed to quantify the benefits of using a comprehensive goal function with two different objectives. Managerial insights and sensitivity analysis are also performed to show how different parameters of the problem affect the computational speed and the solutions’ quality.

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Nowadays, Military products of superpowers countries have a high level of diversity, delivery speed, and appropriative operational functionality. Therefore, Production of varied, high quality and high speed delivery military products, is essential for enhance Iran's defensive deterrence power.
Defense industries supply chain agility is an answer to how to produce military products with these features. This paper, with the aim of providing supply chain agility model in defense industries, first, identifies the most important supply chain agility practices, Then, using factor analysis, categorizes the practices and validates them based on structural equation modeling (SEM) and finally, using Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM), presents a model that shows the relationships and hierarchy between these practices. The results show that out of a total of 62 practices introduced in the previous research for agile supply chain, 41 practices in the agility of the supply chain of defense industries are effective. These practices were classified in 8 categories include supplier relationship, workshop level management, organizational structure improvement, human resource management, product designing, improve and integrate the process, application of information technology, and customer relationship. Improvement of organizational structure was at the lowest level of the model. Therefore, managers first should focus on it.
 

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Nowadays, competitive market creates the necessity of quality improvement in different levels of supply chains (SCs). This paper contributes to the SC coordination literature and proposes a bilateral coordination contract for optimizing pricing decisions along with quality improvement decisions in different echelons of a real case of a cell phone SC. The SC comprises a manufacturer who deals with determining the product quality, and a retailer who seeks for the optimal strategy on price, after-sale service and service level in a periodic review inventory system. The proposed bilateral wholesale price (BWP) contract is shown to be capable of simultaneous coordination of these decisions. The sensitivity analysis showed that in a market which is sensitive to quality and after-sale service as well as the product price, the proposed model facilitates investing more in such quality improvements while the members’ profitability with respect to the case without contracts is guaranteed. Moreover, it can increase the SC service level since it enables the members to hold more safety stock even under high inventory costs. Overall, the proposed coordination model on pricing, product quality, after-sale service and service level, leads to the optimal performance of the SC and its members while it is beneficial for the customers.

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In this research, we analyze a supply chain involving two competing manufacturers that sells their product through two common competing retailers. The manufacturers’ products are the same but with different brand in market. The retailers face stochastic demand where demand is a decreasing function of price with additive uncertain part. Manufacturers compete on supplying orders where retailers compete on selling price. Each manufacturer set wholesale price contract with retailers similarly. We examine supply chain coordination with wholesale price contract under competition and demand uncertainty. The analytical results show that under coordination condition, manufacturers do not obtain any positive profit and consequently the retailers intend to increase wholesale prices. On the other hand, manufacturers can increase wholesale prices until the retailers’ profit becomes zero. Hence, with a numerical study for actual cases, it is found that changing demand sensitivity and competition intensity affect the optimal decisions of ordering and pricing. Moreover, increasing in competition sensitivity, increase the supply chains’ efficiency, stocking level and selling price. The concluding remarks show that further investigation is required for possibility of coordination under competition by other contractual mechanisms.

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Biofuels production systems are identified as a potential solution in responding to the ever-increasing energy consumption demand. The complexity of conversion process and supply chain of these systems, however, can make the commercialization of biofuels less attractive, so designing and management of an efficient biofuel supply chain network can resolve this issue. Hence, this paper proposes a multi-period hybrid generation biomass-to-biofuel supply chain considering environmental, economic and technology considerations. The objective is to maximize the total profit that biofuel producers can make with practical constraints including the biomass supply, the capacity of facilities, storage, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and transportation with limited capacity. To highlight the applicability of the proposed model, it is applied to a biomass-derived liquid fuel supply system in the southern region of Iran. In the case study, wheat and wheat stem are simultaneously considered as the first- and second-generation of feedstocks for biodiesel production. Sensitivity analyses show that available biomasses can have a significant impact on the profitability of this supply chain. The obtained results demonstrate the efficiency and performance of the proposed model in biodiesel supply chain design.

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Sustainable supply chain networks have attracted considerable attention in recent years as a means of dealing with a broad range of environmental and social issues. This paper reports a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for use in the design of a sustainable closed loop supply chain network under uncertain conditions. The proposed model aims to minimize total cost, optimize environmental impacts of establishment of facilities, processing and transportation between each level as well as social impacts including customer satisfaction. Due to changes in business environment the uncertainty existed in the research problem, in this paper the chance constrained fuzzy programming approach applied to cope with uncertainties in parameter of the proposed model. Then the proposed multi-objective model solves as single-objective model using LP-metric method.

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Blockchain is a decentralized distributed network which allows peer-to-peer(P2P) communication among the users. As the name indicates, it deals with the group of records called blocks. We are in an era where both it is important to maintain the integrity of data as well as to fasten the process of the transaction. Blockchain helps in doing these by maintaining the timestamp on blocks and time required for a transaction can be reduced by eliminating the need of the third party during the process of the transaction. Bitcoin and Smart contract are the two major applications based on blockchain technology. Bitcoin is the first application which was developed on blockchain Technology and is a popularly known crypto-currency. Satoshi Nakamoto is the person who is behind the development of bitcoin [1]. Smart contract was defined by Szabo as " set of promises, specified in digital form, including protocols within which the parties perform on these promises [2]. This paper aims in bringing a detailed overview of blockchain and its applications followed by a case study on bitcoin.

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Now a days majority of commerce is taken place in electronic form. The e commerce transactions can be happened mainly in three forms. They are C2C(customer to customer), B2B(Business to business) and B2C(business to customer). Out of these B2C type of e-commerce is the most important one. Therefore  there is a need of a secure protocol for performing B2C type of e-commerce transactions. The B2C type the main participating entities are customers, website and merchant. In this paper the communication between the website and merchant is represented by WM protocol. The design of WM protocol must consider several issues like problem definition, services, environment, vocabulary and message formats. The verification of WM protocol is also performed with respect to the protocol procedure rules based on linear temporal logic. The procedure rules related to the protocol is specified in process meta language. The verification is performed by using SPIN model checker and corresponding results are reported.

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Cryptography is a well-known and well-researched topic for ages. Cryptography is the first line of defense for any networked system. By using Symmetric as well as Asymmetric Cryptography a lot of algorithms are developed. From the security point of view, Asymmetric Cryptography is more popular as security has been enhanced. RSA, DSA, ECS, DES, ECC and other algorithms have been developed for realizing Asymmetric Cryptosystem. These algorithms are primarily used for secure and reliable communication. These algorithms play a vital role in secure communication. Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provides similar security having less key size among them. In the present paper, an improved MOD-ECDH has been proposed and the proposed algorithm has been compared with other various popular algorithms like ECDH, RSA, ECS has been demonstrated. A detail both empirical and simulation study of the algorithm of ECDH and MOD-ECDH has been depicted. From result analysis, it is evident that the proposed algorithm outperforms the other algorithms in point of processing time and key size.

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Nowadays, data are the food for the digital world. The main rich sources for data generated by social networks such as Twitter, Face book, Instagram, and LinkedIn. The data generated from micro-blogging services are plays a vital role in business intelligence like product reviews, movie reviews, election results prediction by social media data analysis. Sentiment analysis (SA) is the key method of predicting netizens emotions behind the text expressed in social media. The main motto of this survey to give complete idea about tools and the techniques used in Sentiment Analysis and the relevant fields with brief details.

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Cognitive based (Chatbot) blood bank provides the communication platform among the stakeholders of blood bank. In the past the blood recipient will have to contact the blood bank and the blood donors individually, which is a time consuming process.  To address this issue in this paper we propose a Secure Dynamic Interactive Blood Bank based on Cognitive Computing which can fulfill the blood request of the needy with less hardship. Hence the proposed work aims to overcome this problem by requesting the recipient to simply send a message to a chatbot.  The motivated individuals who are willing to donate blood can register their name by interacting with the chatbot. If the requested blood group is available at the blood bank / registered donor then the recipient will get contact details of the blood bank / registered donors available at that instant. Donor data will be maintained in Cloud database. The proposed system is a cognitive chatbot, which acts as a communication platform among the stakeholders such as blood bank, blood donor and the needy. This system is built using cognitive technology of Google; it makes conversations using chatbots very similar to human conversations, thereby making the proposed system more efficient compared to the existing ones.

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In the currentworld the best modefor transport is two wheeler transports. But huge risk is involved because of having protection at lower level. This paper proposed an approach for automatically detecting whether the rider wear helmet or not with any manual intervention. If the rider of the bike identified not wearing helmet, then corresponding two wheeler number plate was read and noted. Data records of every offender who were not wore helmet will be automatically saved into the database A database will be generated with records to identify every offender accurately. This paper aims to explain automatic detection of motor cyclists without helmet and sending the messages to detected persons. Our proposed system is to extract the vehicle number from the RTO website using number plate of a vehicle by using the captured images. After getting the information use mobile number as a input to our model using this mobile number sending the fine details to the detected person. Our system maintains a database for number of detections of that particular vehicle numbers and also sending the detecting location details.