Design of global production and distribution networks

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to systematically and critically review the extant literature on the design of global production and distribution networks to identify gaps in the literature and identify future research opportunities. The design aspects deal with strategic and structural decisions such as: opening or closing of manufacturing plants or distribution centres, selection of locations for manufacturing or warehousing, and making substantial capacity changes in manufacturing or distribution. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examine the peer-reviewed literature on global production and distribution networks written in English. The search strategy is based on selected keywords and databases. The authors identify 109 articles from 1974 to 2012. Findings – The authors categorize the literature according to research methodology: case studies, conceptual modelling, surveys, and mathematical modelling. The amount of literature up to 2,000 is rather sparse, while there is a positive trend from 2,000 and onwards. The content analysis shows that different research methodologies focus on different but complementary aspects. The authors propose a research agenda for further research on design of global production and distribution networks. Research limitations/implications – The authors identify research opportunities related to complementary actor perspectives, extended supply chains that explicitly include transportation and suppliers, contingency factors, and new perspectives such as facility roles within production and distribution networks. Originality/value – This paper is to the author’s knowledge the first broad review that investigates the design aspects of the interrelationships between production and distribution facilities as well as transportation in global production and distribution networks across multiple research methodologies.

A fuzzy rough sets-based multi-agent analytics framework for dynamic supply chain configuration

“…There is a substantive body of knowledge to inform SC network design decisions such as facilities location, capacity planning and supplier selection (Olhager et al, 2015;Meixell and Gargeya, 2005). This body of knowledge is complemented by the extensive work undertaken in the areas of mathematical optimisation and simulation modelling (Acar et al, 2010;Iannone et al, 2007;Shen et al, 2006;Terzi and Cavalieri, 2004).…”

“…To successfully explore such opportunities organisations must possess the capacity to make robust decisions. In an environment where distributed manufacturing networks operate at a global scale, due to the diverse range of factors that need to be considered and the pace at which they change, the need for effective decision-making becomes even greater (Olhager et al, 2015;Wang and Chan, 2010). Supply chain (SC) management research can make a significant contribution to advance this cause by way of developing suitable decision support systems (DSS).…”

Designing Multi-Site Operations Networks

“…While the strategic approaches lack the direct integration of quantitative evaluation, most quantitative approaches do not consider strategically input. [10] The presented approach in this paper therefore tries to close the gap between both approaches and suggests a pragmatic way of using strategic input for a quantitative network optimization.…”

“…The review of current literature shows that a numerous of approaches for designing multi-site manufacturing networks exist [1,10]. Below, the most relevant approaches to this paper are analyzed and compared to the objective of this paper.…”

Análisis numérico de flujo a costo mínimo en redes con estaciones de espera: el caso M/M/1

“…All cases were built taking into account that the maximum number of stages that are considered in mathematical models of supply chains are four (Olhager, Pashaei and Sternberg, 2015). Case A is a conventional minimum cost flow model without operation at the nodes.…”