Integrating Production and Transportation Systems Along Global Supply Chains

Global supply chains source raw material around the world, make use of local cost advantages for production and utilise the expertise of excellent partners. They aim at the creation of a sustainable competitive network. In order to benefit from the locally obtained advantages the processes of the partners have to be synchronised. This is a classic task of advanced planning systems. However operational planning and control is quite often conducted in a decentralised, function and department oriented way. This paper presents a framework for an integrated scheduling of production and transportation systems along a global supply chain on the operational level. The framework enhances the synchronisation of material flows and increases the competitiveness of the supply chain.