system dynamics

When selecting logistics strategies for their production networks, companies increasingly need to consider not only economic but as well environmental aspects. Those environmental aspects are, however, not easy to evaluate. This holds especially for SME with their limited resources. To assist companies in selecting a logistics strategy that meets their needs, a KPI framework to evaluate the economic and environmental sustainability of logistics strategies was developed within the Green-Net research project. Using the system dynamics approach, a simulation model was developed, which helps to anticipate and evaluate the impact of a certain logistics strategy on the company’s network.

This study deals with the problem of collaborative maritime transportation between manufactured export industries and maritime carriers as well as its relationships polices applied to the Brazilian case. The general maritime exportation mechanism is very comprehensive and complex with several variables (volumes, capacity of the ships, prices, maritime fees) and agents such as industries and carriers. To understand the patterns of transition from the system and its long-term behaviour, the System Dynamics’ approach is presented in order to start modelling the problem. This method allows improving the analysis of the global behaviour of the export network. For further implementation, some recommendations are given.

Shorter product life cycles and rising demands for product variants increasingly lead to capacity demand fluctuations and result in unsatisfactory degrees of assembly system capacity utilization. By offering additional assembly capacities to their customers, manufacturers of assembly systems can establish a promising new business model. If the assembly system manufacturer takes over the responsibility for operating assembly systems, it has to be decided which HR option, recruiting own employees or leasing personnel from a temporary employment agency is best suited for this new business model. In this article a System Dynamics model is introduced that can be used for the assessment of such alternative HR concepts.

Organizational change-processes are usually carried out according to objective criteria; self-organizational aspects (as well as emotions and (basic-) needs as order parameter) are not taken into consideration. However, these aspects eventually decide on the success of innovative processes. Therefore, it is of importance to design organizational innovative processes in such a way that they enable and enhance self-organization. A technique designed to identify order parameters and to enhance self-organizational aspects (using adapted and relevant methods drawn from the field of Industrial Engineering) is introduced and discussed.

The paper describes a game called the Supply Net Game, built around the structure of a production supply network based on the “anchoring and adjustment heuristic” which is known as the one people use to make inferences about uncertain events. The game involves four players where everyone manages his manufacturing unit that consists of four production lines which proceed to the joint development of products with the other units. While planning production and controlling inventories, every person should try to minimize the costs caused by both holding items on stock and being in an out-of stock situation. The paper stresses the valuable impact of management games for production engineering education in general and particularly the significance of learning implicit skills as well as gaining insight in inventory control and management of complex distributed production systems such as the system dynamics production network model introduced in the paper.

Due to the complexity of the interdependencies in enterprise logistics, manufacturing companies often have difficulties in meeting their logistic objectives. They struggle to take measures that effectively influence their logistic performance. The Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) is developing illustrative models that describe and quantify the logistic interdependencies. The models form a basis for strategies and procedures, with which manufacturing controls can control the interdependencies.

Technology driven industries are facing new challenges to manage the spare part business of high-quality products due to decreasing innovation cycles and increasing product complexity. An influencing factor for the total profitability is the after-sales strategy for spare parts after the end-of-production decision of a product. On the one hand the guaranteed service level can be achieved by excess stocks and expensive scrapping actions. On the other hand if out of stock situations may occur, penalties and an eventual image loss have to be taken into account. Both strategies can be combined to reduce costs significantly by using a dynamic life cycle simulation approach.