This issue presents four papers covering various aspects of supply chain management and operations management such as Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM), outbound logistics modeling, service failure and RFID implementation. The first paper, “Green Supply Chain Management: A Literature Review”, by Vinod N Sambrani and Naveen Pol, highlights the importance of GSCM in general and its importance in India in particular. The authors highlight that GSCM as a concept is gaining its pace and there have been works in the areas of research opportunities in GSCM, impact of GSCM on economic, social and financial performances, different types of pressure, enablers, drivers, barriers, conflicts and benefits of GSCM practices, designing structural models and testing its implications, comparing green practices among companies within a nation and among companies of different nations, finding key words pertaining to GSCM practices, etc. Pragmatically, these concepts have been followed by the corporate and the same has been reflected in their annual sustainability reports. The paper makes an attempt at simplifying the overall factors under the circle of GSCM through a review of literature.

The second paper, “Outbound Logistics Modeling Using Shortest Routing Algorithm in a Lean Enterprise: A Case Study”, by N S Shobha and K N Subramanya, presents the outbound logistics modeling for the automobile supply chain. The authors highlight that automobile supply chain and logistics network involves an entire network of multiple-tier suppliers, manufacturing plants, sub-assembly plants, assembly plants, warehouses, distribution centers, dealers and customers. The vastness of this supply chain structure makes logistics and information flow—the most important functions to ensure comprehensive coordination between the firms. Lean distribution starts with the trends and drivers that lead to the need for new approaches in distribution and then consider customer service expectations to initiate the lean design. In order to address the complexity as stated above, this paper attempts to model outbound logistics using shortest routing algorithm in a lean enterprise. The data and information have been collected at the tactical level for automobile supply chain, and two echelons of distribution are considered. The methodology adopted includes studying the processes involved in lean distribution system, collection of data using primary and secondary sources, identification of factors and modeling using Floyd Warshall algorithm for multiple sources and multiple destinations, and calculation of the number of cars which can be accommodated in a truck. The verification and validation of the developed model is done for automobile logistics and supply chain network. A comparison of the performance of the current and proposed models for outbound logistics was carried out. Vehicle routing helped in identifying the right routes to be chosen in order to reduce the distance traveled and hence logistics cost. The understanding of current system and proposing new system have helped in improving the efficiency of the complete outbound logistics system and resulted in large cost-savings through improvement in schedules, demand allocation and choice of routes.

The third paper, “Prioritizing the Service Failures of Package Delivery Business: An Analytical Hierarchy Process Analysis”, by Ranjit Roy Ghatak and Shyamsunder Pal, highlights the importance of service failure in service businesses. The authors state that service failure impacts the service quality of the business and mandates proportionate service recovery actions. Prioritizing the service failures can bring discipline and focus in implementing the recovery plan of the service company. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been implemented here in failure prioritization for the first time. Service failures are recognized to originate variously as customer-induced, company-induced and their business associate-induced. Failure rate and intensity of incidence have both been considered important for prioritization. In extending the current knowledge, this research finds four factors of service failures in order of importance, viz., service process failure, employee action failure, business associate action failure and customer action failure in a package delivery business for deploying their recovery resources most productively.

The last paper, “RFID Implementation of Supply Chain: A Comparison of Three Case Studies”, by Raul Valverde and Malleswara Talla, examines the impact of different approaches in implementing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, namely, supply chain inventory management system based on RFIDs to address the challenges encountered in the operation of the warehouses, item-level inventory tracking at retail stores and customer order processing and distribution using RFIDs to eventually propose RFID-based Supply Chain Management (SCM). SCM involves effective information sharing, inventory management, transportation, sourcing and pricing strategies. The paper highlights how RFID can improve SCM drivers, one by one, and together improve overall synergy. It extends the solutions of case studies and proposes improvements to RFID solutions in ERP applications. It also highlights the motivation to such implementations as these solutions offer further cost savings and performance gains. Consequently, it concludes that RFID is a vital technology for the success of SCM and bridging the gaps among the existing enterprise applications.

--Nikhat Afshan
Consulting Editor