Advanced Planning Systems (APS) are a key enabler of the supply chain management. However, APS are highly complex and difficult to comprehend. This book provides students with valuable insights into the capabilities of state-of-the-art APS and bridges the gap between theory (model building and solution algorithms), software implementation, and adaptation to a specific business case. Our business case – named Frutado – provides a unifying framework for illustrating the different planning tasks that arise in a company – from demand planning to the distribution of goods – that are addressed by APS. In addition, the book guides through interactive learning units which have been created and recorded for each module of SAP ́s APS. Learning units can be downloaded free of charge ready to be displayed in a web browser. Together, the textbook and the learning units provide the required skills to better understand the concepts, models, and algorithms underlying today ́s APS.

"... To sum up, there should be a copy on the bookshelf of all engineers responsible for detailed planning of the Product Delivery Process (PDP). The Editors highlight the impressive gains reported by companies exploiting the potential of coordinating organizational units and integrating information flows and planning efforts along a supply chain. This publication is strong on coordination and planning. It is therefore recommended as an up-to-date source book for these particular aspects of SCM." International Journal of Production Research 2001/Vol. 39/13

This book is a guide to modern production planning methods based on new scientific achievements and various practical planning rules of thumb. Several numerical examples illustrate most of the calculation methods, while the text includes a set of programs for calculating production schedules and an example of a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Despite the relatively large number of books dedicated to this topic, Advanced Planning and Scheduling is the first book of its kind to feature such a wide range of information in a single work, a fact that inspired the author to write this book and publish an English translation. This work consists of two parts, with the first part addressing the design of reference and mathematical models, bottleneck models and multi-criteria models and presenting various sample models. It describes demand-forecasting methods and also includes considerations for aggregating forecasts. Lastly, it provides reference information on methods for data stocking and sorting. The second part of the book analyzes various stock planning models and the rules of safety stock calculation, while also considering the stock traffic dynamics in supply chains. Various batch computation methods are described in detail, while production planning is considered on several levels, including supply planning for customers, master planning, and production scheduling. This book can be used as a reference and manual for current planning methods. It is aimed at production planning department managers, company information system specialists, as well as scientists and PhD students conducting research in production planning. It will also be a valuable resource for students at universities of applied sciences.

In recent years, supply chain planning has emerged as one of the most challenging problems in the industry. As a consequence, the planning focus is shifting from the management of plant-speci?c operations to a holistic view of the various logistics and productionstages, that is an approach in which suppliers, productionplants and customers are considered as constituents of an integrated network. A major dr- ing force behind this development lies in the globalization of the world economy, which has facilitated the co-operation between different partners working together in world-wide logistics networks. Hence, considerable cost savings can be gained from optimizing the structure and the operations of complex supply networks li- ing plants, suppliers, distribution centres and customers. Consequently, to improve the performance of the entire logistic chain, more sophisticated planning systems and more effective decision support are needed. Clearly, successful applications of supply chain management have driven the development of advanced planning systems (APS), which are concerned with s- porting decision-making activities at the strategic, tactical and operational decision level. These software packages basically rely on the application of quantitative methods, which are used to model the underlying complex decision problems c- sidering the limited availability of resources and the need to react on time to customer orders. The core module at the mid-term level of APS comprises op- ational supply chain planning. In many industries, productionstages are assigned to differentplantsand distribution centreshave been established at geographicallyd- persed locations.

In light ofthe vast number ofpublications on Supply Chain Management (SCM) it is not easy to extract those which will have a great impact both on theory and practice. The dissertation of Gregor Dudek certainly is one such valuable source because it tackles inter-organizational collaboration in a novel and effective man ner. SCM is concemed with the coordination of material, information and financial flows within and across often legally separated organizational units. lt has gained great attention both in industry and research as an important area for improving competitiveness. A Supply Chain (SC) can be regarded as a hybrid between a market relationship and a hierarchical organization and as such requires specific tools to support the efficient planning and execution of the order fulfillment proc ess. Software vendors have developed so called Advanced Planning Systems (APS) to overcome deficiencies of traditional Enterprise Resource Planning systems and to better support the planning functions needed in SCM. However, APS are based on the principles of hierarchical planning which are well-suited for intra organizational SCs but fall short when non-hierarchical collaboration between partners (companies) is needed. This is particularly true when a buyer and a sup plier have to align their medium term order and supply plans.

Adaptive Supply Chain Management develops new viewpoints on the SCM goal paradigm, problem semantics, and decision-making support. Drawing upon years of research and practical experience, and using numerous examples, the authors unite conceptual considerations of supply chains with a constructive level of engineering and solutions to real-world problems. Adaptive Supply Chain Management provides advanced insights into dynamics, complexity, and uncertainty in supply chains from the perspectives of systems analysis, control theory, and operations research. It also considers supply chain adaptability, stability, and crisis-resistance. Providing readers with a comprehensive view of advanced SCM concepts, constructive mathematical techniques and models, Adaptive Supply Chain Management is an invaluable text for practitioners and researchers who specialize in SCM and operations.

This edited book describes new trends in supply chain design and management with an emphasis on technologies and methodologies. It contains guidelines detailing the real-world applications of these technologies and methodologies. This book is of interest to researchers and practitioners and can also be used as a reference handbook by lecturers and postgraduate students in this field.