The managed flow of goods and information from raw material to final sale also known as a "supply chain" affects everythingâ€"from the U.S. gross domestic product to where you can buy your jeans. The nature of a company's supply chain has a significant effect on its success or failureâ€"as in the success of Dell Computer's make-to-order system and the failure of General Motor's vertical integration during the 1998 United Auto Workers strike. Supply Chain Integration looks at this crucial component of business at a time when product design, manufacture, and delivery are changing radically and globally. This book explores the benefits of continuously improving the relationship between the firm, its suppliers, and its customers to ensure the highest added value. This book identifies the state-of-the-art developments that contribute to the success of vertical tiers of suppliers and relates these developments to the capabilities that small and medium-sized manufacturers must have to be viable participants in this system. Strategies for attaining these capabilities through manufacturing extension centers and other technical assistance providers at the national, state, and local level are suggested. This book identifies action steps for small and medium-sized manufacturersâ€"the "seed corn" of business start-up and developmentâ€"to improve supply chain management. The book examines supply chain models from consultant firms, universities, manufacturers, and associations. Topics include the roles of suppliers and other supply chain participants, the rise of outsourcing, the importance of information management, the natural tension between buyer and seller, sources of assistance to small and medium-sized firms, and a host of other issues. Supply Chain Integration will be of interest to industry policymakers, economists, researchers, business leaders, and forward-thinking executives.

For decades, optimization methods such as Fuzzy Logic, Artificial Neural Networks, Firefly, Simulated annealing, and Tabu search, have been capable of handling and tackling a wide range of real-world application problems in society and nature. Analysts have turned to these problem-solving techniques in the event during natural disasters and chaotic systems research. The Handbook of Research on Artificial Intelligence Techniques and Algorithms highlights the cutting edge developments in this promising research area. This premier reference work applies Meta-heuristics Optimization (MO) Techniques to real world problems in a variety of fields including business, logistics, computer science, engineering, and government. This work is particularly relevant to researchers, scientists, decision-makers, managers, and practitioners.

The Proceedings of SocProS 2014 serves as an academic bonanza for scientists and researchers working in the field of Soft Computing. This book contains theoretical as well as practical aspects using fuzzy logic, neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence algorithms, etc., with many applications under the umbrella of ‘Soft Computing’. The book is beneficial for young as well as experienced researchers dealing across complex and intricate real world problems for which finding a solution by traditional methods is a difficult task. The different application areas covered in the Proceedings are: Image Processing, Cryptanalysis, Industrial Optimization, Supply Chain Management, Newly Proposed Nature Inspired Algorithms, Signal Processing, Problems related to Medical and Healthcare, Networking Optimization Problems, etc.

With the increasing complexity and dynamism in today’s product design and manufacturing, more optimal, robust and practical approaches and systems are needed to support product design and manufacturing activities. Multi-objective Evolutionary Optimisation for Product Design and Manufacturing presents a focused collection of quality chapters on state-of-the-art research efforts in multi-objective evolutionary optimisation, as well as their practical applications to integrated product design and manufacturing. Multi-objective Evolutionary Optimisation for Product Design and Manufacturing consists of two major sections. The first presents a broad-based review of the key areas of research in multi-objective evolutionary optimisation. The second gives in-depth treatments of selected methodologies and systems in intelligent design and integrated manufacturing. Recent developments and innovations in multi-objective evolutionary optimisation make Multi-objective Evolutionary Optimisation for Product Design and Manufacturing a useful text for a broad readership, from academic researchers to practicing engineers.

As modern organizations become more globalized and diverse, they require additional assistance to maintain effective workflows. With the support of intermediary partners, businesses can enhance their various management processes. Global Intermediation and Logistics Service Providers is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly material on outsourcing strategies in contemporary business environments and examines the role of intermediaries in the dynamics of decision-making and process management. Highlighting pivotal discussions across a myriad of relevant topics, such as open innovation, competitive advantage, and social capital, this book is ideally designed for professionals, practitioners, researchers, and students interested in the impact of service providers within industrial organizations.

An Introduction to Operations Management: The Joy of Operations covers the core topics of operations management, including product and service design, processes, capacity planning, forecasting, inventory, quality, supply chain management, and project management. Das provides a clear, connected, and current view of operations management and how it relates to a firm’s strategic goals. Students will benefit from the real-world scenarios that foster an understanding of operations management tasks. Without relying heavily on statistics and mathematical derivations, the book offers applied models and a simple, predictable chapter format to make it easy to navigate. Students of introductory operations management courses will love this practical textbook. A companion website features an instructor’s manual with test questions, as well as additional exercises and examples for in-class use.