Decision Making in Manufacturing and Services
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ISSN 1896-8325
e-ISSN: 2300-7087
Issue Date
2020
Volume
Vol. 14
Number
No. 1
Description
Journal Volume
Decision Making in Manufacturing and Services
Vol. 14 (2020)
Projects
Pages
Articles
Modelling & simulation as a strategic tool for decision-making processes: a dairy case study
(AGH University of Science and Technology Press, 2020) Eccher, Cristiani; Geraghty, John
The dairy industry faces many challenges when compared to other sectors. On the supply side, due to the nature of the raw material, large inventories are not applied, during the manufacturing process, continuous production is highly sensitive to any sort of unplanned disruption, on the demand side, the market dictates the bulk powder commodity prices. In response to the growth in competition, dairy organizations' strategy must incorporate technology into their daily processes in order to become more efficient, profitable and sustainable. To achieve desired levels of improvement, Modelling and Simulation (M&S) has been increasing in popularity in the decision-making process. Using a dairy company as a case study, this paper has highlighted the potential for M&S to be used as a powerful strategic tool for decision-making processes.
Impact of government policies on sustainable petroleum supply chain (SPSC): a case study - part I (models)
(AGH University of Science and Technology Press, 2020) Ghahremanlou, Davoud; Kubiak, Wiesław
Environmental concerns and energy security have led governments to establish legislation to convert a Conventional Petroleum Supply Chain (CPSC) to a Sustainable Petroleum Supply Chain (SPSC). The United States (US), one of the biggest oil consumers in the world, has created regulations to manage ethanol production and consumption over the last half century. Although these regulations have created new opportunities, they have also added new burdens to the obligated parties. It is thus key for the government, the obligated parties, and related businesses to study the impact of the policies on the SPSC. We develop a two-stage stochastic programming model, General Model (GM), which incorporates Renewable Fuel Standard 2 (RFS2), Tax Credits, Tariffs, and Blend Wall (BW) to study the policy impact on the SPSC using cellulosic ethanol. The model, as with any other general model available in the literature, makes it highly impractical to study the policy impact due to the model's computational complexity. We use the GM to derive a Lean Model (LM) to study the impact by running computational experiments more efficiently and consequently by arriving much faster at robust managerial insights. We present a case study of the policy impact on the SPSC in the State of Nebraska using the LM in the accompanying part II (Ghahremanlou and Kubiak, 2020).
Impact of government policies on sustainable petroleum supply chain (SPSC): a case study - part II (the State of Nebraska)
(AGH University of Science and Technology Press, 2020) Ghahremanlou, Davoud; Kubiak, Wiesław
The accompanying part I (Ghahremanlou and Kubiak, 2020) developed the Lean Model (LM), a two-stage stochastic programming model which incorporates Renewable Fuel Standard 2 (RFS2), Tax Credits, Tariffs, and Blend Wall (BW), to study the policy impact on the Sustainable Petroleum Supply Chain (SPSC) using cellulosic ethanol. The model enables us to study the impact by running computational experiments more efficiently and consequently by arriving at robust managerial insights much faster. In this paper, we present a case study of the policy impact on the SPSC in the State of Nebraska using the model. The case study uses available real-life data. The study shows that increasing RFS2 does not impact the amount of ethanol blended with gasoline but it might lead to the bankruptcy of the refineries. We recommend that the government consider increasing the BW because of its positive economic, environmental and social impacts. For the same reason, we recommend that the tax credit for blending the US produced ethanol with gasoline be at least 0.189 $\frac{\$}{gal}$ and the tariff for imported ethanol be at least 1.501 $\frac{\$}{gal}$. These also make the State independent of foreign ethanol thereby enhancing its energy security. Finally, the change in policy impacts the SPSC itself, most importantly it influences strategic decisions. However setting up a bio-refinery at York county and a blending site at Douglas county emerge as the most robust location decisions against the policy change in the study.
A simulation of the impact of waste batteries on ecosystem reliability
(AGH University of Science and Technology Press, 2020) Petrov, Oleksandr; Pogrebennik, Volodimir Dmitrovič; Šibanova, Alla Mikolaïvna; Ruda, Marìâ Vìtalìïvna
In order to assess the impact of a battery's multi-element composition on the state of the environment, a new approach is proposed through the determination of the reliability of ecosystems, one which makes it possible to obtain quantitative indexes of the stability and losses of natural ecosystems. These data can be used as indicators of the state of the environment, and hence as the assessment of an environmental component important for determining the actual impact of the multi-element composition of batteries. On the basis of such indicators, which can be obtained using the SimaPro software, it is possible to calculate thresholds beyond which negative phenomena occur, as well as to predict and simulate situations, to carry out the mapping of sources of risks, and to monitor changes. This will allow the causes of these changes to be identified or to determine the factors that slow down or retard the approach of ecosystems to a critical state, i.e. to develop preventive measures to avoid disasters. The eco-indicator 99 is one such method that allows us to accept a single estimate for a whole product - the so-called ecological index. It is the sum of all individual eco-points or partial indexes for all life-cycle processes. The computational procedure is carried out by summing up the results of weighing the phases of the life cycle.
The application of genetic algorithms for the selection of WSE companies in warsaw for an investment portfolio
(AGH University of Science and Technology Press, 2020) Basiura, Beata; Motyczyńska, Joanna
Portfolio analysis is a tool in particular, intended for investors. Risk assessment and risk specification make the investor able to diversify properly and offset the portfolio. Broadly speaking, there are multiple tools designed to create an efficient set of portfolios. One of them is Markowitz's model theory, postulating building up a portfolio to determine the basis of equilibrium between expected profit level as well as accepted level of risk assessment. In the context of this paper, the objective is to shed some light on creating investment portfolios based on either Markowitz's portfolio theory or an evolutionary algorithm. The simulation based methods for building up a portfolio of approximately 40-50 companies listed on the primary market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange using the specific selection function are presented. Portfolio profit values have been evaluated in a dynamically shifted time window. The conducted analysis showed shifts in the economy at certain periods of time. The implemented genetic algorithms smoothly handled the optimization with a relatively short processing time of the task result.