Integrating Supply Chain Warehousing and Transportation Functions

1. UA03-GLBL Integrating Supply Chain Warehousingand Transportation Functions • Investigator—Scott J. Mason, Ph.D., P.E. • CELDi Scholar—Ghazi M. Magableh

2. Motivation • In today’s industry, both warehouse management and transportation management systems are the primary tools involved in supply chain (SC) execution • The key factors to integrate the physical flow of goods along the extended SC. • The effective integration of warehouse and transportation management functions is a key element in maintaining and improving the company’s customer service requirements. • Information sharing enhances the system benefits by speeding up procedures and increasing process efficiencies, and cutting costs.

3. Literature Review Summary • Decision support tools and methodologies need to be developed to help companies reduce inventory levels, decrease order lead times, and minimize order lead time variability. • Recently, demand uncertainty has increased due to one or more of the following: • Technology advances—new technologies are developed which make current products less attractive • Short life cycles—quick changes in accessories and functionality shorten the product life cycle • Large varieties of products are competing in the same market

4. Literature Review Summary • Past research considering the supply chain as a dynamic changing system is scarce. • Little research exists in designing and coordinating the warehousing and transportation functions based under realistic (variable) demand. • Traditionally warehousing and transportation segments either • have been optimized in isolation • consider the integration under certain constraints • have limited applicability

5. Proposed Research • We propose to explore the potential advantages that could be gained by integrating and simultaneously optimizing the performance of both the warehousing and transportation segments of the logistics supply chain.

6. Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) • Contain information on operational efficiency and cross docking requirements • Can be utilized for order management and consolidation as well as for comprehending the continually exploding list of products SKUs due to customers’ requirements for mass customization

7. Transportation Management Systems (TMS) • Integral part of the logistics supply chain, as they are the glue that integrates the physical flow of goods between nodes along the extended supply chain • Used as decision support tools in • Planning and optimization • Transportation execution • Directly or indirectly responsible for carrier loading tendering, routing and scheduling, shipment tracking and tracing, and freight payment and auditing

8. Information Sharing

9. The Need for Integrating WMS/TMS Segments of the Logistics Supply Chain • To understand how a WMS and a TMS system can work together to reduce the overall costs, reducing lead time while increasing reliability • To develop both strategies and the required data analysis techniques to enable companies to make more effective decisions based on the available data

10. Project Approach

11. Dynamic Supply Chain Response System (DSCRS)

12. Research Benefits for Industries • Accelerate the development of the data analysis tools and heuristic approaches necessary for companies to make better decisions with current information • May help to define additional data requirements • Develop both the strategies and the required data analysis techniques to enable companies to make more effective decisions based on the available data