C Rajendran

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide strategic recommendations to supply chain managers of Indian manufacturing industries for a robust supply chain related to risk management by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers in manufacturing industries to ensure a robust supply chain risk management (SCRM). Design/methodology/approach: Importance-performance analysis (IPA) is utilized to identify and provide strategic recommendations to manufacturing industries for improving their supply chain performance by attaching due importance to risk constructs and appropriately choosing mitigation strategies. Findings: The investigation using the strategic action grids reveals that most of the means of risks are near the point of intersection of the grand means of the risk constructs and their impact on the supply chain, indicating that all the risks have the equal likelihood of occurrence. The mean importance of risk monitoring, risk avoidance (RA) and risk sharing surpass the mean performance for both OEMs and suppliers. Research limitations/implications: The study is executed with following limitations: the study assumes that the manufacturing industries across different sectors perceive similar risk. The sectors considered are automotive, heavy engineering, general engineering and home appliances. The Southern States of India are considered because of the dominant presence of many industries, especially automotive industries. However, it should be noted that these States form the manufacturing hubs where the lead organizations are functioning along with their major suppliers. Practical implications: By understanding the importance of SCRM dimensions and utilization of these dimensions, firms can mitigate the impact of risk on the supply chain. The detailed study of SCRM strategies highlights the importance attached to risk factors, mitigation strategies, and top management commitment. By the implementation of SCRM strategies, supply chain managers can improve the firm’s performance. Originality/value: The study involves empirically validated data on SCRM dimensions. The IPA is performed on the SCRM dimensions to investigate the importance attached to the factors of the dimensions and their performance.

We describe an application of a supervised learning method, namely, model-tree induction, for the estimation of flow time in a dynamic job shop. An attempt is made to incorporate transfer batching as order review and release policy in the simulation model, whereas much of previous research appears to have ignored the order-review and release policy. The computational evaluation performance shows that the prediction accuracy of the model-tree induction method is superior to traditional methods such as total-work-content method and the dynamic-total-work-content method in estimating the flow time. This research work has been carried out with an open-source software in order to demonstrate the use of machine learning tools by the resource-constrained small- and medium-enterprises in their decision making processes.

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a key strategic approach for increasing organisational effectiveness and the realisation of organisational goals. Effectively selecting and evaluating suppliers and managing their involvement in the supply chain are some of the capabilities that enable Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to achieve customer satisfaction. At the same time, the suppliers have a significant and direct impact on the performance of buyers. A sustained supplier-manufacturer relationship cannot be possible without tangible benefits accrued to both the partners. The present study, by viewing the supply chain from the perspective of the OEMs and the suppliers, identifies the critical dimensions of SCM and the measures of performance. Reliable and validated instruments are developed. Conceptual models are proposed. The effect of the moderator, such as 'selection', 'long-term relationships', etc. (OEM's perspective) and 'supply chain orientation' (supplier's perspective) on the relationship between the critical dimensions of SCM and the performance measures, are investigated. The investigations reveal that from the perspectives of the OEM and supplier, the moderator has a significant and positive effect on the relationship between the critical dimensions of SCM and the performance measures. The simultaneous effect of all the moderators on the above relationship is also significant in the case of the OEM. Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Due to emergence of global business environment, short product life cycles, technological innovations, natural disasters and ever changing government policies, industries face various types of risk in their supply chains. To overcome the increased risks raised by the above factors in the supply chain, organisations need to establish the principles of supply chain risk management (SCRM) for serving customers by finding right suppliers and fostering the trust among the supply chain partners. This study proposes that by following the strategies such as risk plan, risk financing, risk monitoring, risk avoidance, risk transfer and risk sharing, the supply chain can be enhanced by reducing the impact of risk on supply chain. This study supposes that the supply chain partners (entities) need to share information transparently across the supply chain to enhance the visibility of the supply chain. Without sharing information across the supply chain, alleviation of the impact of the risk and sustaining long lasting relationship among the trading partners is a difficult task. This study attempts to identify the critical dimensions of SCRM and it develops a conceptual framework to understand the relationship between risk and performance measures from the perspective of the manufacturers which includes original equipment manufacturers (OEM), tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers.