Modelling Techniques.- An Initiative for International Consensus on Enterprise Inter- and Intra-Organisational Integration.- Towards Knowledge Logistics in Agile SME Networks.- A Modelling Framework for Human Resource-Based Business Processes.- Managing Service-Sensitive Demand Through Simulation.- Robust Modeling of Consumer Behaviour.- Sizing, Cycle Time and Plant Control Using Dioid Algebra.- Concurrent Processes Flow Prototyping.- Modelling of the Supply Chain for a Distributed Publishing Enterprise.- Optimisation Methods.- Hybrid Methods for Line Balancing Problems.- Stability of Optimal Line Balance with Given Station Set.- Simple Plant Location Problem with Reverse Flows.- Concave Cost Supply Management for Single Manufacturing Unit.- Product Family and Supply Chain Design.- Sales and Operations Planning Optimisation.- Response Surface-Based Simulation Metamodelling Methods.- Decision Aid Tools.- A Modeling and Simulation Framework for Supply Chain Design.- Internet Web-Based Integration of Process and Manufacturing Resources Planning.- Visual Representation of Material Flows in Chemical Plant Systems.- Identification-Based Condition Monitoring of Technical Systems.- Simulation of Distributed Industrial Systems.

This volume is a collection of recent key results in supply chain optimisation. It  presents new approaches and methods based on operations research, artificial intelligence and computer sciences techniques for design of production systems, supply and inventory management, production planning and scheduling, facility location, transportation and logistics, supply flow optimisation via simulation, etc. The content focuses on a wide spectrum of optimisation problems taking into account supply chain paradigms, which create a pivotal idea to increase the productivity of modern production systems.

The first part of the book presents a set of modelling techniques taking into account the enterprise integration problem, the knowledge management in the SME networks, and the human resources in business process engineering. The second part is dedicated to advanced optimisation methods for supply chain design and management which are based on mathematical programming and metaheuristics. The third part of this book deals with some examples of advanced applied decision aid tools directly linked to real industrial problems.

Audience

This volume is suitable for industrial engineers, faculty staff and graduate students in industrial engineering, management science, operations research, artificial intelligence and computer sciences. This book can be used as a reference for graduate courses and also for researchers and industrial engineers to capture current trends in this field.