Research focus

Our department focuses on the business aspects of supply chain planning and supply chain management. While production, one of the core elements of business administration, is concerned with the transformation and combination of input factors into higher-value output products, supply chain planning involves the design, IT support and implementation of intra-organisational, value-adding processes known as ‘supply chains’. As such, supply chain planning marks a continuation of the developments in logistics over the past few decades. Due to the increasing integration of all of an enterprise’s logistics processes, it is no longer enough to concentrate exclusively on production processes or even isolated businesses.

Instead, it is necessary to include production planning and control (PPC) in an enterprise’s entire logistics planning process. This planning process is being increasingly replaced or expanded upon by so-called “advanced planning systems (APS)“ in industrial firms. Through the use of optimization methods of operations research, software systems are used to automate and accelerate planning processes, as well as to increase profits and lower costs. During the past few years, a similar widening of focus has taken place in supply chain management with regard to the joint activities of different enterprises.

These current developments are at the center of the department’s research programme, which comprises the following areas:

branch-specific planning concepts on the basis of hierarchical planning:
This research field concerns itself with the integration of separate, individual planning processes, for instance the short and mid-term planning of purchasing, production, transport and sales activities. These are then joined together into a single, consolidated planning system, which is follows the basic principles of hierarchical planning. Up till now, the focus has been mainly on the automobile, consumer goods, computer production and fossil fuel sectors.

implementation of advanced planning systems in supply chain planning:
This research field explores how currently-available APS software supports the implementation of planning strategies. Through simulation with APS and a follow-up evaluation, gaps in software support are identified. The results achieved through research have been collected and published in a book, which is in its fourth edition, has been translated into several languages and has become a standard work in the field of supply chain management (Stadtler, H. & Kilger, C. (eds.): Supply Chain Management and Advanced Planning, 4th edition, Springer, Heidelberg, 2007).

simultaneous lot size planning and operation sequencing in line production:
One such gap in ASP can be found in lotsizing and operation sequencing in line production. The development of methods within this field of application is both a well-established and yet a current field of research, on whic many international publications have already appeared.

operative planning tasks of demand fulfillment:
Demand fulfillment involves the short-term fulfillment of customers’ orders and, in particular, the transfer of ideas from revenue management, traditionally used primarily in the service sector, to production firms. The research project Demand Fulfillment in Customer Hierarchies receives third-party funding from the DFG.

strategic network design in the automobile industry:
The global issues facing the automobile industry resulting from the financial crisis have shown just how important it is to design robust supply chain structures, which can respond quickly and in a flexible manner to changes in demand or exchage rate risks.

decoupling points / demand forecasts using partially-existing customer orders:
Traditional forecasting methods make use of past data to predict future trends in demand. Research in decoupling points within supply chains has shown, however, that customer orders with longer delivery times often contain indicators of future demand, which can thus be ultilized to improve the accuracy of forecasts.

Strategic network planning in biomass-based supply chains:
Fossil resources are limited and will run short. Moreover, the extensive usage of fossil resources is known as a key driver for climate change. Thus, a changeover in basic economic and ecological thinking is necessary. Especially in terms of energy production, there has to be a movement away from fossil resources towards renewable resources like wind, water, sun, or biomass. To support this movement, Operations Research models and methods are applied to strategic planning problems of biomass-based supply chains.