Abstract
Efficient and on-time execution of field tasks has been found to rely heavily on internal availability of inventories. However, the lack of flexibility in the way information flows along the logistics chain has led to poor inventory replenishment lead times. This results in delayed execution of field tasks and has a negative impact on customer experience. This chapter articulates the concept of communication flexibility, in the form of dimensions, by which operations managers may judge the ability of the logistics chain to configure and reconfigure information linkages in response to a changing environment. Until now the term ‘communication flexibility’ has been loosely used in the literature. This research establishes a more analytical definition that forms the foundation for more comprehensive empirical quantitative and qualitative research in the field of flexible operations. The research method is a combination of conceptual and literature review based research. The chapter proposes a conceptual model of intra-organisational communication flexibility which is composed of three levels, namely, transactional, operational and strategic. Each level consists of a number of dimensions and sub-dimensions that together define communication flexibility in logistics operations. Current research in the deployment of ICT in inventory projects is then considered in depth in order to preliminarily verify and validate the proposed model. This chapter provides an overview of current best practice and technological use in inventory management that emphasises the importance of visibility in the management of inventory achieved through ICT deployment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
For a comprehensive review of manufacturing and supply chain flexibility, one can refer to the work of Stevenson and Spring (2007) and Bernardes and Hanna (2009).
- 2.
Taking the example of Amazon, the company charges from $0.095 to $0.96 per hour on one server for computing capacity in the EU (Amazon.com 2011).
- 3.
One technology provider Quartix charges their client from £18.5 to £22.18 per month for leasing the telematics kit and accessing the tracking data via the Internet (Quartix.co.uk 2011).
References
Ala-Risku T, Collin J, Holmstr MJ, Vuorinen J-P (2010) Site inventory tracking in the project supply chain: problem description and solution proposal in a very large telecom project. Supply Chain Manag: An International Journal 15:252–260
Alfaro JA, Rabade LA (2009) Traceability as a strategic tool to improve inventory management: a case study in the food industry. Int J Prod Econ 118:104–110
Amazon.com (2011) Amazon elastic computer cloud (Amazon Ec2). http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/#pricing. Accessed 27 July 2011
Badii A, Sharif AM (2003) Integrating information and knowledge for enterprise innovation. Logist Inform Manag 16(2):145–155
Baffo I, Confessore G, Liotta G, Stecca G (2009) A cooperative model to improve hospital equipments and drugs management. In: Camarhina-Matos L, Paraskakis I, Afsarmanesh H (eds) Leveraging knowledge for innovation in collaborative networks. Springer, Boston
Becker J (2011) Information models for process management—new approaches to old challenges. In: Carugati A, Rossignoli C (eds) Emerging themes in information systems and organization studies. Physica-Verlag HD, Heidelberg
Bernardes ES, Hanna MD (2009) A theoretical review of flexibility, agility and responsiveness in the operations management literature. Int J Oper Prod Manag 29(1):30–53
Berghout E, Nijland M, Powell P (2011) Management of lifecycle costs and benefits: lessons from information systems practice. Comput Ind 62:755–764
Butner K (2010) The smarter supply chain of the future. Strat Leader 38(1):22–31
Byrd TA, Turner ED (2000) An exploratory analysis of the information technology infrastructure flexibility construct. J Manag Inf Syst 17(1):167–208
Carlos FP, Vieira NDJ (2009) Information technology and communication and best practices in it lifecycle management. J Technol Manag Innovat 3:80–94
Chituc CM, Toscano C, Azevedo A (2008) Interoperability in collaborative networks: independent and industry-specific initiatives—the case of the footwear industry. Comput Ind 59(7):741–757
Christiaanse E, Diepen TV, Damsgaard J (2004) Proprietary versus internet technologies and the adoption and impact of electronic marketplaces. J Strat Inform Syst 13(2):151–165
Closs DJ, Swink M (2005) The role of information connectivity in making flexible logistics programs successful. Int J Phys Distrib Logist Manag 35(4):259–277
Davies I, Mason R, Lalwani CS (2007) Assessing the impact of ICT on UK general haulage companies. Int J Prod Econ 106(1):12–27
Davis DF, Golicic SL (2010) Gaining comparative advantage in supply chain relationships: the mediating role of market-oriented IT competence. J Acad Market Sci 38(1):56–70
De Brito MP, Van der Laan EA (2009) Inventory control with product returns: the impact of imperfect information. Eur J Oper Res 194(1):85–101
De Vries J (2011) The shaping of inventory systems in health services: a stakeholder analysis. Int J Prod Econ 133(1):60–69
DHL (2011) Track DHL express shipments. http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/tracking.html, Accessed Feb 4 2011
Donk DPV (2008) Challenges in relating supply chain management and information and communication technology. Int J Oper Prod Manag 28(4):308–312
Edwards P, Peters M, Sharman G (2001) The effectiveness of information systems in supporting the extended supply chain. J Bus Logist 22(1):1–27
El-Thalji I, Liyanage JP (2010) Integrated asset management practices for Offshore wind power industry: a critical review and a road map to the future. School of Engineering, Linnaeus University, Sweden
Emmanouilidis C, Liyanage JP, Jantunen E (2009) Mobile solutions for engineering asset and maintenance management. J Qual Mainten Eng 15:92–105
Folinas D, Manthou V, Sigala M, Vlachopoulou M (2004) E-Volution of a supply chain: cases and best practices. Internet Res 14(4):274–283
Gerwin D (1987) An agenda for research on the flexibility of manufacturing processes. Int J Oper Prod Manag 7(1):38–49
Gosain S, Malhotra A, Sawy OAE (2004) Coordinating for flexibility in E-business supply chains. J Manag Inform Syst 21(3):7–45
Gospill J, McAlpine H, Hicks B (2011) Trends in technology and their possible implications on PLM: looking towards 2020. In: 8th international conference on project life cycle management (PLM 11). University of Eindhoven, Eindhoven
Haider A, Koronios A, Quirchmayr G (2006) You cannot manage what you cannot measure: an information systems based asset management perspective. In: Mathew J, Kennedy J, Ma L, Tan A, Anderson D (eds) Engineering asset management. Springer, London
Hayes B (2008) Cloud computing. Comm ACM 51(7):9–11
Heaney B (2009) Integrated transportation management: improve responsiveness with real-time control of execution. Aberdeen Group. http://www.aberdeen.com/aberdeen-library/6016/RA-integrated-transportation-management.aspx. Accessed 21 Jan 2010
Heaney B, Sadlovska V (2010) Supply chain visibility excellence. Aberdeen Group. http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/6027/RA-supply-chain-visibility.aspx. Accessed 21 Jan
Hellstrom D, Wiberg M (2009) Exploring an open-loop RFID implementation in the automotive industry. IEEE conference on emerging technologies and factory automation (ETFA) 2009, 22–25 Sept 2009, pp 1–4
Hertwig M (2012) Institutional effects in the adoption of e-business-technology: evidence from the German automotive supplier industry. Inform Organ 22:252–272
Holmström J, Partanen J, Tuomi J, Walter M (2010) Rapid manufacturing in the spare parts supply chain. J Manuf Tech Manag 21(6):687–697
Holweg H, Disney SM, Holmström J, Småros J (2005) Supply chain collaboration: making sense of the strategy continuum. Eur Manag J 23(2):170–181
Huckridge J, Potter A, Wang Y, Beresford A, Naim M (2010) Enabling multimodal transport: a Welsh perspective. In: Proceedings of the 15th logistics research network conference, Harrogate, UK
Huet O, Guillaume C, Gaudin C (2010) Joint assets. IEEE Power Energy Magazine 8:88–93
Isotrack.com (2011) Tesco video. http://www.isotrak.com/casestudies/retail.php, Accessed 4 Feb 2011
Jones N (2011) Near field communications (NFC) – the next step after RFID. http://www.globallogisticsmedia.com/articles/view/near-field-communications-nfc--the-nextstep-after-rfid. Accessed 31 Jan 2011
Kangilaski T (2009) Asset management software implementation challenges for electricity companies. Industrial Electronics. IECON ‘09. 35th annual conference of IEEE, 3–5 Nov 2009, pp 3575–3580
Klein R, Rai A (2009) Interfirm strategic information flows in logistics supply chain relationships. MIS Quart 33(4):735–762
Lee HL, Padmanabhan V, Whang S (1997) Information distortion in a supply chain: the bullwhip effect. Manag Sci 43(4):546–558
Leijten M, Koppenjan JFM (2010) Asset management for the Dutch railway infrastructure. In: 2010 third international conference on Infrastructure systems and services: next generation Infrastructure systems for eco-cities (INFRA), 11–13 Nov, pp 1–6
Liu X, Sun Y (2011) Information flow management of vendor-managed inventory system in automobile parts inbound logistics based on internet of things. J Software 6:8
Lou P, Liu Q, Zhou Z, Huaiqing W (2011) Agile supply chain management over the internet of things. In: 2011 International conference on management and service science (MASS), 12–14 Aug 2011, pp 1–4
Marasco A (2008) Third-party logistics: a literature review. Int J Prod Econ 113(1):127–147
Mason A, Shaw A, Al-Shamma’a AI (2010) Inventory management in the packaged gas industry using wireless sensor networks. In: Mukhopadhyay SC, Leung H (eds) Advances in wireless sensors and sensor networks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Mithas S, Ramasubbu N, Sambamurthy V (2011) How information management capability influences firm performance. MIS Quart 35(1):237–256
Naim MM, Potter A, Mason R, Bateman N (2006) The role of transport flexibility in logistics provision. Int J Logist Manag 17(3):297–311
O’Sullivan D (2007) Software as a service: developments in supply chain it. Logist Transport Focus 9(3):30–33
Panetto H, Molina A (2008) Enterprise integration and interoperability in manufacturing systems: trends and issues. Comput Ind 59(7):641–646
Paulraj A, Lado AA, Chen IJ (2008) Inter-organizational communication as a relational competency: antecedents and performance outcomes in collaborative buyer–supplier relationships. J Operat Manag 26(1):45–64
Phillips PA, Wright C (2009) E-Business’s impact on organizational flexibility. J Bus Res 62(11):1071–1080
Premkumar G, Ramamurthy K, Saunders C (2005) Information processing view of organisations: an exploratory examination of fit in the context of interorganisational relationships. J Manag Inform Syst 22(1):257–294
Quartix.co.uk (2011) Vehicle tracking lease price. http://www.quartix.net/content/vehicle-tracking-lease.asp, Accessed 27 July 2011
Rainer RK, Cegielski CG (2010) Introduction to information systems: enabling and transforming business, 3rd edn. Wiley, New Jersey
Sahin F, Robinson EP (2002) Flow coordination and information sharing in supply chains: review, implications, and directions for future research. Decis Sci 33(4):505–536
Samaddar S, Nargundkar S, Daley M (2006) Inter-organizational information sharing: the role of supply network configuration and partner goal congruence. Eur J Operat Res 174(2):744–765
Sambamurthy V, Bharadwaj A, Grover V (2003) Shaping agility through digital options: reconceptualising the role of information technology in contemporary firms. MIS Quart 27(2):237–263
Sanchez AM, Perez MP (2005) Supply chain flexibility and firm performance: a conceptual model and empirical study in the automotive industry. Int J Operat Prod Manag 25(7):681–700
Sharif AM (2010) It’s written in the cloud: the hype and promise of cloud computing. J Enterprise Inform Manag 23(2):131–134
Shen W, Hao Q, Xue Y (2012) A loosely coupled system integration approach for decision support in facility management and maintenance. Autom Construct 25:41–48
Slack N (1987) The flexibility of manufacturing systems. Int J Operat Prod Manag 7(4):35–45
Slack N (2005) The changing nature of operations flexibility. Int J Operat Prod Manag 25(12):1201–1210
Smith AD, Offodile F (2002) Information management of automatic data capture: an overview of technical developments. Inform Manag Comput Secur 10(3):109–118
Stevenson M, Spring M (2007) Flexibility from a supply chain perspective: definition and review. Int J Operat Prod Manag 27(7):685–713
Swafford PM, Ghosh S, Murthy N (2006) A framework for assessing value chain agility. Int J Operat Prod Manag 26(2):118–140
Swafford PM, Ghosh S, Murthy N (2008) Achieving supply chain agility through it integration and flexibility. Int J Prod Econ 116(2):288–297
Taylor GA, Wallom DCH, Grenard S, Yunta Huete A, Axon CJ (2011) Recent developments towards novel high performance computing and communications solutions for smart distribution network operation. In: 2nd IEEE PES international conference and exhibition on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT Europe), 5–7 Dec 2011, pp 1–8
The Institute of Grocery Distribution (2011) Guide to transport technology case study: Mars—Supply chain connectivity. http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1&fid=5&sid=43&tid=59&foid=52&cid=1166. Accessed 6 Feb 2011
Ting S, Kwok S, Tsang A, Lee W (2011) Critical elements and lessons learnt from the implementation of an RFID-enabled healthcare management system in a medical organization. J Med Syst 35:657–669
Turban E, Volonino L (2010) Information technology for management: transforming organisations in the digital economy, 7th edn. Wiley, New Jersey
Uckelmann D (2008) A definition approach to smart logistics. In: Balandin S, Moltchanov D, Koucheryavy Y (eds) Next generation teletraffic and wired/wireless advanced networking. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 273–284
Viswanathan N (2008) Process collaboration in multi-enterprise supply chains – leveraging the global business network. Aberdeen Research
Wang Y, Potter A (2007) The application of real time tracking technologies in freight transport. The IEEE third international conference on signal-image technology and Internet-based systems, Shanghai, China, pp 298–304
Ward J, Peppard J (2002) Strategic planning for information systems, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York
Wong CWY, Lai KH, Ngai EWT (2009) The role of supplier operational adaptation on the performance of it-enabled transport logistics under environmental uncertainty. Int J Prod Econ 122(1):47–55
Zhang Q, Vonderembse MA, Lim JS (2006) Spanning flexibility: supply chain information dissemination drives strategy development and customer satisfaction. Supply Chain Manag 11(5):390–399
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wang, Y., Naim, M., Evans, L. (2013). Enabling Smart Logistics for Service Operations. In: Owusu, G., O’Brien, P., McCall, J., Doherty, N. (eds) Transforming Field and Service Operations. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-44970-3_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-44970-3_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-44969-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-44970-3
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)