Doctoral Research
My research primarily focused on Supply Chain Planning and Optimization in Internet-enabled manufacturing environments, such as those made popular by Dell and Cisco. My thesis is that the supply chain design problem in the Internet environment no longer pertains to the optimal selection of facility locations, but rather to the optimal selection of partners in a virtual supply chain network. Associated with this problem is the issue of activity coordination between the selected partners. 

 

The solution of these problems was the focus of my doctoral research under the extremely able guidance of Prof. N. Viswanadham. Prof. Viswanadham is a widely recognised expert in the field of automation and his recent efforts have focussed on B2B automation, planning and control. 

 

My doctoral dissertation titled "Dynamic Configuration and Synchronization of Collaborative E-Supply Chain Networks" presents optimization models for

  1. The partner selection problem in collaborative e-supply chain networks.
  2. Synchronization and coordination between selected partners through generation of least cost production and delivery schedules.

These models are extremely useful as planning and scheduling tools for Supply Chain Network Owners, Private Marketplaces, Virtual Manufacturers and Fourth Party Logistics Service Providers (TM : Accenture)

 

Some of the other areas which my research agenda included are:

  • Supply Chain Risk Management
    • Investigating strategies to minimize losses in supply chain due to operating deviations or large scale disruptions in the operations of the supply chain.
  • Value-Analysis of Supply Chain Initiatives
    • Also known as Finlistics, it relates to improving financial performance, in particular shareholder value, through improved supply chain operation.
  • Integrated Manufacturing Service Networks
    • Integration of feedback from after-sales service activities into the planning cycle for the development and manufacturing of repairable systems (such as aircrafts, automobiles) in order to improve product profitability over the entire product lifecycle. Also incorporates the concept of design-for-manufacturing, design-for-logistics and design-for-repairability.

 

 
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