Calls for papers

 

International Journal of Value Chain Management

 

Special Issue on: “Role of Enabling Technologies in Optimising Supply Chain Activities”

Guest Editors: Dr. K. L. Choy and Dr. Henry C.W. Lau, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Dr. Felix T. S. Chan, University of Hong Kong

Demand for customer-tailored products and time-to-market present great challenges for fixed and linear supply chains that are competing in today’s market. While the prevalent linear supply chain model is supported by physical infrastructure that includes plants, trucks, rail, shipping lines, physical distribution points, including retail outlets and warehouses, the new envisioned model for product supply chain will be built around entities such as, people, information and smart products.

In addition, constant innovation in managing information and strategy is required for a sustainable enterprise as it responds to today’s business demands in a much more dynamic environment. Hence, in order to succeed in an unpredictable competitive marketplace, enterprises need to manage their supply chain activities, information, technologies and strategy effectively and innovatively.

Supply chain and logistics enabling technologies have taken a prominent role to integrate people, information and products across traditional supply chain boundaries including management of various manufacturing, logistics and retailing operations such as in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution of goods. Therefore, optimisation models integrating with web-based systems as well as smart materials represented by actuators and sensors, tagging represented by global positional system and radio frequency identification technology tags, and decentralised processing among trading partners can create a new manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes that provide a dynamically controlled supply chain network.

This Special Issue aims to align latest practice, innovation and case studies with academic frameworks and theories. It will include the latest research results and efforts at different levels including quick-response system, theoretical performance analysis, performance and capability demonstration, hoping to cover the role of enabling technologies in optimising supply chain activities. Prospective papers should be unpublished and present novel, fundamental research offering innovative contribution either from a methodological or an application perspective.

Subject Coverage
We are inviting people from academia and industry to submit high quality papers on their recent research experience considering the design and application of the role of enabling technologies in optimising supply chain activities in order to enable supply chain operations throughout the value chain network. The application area includes but is not limited to:

• Supply chain and logistics enabling technologies as a strategic tool
• Manufacturing shop floor control by IT systems with integrative RFID technology and mobile communications
• Real-time manufacturing and supply chain visibility with web and mobile services
• Business intelligence and data warehouse
• Supply chain dynamics and uncertainty
• Distributed manufacturing in supply chain network
• Agent-based technology in supply chain design
• Strategic issues of the emerging information technology and management
• Information systems strategy and business strategy – relationship and implications
• RFID technologies and mobile network in warehouse, retail outlets and distribution centres
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP), supplier relationship management (SRM),
• Customer relationship management (CRM) and Value Chain Management (VCM)
• Knowledge-based systems for warehouse and transportation management
GPS, GPRS and RFID technologies for tracking products in value chains
• RFID, GPS and GPRS technologies to support, monitor and control manufacturing and logistics operations
• Linear and dynamic programming for optimisation of value chain operations
• Mathematical modeling of fleet management and forwarding operations
• Artificial intelligence techniques to maximise logistics profits
• Cargo loading and planning optimisation techniques
• Routing and product distribution to minimise costs

Notes for Prospective Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere

All papers are refereed through a peer review process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the Author Guidelines page

Important Dates

Manuscript submission: 31 May 2007

Reviewer reports: 31 August 2007

Revised paper submission: 31 October 2007

Final manuscript submission: 30 November 2007