Applied Materials, Inc. is the global leader in nanomanufacturing technology solutions, with a broad portfolio of innovative equipment, service and software products. The company supports its customers worldwide with an extensive service and parts network of over 100 locations. At the end of 2006, the company decided to evaluate and rationalize its network design in North America. A detailed op...

Affected by globalization and increased complexity, supply chain managers have learned about the importance of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP). However, in large scale supply chains, S&OP has received little attention, by both academics and practitioners. The purpose of this manuscript is to investigate the advantages of S&OP process using a mathematical modeling approach in a large scale ...

BACKGROUND Previous studies strongly support an association between unemployment and an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. AIMS To assess the impact of company closure on the mortality of redundant employees. METHODS The mortality of a cohort of male ex-employees of the Athens Bus Transportation Company Epixirisi Astikon Siginonion (EAS) was followed from September 1992 to October 1...

PRAXAIR (www.praxair.com) is a large industrial gases company with about 60 production facilities and over 10,000 customers across North America. PRAXAIR recently negotiated a policy with its customers in which PRAXAIR is in charge of managing its customers’ inventories. Customers will no longer be calling PRAXAIR to request a delivery. Instead, PRAXAIR will determine who receives a delivery ea...

PRAXAIR (www.praxair.com) is a large industrial gases company with about 60 production facilities and over 10,000 customers across North America. PRAXAIR recently negotiated a policy with its customers in which PRAXAIR is in charge of managing its customers’ inventories. Customers will no longer be calling PRAXAIR to request a delivery. Instead, PRAXAIR will determine who receives a delivery ea...

Supply chain management is a set of used methods for the efficient integration of suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and sellers to response customer requirements to reduce system costs and to distribute products at the right place and right time. This study aims to identify and rank the supply chain damages using the analytic network process as a practical case in a fast moving consumer goo...

The global requirement for sustainable energy provision will become major problem for the future because the environmental effects of fossil fuels become apparent. This trend has a makeable encouragement for private participation in capacity expansion in a marketoriented industry organization. In addition, installation of small generators located close to the load centres, may give more flexibi...

and Environmental Economics, Inc. (E3), an economics and engineering consulting firm in San Francisco. He is now on leave from E3, teaching applied economics at the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). With 30 years of experience in the electricity industry and over 100 refereed publications, he is an associate editor of Energy and a member of the editorial board of The Energy Journal. He holds...

In this article we present a Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) faced by a large distribution company in the Northeast of Spain. The company distributes products from its central facilities to a chain of around 400 stores all over the country. One of the peculiarities of the VRP of this company – which is common among real-life VRPs – is the presence of a heterogeneous fleet where vehicles with diff...