This thesis project investigates the applicability of different sustainable transport methods for delivering chemical products to the European customers and a decision-making business process is derived from that. So, a set of representative lanes are selected to be involved in this project and the hauliers responsible for those lanes are asked to provide available sustainable transport option for each lane, CO2 emission reduction by the options, cost and on-time delivery as affected KPIs by the options. At the discussion with senior sales managers this info is communicated, and it emerged that there are many other factors than the three main KPIs that determine the applicability of an option for the representative lanes. They are visualized in a decision-making business process that balances the KPIs for determining the applicability of an option for a lane. the design is then validated by applying it on representative lanes and comparing the result with haulier responses. It emerged that the design suggests the applicability of fuel change, payload increase and renewing trucks options for the lanes that have currently direct road transport method. The design results in 13.60% total emission reduction for lanes with any current transport method and 19% for the lanes with current direct road transport and 6% logistics cost increase with no effect on on-time delivery.

This thesis project studied the demand planning process of Cargill Global Edible Oil Solutions (GEOS) in the EMEA region and had the objective of developing a demand forecast model for the Retail Food Services customers to improve their satisfaction levels. The scope of this covered the commercial and contractual relationships, for the delivery of the bottle oil ready for distribution at the retail market; the procurement and production processes, as well as the Sales and Operation Planning (S&OP) process in detail. For the S&OP, Cargill relies on the Make to Forecast (MTF) production strategy, which has two main mechanisms for demand management and production planning. The first one is the use of a demand forecast and the second is the management of safety stocks. The demand forecast helps to guide the production planning to meet the upcoming weekly demand until it becomes available 7 days before the delivery time. While the safety stocks help to compensate for forecast errors and deviations, as well as for production setbacks that may occur. Unfortunately, for Cargill GEOS the automatic demand forecast has an accuracy of 42%, and the safety stock levels rose considerably and were managed on a constant level all year round to compensate. This impeded Cargill to meet the customer demand on time and in full according to the contracted service levels. The main challenges in this situation were the limited data availability and the demand data fragmentation due to changes in the product specifications. Which required the development of specific procedures and frameworks to align the fragmented data and to obtain a weekly demand forecast. For the development of the forecast model, 3 statistical seasonal forecasting models were considered to maintain the transparency of the process, the ARIMA model, the ETS exponential smoothing, and the STL+ETS. Due to the limited data availability, the chosen model was the STL+ETS model as this was the one that was able to replicate the observed demand, with an average weighted accuracy of 76%. The insights obtained from the seasonal forecast allowed to improve the safety stocks management, from a fixed level all year round to a seasonal management according to the expected demand and its variability throughout the year. The solutions developed in this thesis project were not limited to the demand forecast development but they aimed to improve the demand management process in different aspects. Which will allow Cargill GEOS to improve considerably their service levels without considerable additional costs, such as the increase of the production or warehouse capacity.

Nowadays, a worldwide urbanisation trend can be observed. In the Netherlands, it is expected that the population of the four largest cities will be increased with an average of 15% in 2030. In total, these four big cities will accommodate a third of the Dutch population in 2030 (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek & Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving, 2016). The growth of urban populations will generate a need to further develop cities, which will lead to a significant increase in construction work in cities. Because of the change from building in greenfield areas to brownfield areas, more people will experience the accompanying nuisances the increase of construction work brings. The accompanied nuisances relate to emissions and the reductions of the liveability and accessibility of cities during the execution of construction projects. To ensure the reduction of nuisances caused by construction tasks are reduced, a number of smart solutions in construction logistics have been developed. These solutions relate to the actions municipalities, contractors, wholesalers, and several other stakeholders can take. The smart solutions, among other things, provide concepts related to reductions of the amount of traffic. It is in the municipalities’ interest that feasible, effective and efficient solutions in construction logistics are further developed and applied on a larger scale, as this will help them to achieve their stated sustainable ambitions and increase the liveability and accessibility of urban confined areas during the construction phase of projects. However, on an operational level, municipalities do not sufficiently know how to stimulate the implementation of smart solutions in construction logistics in order to minimise nuisances caused by the construction sector. In order to respond to this shortcoming, the objective of this thesis is to provide a supporting tool to enable Dutch municipalities to stimulate market stakeholders to implement smart solutions in construction logistics in their projects. Because of the many different roles municipalities can play (client, licensor, coordinator, and owner of ground), the various types of projects municipalities conduct and the diversity in contract types is the Design Statement more specified than the objective of this thesis. The Design Statement can be read as follows: ‘Developing a tool that will give support to employees of municipalities working on the realisation of UAV-GC (Uniforme Administratieve Voorwaarden - Geïntegreerde Contractvormen) procured civil works, helping them to stimulate market stakeholders to implement smart solutions in construction logistics into projects.’ In order to respond to the Design Statement, a design of a supporting tool is developed. Prior to this, a number of Design Requirements that the design must satisfy are articulated. This requires, among other things, conducting research focusing on three aspects, being firstly, municipalities their deployable instruments to stimulate smart solutions in construction logistics, secondly, the process steps in municipalities its procured UAV-GC civil works projects and thirdly, the specifications of the deployable instruments. Through researching seven different subjects, namely a literature study on smart solutions in construction logistics, the smart solutions in construction logistics that are implementable by market stakeholders or by municipalities, the influence that municipalities have on the implementation of smart solution that can be implemented by market stakeholders, the level of applicability of smart solutions when implemented in civil projects, the specific related market stakeholders, obstacles and incentives that market stakeholders face and actions that municipalities can take, the deployable instruments were found. These instruments are: Procurement, Communication, Material agency, Contract management, BLVC, and Coordination department. The second research focus has resulted in a flow chart of the UAV-GC process that is divided in four phases and contains 23 process steps. From the third research focus, a list of contributors and obstructers that occur per instrument relating to the stimulation of smart solutions in construction logistics was developed. In addition to the Design Requirements that relate to the three research aspects, are also other Design Requirements formulated. They are derived from the scope, objective, and interview sessions with future users. The requirements are used as a starting point in the design phase of the tool for which different iterative design steps are taken. The final version of the tool represents a Project Roadmap It is presented as a small booklet printed in A5 size. The booklet is primarily made out of two parts, being a graphic and an explanation text. The icons displayed on the traffic signs represent the actions that take place during each intersection. The traffic signs are shaped in two different forms, being a diamond and square, representing respectively actions that can be taken in order to reduce construction related nuisances and actions that only consist of process step explanations. Finally, it has been decided that the created tool satisfies all mandatory requirements. Furthermore, the Project Roadmap responds to the stated Design Statement and ensures that all Dutch municipalities obtain guidance on how to stimulate market stakeholders to implement smart solutions in construction logistics in UAV-GC procured civil structure projects. It is recommended to keep supplementing the Project Roadmap with the latest information concerning municipalities its deployable instruments and smart solution in construction logistics in urban confined areas.

In recent years, the Netherlands Ministry of Defence (MoD) modelled, standardized, and digitally secured many of its organization-broad business processes. However, MoD experiences great difficulty in gaining insights in these processes and steering them productively. The novel business process analyses method Process Mining appeared to be a promising instrument. However, MoD lacks experience with process mining as a way to analyse and subsequently improve processes. In addition on how to apply process mining, MoD wants to learn the requirements for starting a process mining project. The thesis starts with a literature study on eight business process improvement methodologies (BPIs), viz. Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, Lean MRO, Total Productive Maintenance, Business Process Reengineering, and Business Process Improvement. These BPIs are compared with each other in an overview based on nine characteristics. Then, a ninth BPI is studied: process mining. The literature on this topic is scattered, but a study is conducted on several element. After that, pros and cons are discussed and process mining is placed in the overview of BPIs. A combination of desk and field research leads to the improvement of the best practise methodology PM2. And this improved methodology, called PM3, is further within MoD. Next to that, a process mining decision framework is developed according to the waterfall model. This framework can score business process models on several characteristics. The resulting total score determines whether process mining can successfully be applied to improve the process. For MoD, process mining can be a valuable instrument for improving processes. It can convert a gut feeling into clear numbers and models, which can form the start of an improvement project. It is thus recommended to make process mining available to the organisation. The thesis gives a good insight in the possibilities of process mining, but it also comes with several opportunities for future research. For example, PM3 has demonstrated itself in the field, but this have not yet led to measurable improvements (only important insights in the processes). Future research is required to verify its true potential. Second, the decision framework is tested by assessing fourteen of MoD’s processes and evaluated by discussion it with ten system experts. Yet again, empirical research is probably the only way to truly verify it, but this was not possible during the thesis. Third, both PM3 and the decision framework focus on MRO within MoD. It is unlikely that a change of domain or organisation makes a significant difference, but the possibility should be taken into account and further investigated. And finally, a significant limitation of the framework is that it only scores on process mining. So, if it presents a very low score, it does not suggest an alternative BPI. This fell outside the scope of the thesis, but is nevertheless an interesting research opportunity.

Increasingly companies are facing tough challenges due to fast paced technological developments, shortening product life cycles and new forms of business models. Therefore innovating is crucial for companies to stay competitive and enter new markets. Large corporations have difficulty in breaking silos and developing breakthrough innovations due to pressures in the form of financial performance and resistance to change. It seems that due to volatility of markets and technological developments, companies need to “join the race” in order to survive. For the purpose of benefitting the innovation space network companies can interact with external parties. Research shows that collaboration with external actors lead to sources of higher innovation performance. Nevertheless, the innovation process is very intricate as it involves many complex interactions and challenges. Innovation depends on people´s expertise, capabilities and creative capacities. Companies need to recognize this and provide an environment that can foster innovation. Infineon Technologies AG Corporate Supply Chain Innovation department recognizes the need to innovate in a peripheries of its core technological developments. The department is involved in several co-funded European projects which aim towards digitalization improvements. The main company´s objective is to explore ways to better coordinate relationships between partners, to find ways to innovate and to foster knowledge management practices. Since the firm wants to improve its innovation performance, certain processes need to be develop to stimulate innovation. Infineon Technologies AG does not have processes for managing disruptive innovations therefore is in need to design a model that would enable the company to manage them, the main objective of this master thesis is to design: A model which prescribes processes for management of disruptive innovations between firms, on a case study of Infineon Technologies AG Corporate Supply Chain Innovation department. In order to reach objective of this master thesis, a following main research question is formulated: How to facilitate inter-firm innovation management processes of disruptive innovations in the context of Infineon Technologies AG Corporate Supply Chain Innovation Department? The thesis project takes a Design Science Project approach and is divided into five phases: 1) research motivation 2) requirements definition through exploration of theoretical foundation 3) design and development of the artefact 4) demonstration of the artefact through validation and 5) evaluation and conclusion. The overall conclusion for this thesis is: in order to facilitate inter-firm innovation management processes of disruptive innovations Infineon Technologies Corporate Supply Chain Innovation department should implement co-innovation management practices. The co – innovation model has a network structure composed of co-creation, collaboration, innovation platform and convergence affordances. By expanding these elements to its practical implications, the company is able to implement a comprehensive and implementable solution. Scenario with actionable steps was developed as a recommendation for the company.

Digitalization is revolutionizing the way organizations manage their internal operations. Many of them are still characterized by waste and inefficiencies, however, innovative digital tools are already changing the way large corporations operate in a variety of sectors. One of the fields that still have room for improvement is product data management (PDM) in the consumer goods industry. Supply chain partners spend huge amount of resources in just fixing manual errors and adapting large data formats. There is not enough standardization in the way product data is exchanged among entities. Inter-organizational information systems (IOS), and more specifically the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), represent the most promising digital tool towards leaner PDM processes. IOSs are computer-based information systems that extend beyond the borders of one organization. They provide automated information exchange to support linked business processes among two or more organizations. The GDSN is a specific IOS for product data management that extends to all the supply chain partners that are exchanging product data, mainly suppliers and retailers. This system can have a big impact in PDM process, potentially reducing errors and inefficiencies to zero. This research aims at addressing the preconditions that are needed to successfully implement this system in a supply chain network. There is evidence that this critical phase can often be underestimated by supply chain professionals. Many FMCG organization have not been able to implement the system despite of the benefits that would bring to the network. A case study is the research methodology used to gather primary data. Other sources such as scientific articles and consulting reports are used to gather secondary data. Henkel and its retailers in the Netherlands and Belgium is the supply chain network used in this case study. The research is performed using an adapted IOS adoption framework. The IOS framework from Pang & Bunker is adapted with the particular characteristics of the GDSN in order to be able to analyze the case using this stand-alone framework. This methodology proves the reliability and validity of the research, as it is founded in a scientific framework. The new research framework is used in the case study to identify the preconditions that play a fundamental role in the success of the project. Finally the critical success factors are outlined, discussed and validated.

Concrete is the most widely used artificial material, and shapes the largest area of the built environment in the Netherlands. Its waste stream is responsible for the highest percentage of construction and demolition waste and fundamental knowledge for affordable high-grade applications from old concrete has already been introduced. More precisely, the development of technologies that can separate End-of-life (EoL) concrete into its constituents, facilitates its recycling and reuse into new building materials and not in low-quality applications. However, in terms of concrete recycling, there is insufficient communication of the novel technologies in the construction sector and supply chain systems are not introduced in real-world problems. The current research focuses on a closed-loop approach concerning the production of conventional concrete based on a supply chain design. Specifically, the conventional and closed-loop supply chain of the production of concrete are designed in accordance with the SCOR Model. The main differences are identified and a ‘Concrete-to-concrete Recycling Plant’ is proposed as a solution to the EoL problem. It argues to change completely the conventional supply chain of concrete, and therefore recommendations for its future location in an urban environment are given. Additionally, a calculation tool regarding the recycling plant is developed in order to evaluate the suggested solution. The present study demonstrates that for each category of concrete, either prefabricated or site-cast, a recycling plant should be located next to the prefabricated or mortar industry in order to diminish transportation and inventory costs, as well as take advantage of the operating speeds of the novel technologies that compose the plant. Results indicate that a recycling plant is in accordance with the current market conditions and constitutes an efficient solution to the EoL concrete treatment by making concrete a circular material. Further research is required on a laboratory scale in order to collect quantitative data, communicate the results, and consequently, increase the awareness and acceptance of recycled aggregates in the construction sector.

Construction logistics has a negative impact on the urban environment. Therefore, in this study, construction logistics structures are designed for residential and non-residential development that should reduce the negative effects of construction-related transport in cities. These structures were made for the urban development project IJburg II in Amsterdam and were designed on the stricter requirements for construction logistics and construction activities drawn up by the Municipality of Amsterdam. To design these new construction logistics structures, the engineering design process was used. The requirements of the new structure were identified by means of a case study to the development project IJburg II. The new designs of subsystems were generated with applicable construction logistics centres and new types of transport derived from literature. This led to several new designs for subsystems. Out of these subsystem designs, three new construction logistics structures for IJburg II were developed. The three structures were tested both quantitatively and qualitatively on the new requirements which showed that two of the three structures fulfill the new standards. For the quantitative test, a calculation model was developed that calculates the vehicle movements and vehicle emissions for each design. The results of this calculation model indicated that all three designs significantly decrease the CO2-, PMx- and NOx-emissions and vehicle movements to and from IJburg II. The last-mile deliveries, however, remain unchanged or even slightly increase due to the deployment of light electric vehicles. The research proved that by changing the construction logistics structure, significant vehicle emission reductions can be achieved. In addition, a reduction of vehicle movements to and from construction sites can be established but will in most cases lead to slightly more last-mile deliveries. However, stakeholders need to be specifically engaged to enable implementation of these new structures. Last, this study demonstrated that the engineering design method is a suitable approach to design new construction logistics structures.

Retailers must adapt their activity to comply with the evolving demands of their customers. Increasing demand on order-fulfilment services, along with determination to keep high service levels, have raised the problem of space scarcity at retailer stores to keep and process picked customer orders. Congestion is then experienced in store order-picking depots. A design proposition is given to overcome this problem for a top retailer’s store in the Netherlands. Using engineering design methodology, the design proposition is created with at least one short-term solution for each of the 3 stages of an item’s movements within the store: (1) incoming items; (2) storage and order-picking that includes storage at the sales SKU, job-sequencing, storage at the depot and storage during peak periods of activity; and (3) outgoing items. Long-term solutions are also given to look into that would enhance technology and prepare for the foreseeable future customer behaviour developments in purchasing methods. Empirical evidence is provided on different job-sequencing methods that extends order-picking theory on picker-to-parts systems; and further on causes for a more complex view of out-of-stock theory than from the perspective of a shopping customer at the store, instead focusing on out-of-stocks for paid items by an ordering customer.

The usage of Industry 4.0 technologies isgaining a lot of popularity in the context of manufacturing industries. Theyoffer improvements to the traditional manufacturing environment by offeringmore connectivity and integration in the business processes. Many companies aremoving towards these technologies to harness these improvements. Using Industry4.0 technologies improves performance, efficiency and even competitive advantage.Whereas, it is not known how it affects supply chain resilience-ability of thesupply chain to react to disruptive events and quickly regain performance. Thereis a chance that Industry 4.0 changes the competencies of an organisation andmakes it more vulnerable to disruptions. The objective of this research is to ascertainhow Industry 4.0 influences supply chain resilience and in what ways it can beused to improve the latter.For investigating this problem, aqualitative case study design was used. The usage of Industry 4.0 technologieswithin the chlor-alkali supply chain was analysed. Literature reviews ofIndustry 4.0 and supply chain resilience were conducted to gain a betterunderstanding. The usage of the following Industry 4.0 technologies was considered- Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, Cloud computing, EnterpriseResource Planning, and Big data analytics. Data were gathered throughsemi-structured interviews with two respondents. The study finds that Industry 4.0 has a limitedpositive influence on supply chain resilience when the disruption arises withinthe supply chain. But, when there is disruption arises outside the supplychain, it has no impact or sometimes a negative impact on supply chainresilience. Additionally, this study proposes three strategies that can be usedto implement Industry 4.0 to have a positive impact on resilience. They are themapping of critical processes, design and programming of the system, andvisibility enhancement within the supply chain. These strategies can be used by managerswhen they are evaluating the implementation of Industry 4.0 within theirorganisations and supply chains. This is a unique study that bridges theknowledge gap and assesses the influence of Industry 4.0 on supply chainresilience.  

The current industrial system is established on one fundamental characteristic: a linear model of resource consumption that follows a ‘take-make-dispose’ pattern. However, the emerging concept of Circular Economy (CE) is proposed to change the current production and consumption patterns that put a significant burden on our planet and its environmental capacity. In this context, scholars argue that the built environment is one of the key sectors that can benefit maximally from the development of CE. The Dutch government recognized this opportunity and in the publication of the Transition Agenda: Circular Economy in the Netherlands by 2050 acknowledged the construction industry as one of the five key economic sectors and value chains which will be the first to make the shift. In order to support the transition towards a circular built environment, experts from academia, policy, and business advocate that innovative business models that allow new ownership relationships are required. In this context, scholars argue that a promising business models for the implementation of circular economy thinking in the sector are product-service systems. This research focuses on buildings which are considered the most complex element within the built environment. Literature on the application of circular economy for buildings suggests looking at them as a collection of interlinking layers. This idea based on the “6S” framework developed by Stewart Brand in 1990s which includes six layers, namely: Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space Plan, and Stuff. However, researchers argue that there is still great uncertainty regarding the application of circular business models in the Dutch built environment, as well as the fact that the transition from traditional product-oriented business models to service-oriented ones is highly complex and contextual illustrates that further research is required in this area. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to examine the application of product-service systems as circular business models for the products, components and materials in buildings’ Structure, Skin and Services layers in order to contribute to the Dutch built environment’s shift towards circular economy. As a result, the main research question formulated is: “What is the current state of product-service systems as circular business models in the built environment and how can its application contribute to a circular built environment?” For answering the research question a literature review was conducted in order to examine the relevant concepts, along with expert interviews with the aim to explore the barriers, enablers and opportunities of the application of product-service systems as circular business models. Finally, a case study survey was carried out with the aim to analyze the business models of two companies who are active in the built environment and have successfully applied product-service systems as circular business models. The analysis illustrated that even though numerous opportunities are offered by this business model to both the company and the client when applied in the different building layers, it is not yet accepted in the sector and its application is hindered by several barriers. However, a number of enablers which can facilitate the implementation of product-service systems as circular business models were recognized. In addition, the analysis illustrated that for the successful implementation of product-service systems as circular business model incorporating servitization and circularity characteristics in all business model elements is necessary.

Heavy traffic in the city of Amsterdam has damaged the 17th-century bridges and quays over the past years. To prevent further damage and expand the lifespan of both existing and renovated structures, a maximum axle load of 7,5 tonnes is mandated in the city centre. Currently, the municipal waste collection department has a permanent exemption from this regulation due to the absence of an alternative method to collect the city's waste. One promising solution involves re-utilising the city's waterways and employing vessels to transport waste out of the city. Two pilots involving water-based waste transport have been conducted in the city and were found to be a working proof of concept. It is, however, not known what a water-based collection system for the whole centre should look like to service the city and preserve the quays and bridges. This thesis aims to assess the trade-offs between three conceptual water-based waste collection systems (WCSs) to guide the direction for designing a suitable WCS for the city. The three concepts examined concepts differ in the scale of the transshipment locations (the point where waste is transferred from land to water), categorised as WCSs with small- medium- and large-scale transshipment locations. The study focuses on the trade-offs between WCSs within and between the domains of social acceptance and technical feasibility. This thesis consists of two main parts, in the first part the three water-based conceptual WCSs were defined using a design workshop. During the workshop, six employees of the municipality used different exercises to generate ideas on how waste could be collected using the waterways and to turn these ideas into conceptual designs. In the second part of this thesis, these three conceptual WCSs were studied using a case study. The units of analysis in each of the WCSs were the social acceptance and the technical feasibility. To evaluate the technical feasibility of each of the WCSs, expert interviews with specialists in vessels, waterways, quay walls and assets were conducted. The social acceptance of the three WCSs was studied using a survey administered to potential users of these systems. They were asked to choose between various WCSs based on walking distance, their general preferences, their preferences in specific situations and their concerns regarding these systems. Parallel to the survey, potential user interviews were conducted to gain deeper insights into respondents' reasons for preferences or aversions to specific WCSs. The results from the expert interviews were summarised and presented in a table to provide an overview of the feasibility of the three WCSs. Survey results were depicted through graphs illustrating respondents' choices, while potential user interviews were analysed thematically, supported by quotes from the interviews. WCS with large- and medium-scale transshipment locations were both found to be potentially feasible from a technical perspective, whereas the small-scale option was deemed unlikely to be feasible. The survey indicated that the majority of the respondents had a preference for self-disposal in containers close to their homes as opposed to having their waste collected at a self-scheduled time, requiring them to be present at home to hand over the waste to the pickup service. Additionally, respondents preferred disposal facilities not too close to their homes or within their direct line of sight. Insights from potential user interviews revealed that participants favouring self-disposal valued flexibility, while on the other hand, those preferring self-scheduled pick-up appointments believed this WCS would address the litter issue in the city. In conclusion, a key trade-off identified was between providing residents with their most preferred waste disposal method through numerous disposal locations versus the technical challenges, if not impossibility, of realizing such a large number of locations. Based on this, the municipality was recommended to conduct further research on WCSs with large- and medium-scale transshipment locations, alongside implementing pilot projects to test these systems in a real-world setting.

This thesis investigates different ways in which the productivity of a one-way bottling and packaging production line can be increased. This is done by comparing different configurations regarding machine capacities, machine reliability and buffer capacities with each other. This is done with both the use of a generic model and a case study. The different configurations were compared and combined together with the use of a simulation model. Following from this it can be concluded that it is dependent on the reliability and the machine capacities which shape of protective capacity is the most productive. Besides, also the place in the system where the largest amount of buffer capacity needs to be placed is dependent on the reliability of the machines which are part of the production line.

Master data is used to describe the critical entities of an organization, including customers, products, suppliers and employees. There are many challenges associated with the management of master data in large and distributed organizations. Master data management (MDM) has been proposed as way to integrate and combine data from different sources in order to provide a unified view for the main business entities. This study focuses on the supplier domain and aims to explore the challenges of managing the supplier information in large and international companies, within the supplier-organization collaboration and from an enterprise-wide perspective. The identification of a supplier can result from the combination of accurate and complete name and address information. Problems in this information can be due to hybrid system landscape, multiple ERP kernels or lack of enterprise-wide uniform data rules and standards. Common supplier master data problems include the incomplete or inaccurate name and address combination, incomplete address information, international name or address and duplicated supplier records. Although actions can be taken to manage these issues, a reactive approach to the supplier master data problems is not the optimal solution. A proactive mindset needs to be adopted by organizations to avoid these problems. There is need for the supplier information to be in a central place and with unified format and data rules, so that data redundancy and duplication problems can be eliminated. Therefore, supplier MDM is proposed to help organizations create and maintain consistent and accurate supplier information. This study aims to develop an assessment tool for companies to assess their supplier MDM practices and capabilities. Thus, the objective of this study is the design of a model to determine a company’s maturity in supplier master data management. This thesis uses the Design Science Research (DSR) approach to develop a maturity model. Five research questions are formulated, each one representing one of the design science phases. For the research questions to be answered, academic literature is consulted, and a single-case study is conducted in the procurement department at Philips.

Due to automation and robotization of material handling systems (MHS) in the transportation industry, maintaining equipment and systems becomes more important, and needs to be integrated in the company’s business strategy (Tsang, 2002). Implementing and investing in the right maintenance approach to keep these systems in optimum state is therefore essential for the performance of a company and more important, for the customer’s satisfaction. When a company has to deal with an increase in failures and decreasing performance, it needs to anticipate to change this negative trend. In literature, most of these problems are analysed by using electronic data and condition-based monitoring (Bouvard, Artus, Bérenguer, & Cocquempot, 2011). Analysing the condition of equipment requires data monitoring which is not always possible. Besides, these analyses are often based on a single system which conditions do not apply on systems with different specifications. TNT Express (initiator of this research) is dealing with this problem within the Benelux. They are dealing with decreasing on-time delivery (OTD) performance and increasing costs of smaller sorting-sites without technicians. Having high OTD performance is an essential element of TNT’s business strategy, and is a competitive advantage in their industry. Their time-critical processes combined with the interrelated network structure of their sites makes it hard to develop a single strategy or solution that positively affects the performance of all sites. The differences in size, work methods, level of technology, different size of freight and fluctuating demands makes it a dynamic and complex environment with a lot of variables that influence the performance of on-time delivery. That makes it hard to identify the causes and effects of these failures over time. Besides, TNT doesn’t have the useful data to base their maintenance on. Therefore, finding the bottlenecks and the right variables that influence this performance most is essential for decreasing the costs of TNT. Therefore, the objective of this research is: “Identify the constraints of TNT’s Material Handling Systems in a dynamic environment, to be able to apply the right maintenance strategy that preserves TNT’s delivery performance at lower cost.” Before a start could be made on finding the bottlenecks of the sorting sites, TNT’s maintenance structure, operational structure, financial structure and operational structure needed to be defined. TNT’s sorting operation, where freight is unloaded, sorted, measures and loaded, runs around 19 hours a day, 6 days a week all year long. That limits the time for maintenance and check-ups to 6 hours a day. Still, a fast response is needed when the sorter does fail during operation, to prevent the process getting delayed which generates extra costs. TNT’s maintenance of those sites turned out to be depending on mostly corrective maintenance, and less on preventive and predictive maintenance. Mechanics are traveling from site to site to solve current incidents that cause delays, and less for preventive maintenance and check-ups. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are also responsible for some maintenance activities, although these are mostly time-based and less used for trouble shooting. When specifying TNT’s on-time delivery performance, the performance of the sorting sites turned out to be the most important factor of the OTD. This sorting site performance is measured by the capacity of freight it theoretically can handle, and the amount of freight it is transporting in reality. This site performance is also influenced by several variables, where the Material Handling Systems availability turned out to be the largest influential variable. The failing devices and equipment are the cause that IV operators on the floor have to sort manually, which takes a lot more time. Besides, these delays are generating extra costs, only how much and which costs is not quite clear. TNT’s limited registration of essential elements like downtime, maintenance costs and OEM activities made it difficult to link these elements, and to find possible bottlenecks. So, to be able to link the MHS- downtime with the related costs on a daily basis, three Critical-to-Quality factors (CTQs) are analysed:  Breakdown costs  Maintenance costs  MHS availability Because the financial impact of a breakdown was not yet specified, the most important factors are determined by interviewing business improvement experts. Some costs turned out to be different for the import or export process during a working day. For TNT, the next financial factors turned out to be important: 1. Missed Check-Weight-Cube (CWC) revenue 2. Hiring extra vans and trucks 3. Personnel costs (overtime) 4. Financial consequences of lower service level (loss of customers) From these factors, the missed CWC revenue turned out to be largest costs factor in the import process, where hiring extra trucks and vans turned out to be the largest costs factor of the export process. These two factors are further specified and calculated, to link them to specific breakdowns. Depending on the volume in different locations, the missed CWC revenue is variating between €000,- and €000,- for a single shift per day. These costs are calculated by determining the number of packages that are affected by a breakdown and do not get a second weighing check on a next location, multiplied by the average revenue missed per parcel. These calculations showed that without a working sorter or CWC on a single location comes with large financial consequences. These specific insights in CWC revenue loss show the need for fewer failures to improve the financial performance of TNT by changing the maintenance activities. The extra costs of hiring extra vans to transport all freight towards the customers in the export process turned out to be €000,- for a single shift (1day). These costs are in the same order as the CWC revenue losses, and from financial perspective just as bad. The cost analysis regarding this data showed how disperse the information is within TNT, and that it is hard to develop a strategy without this kind of crucial information. Maintenance costs are referred as costs that are made to solve the incidents and include, service contracts, mechanics salaries etc. However, costs that are made for decreasing the number of incidents are more important. Think of hiring extra employees, changing service contracts, training current employees. Quantifying these costs is only possible when the bottlenecks of the breakdowns have been derived. V The lacking quality of the data regarding downtime and availability of the MHS made it impossible to use mathematical solutions to find the bottlenecks, so “Soft Operations Research” methods have been used to find the causes of the failures (Heyer, 2004; Masys, 2015). Using Pareto charts and Ishikawa diagrams on the incident file controlled by TNT’s mechanics, the data in this file is structured and enriched to find failures with recurring root causes that are a structural problem. First, three devices that have the most impact on the MHS availability are determined. These are the Sorter, Roller track/belts and Check- Weigh-Cube (CWC) and are responsible for 130 of the 210 incidents for the first 5 months in 2017, which represents more than 60% of all incidents of the MHS. The registered incident data of these three devices is enriched by going a step further in the cause, structuring all data, and visualising them in an Ishikawa diagram. By doing so, it became clear that a high number of incidents (35%) have an operation cause, which means that they are caused by human error. These incidents are not specifically location bounded, and solving the most frequent occurring incidents will prevent a lot of future incidents. The three selected root causes that are responsible for most incidents are: 1. Lack of system knowledge Operators, especially Team Leaders (TL) and Leading Hands (LH), have too little knowledge of the process, the effects of failures and simple technical solutions. There skills haven’t been developed with the increasing mechanisation. Not knowing the impact of failures, and how simple incidents can be prevented leads to unnecessary failures. 2. Sensor related incidents A large part of those operational incidents are sensor related. Because these incidents are still frequently occurring, they need to be handled separately. These incidents can be solved quite easy most of the times, and a support system to help operators to solve them is very helpful. 3. Lack of working according instructions A large part of the incidents are caused by wrong choices of operators, by putting wrong parcels on the sorter, putting them on the sorter at the wrong place or working not according the given instructions. The lack of knowing the consequences results in an uninterested work attitude which results in a performance decrease of the sorting site. For these three root causes, several improvements have been developed. For the first root cause, a training program is recommended which start with a well-communicated plan to create the urge for change. The current attitude of personnel is asking for a plan that provides support from the whole organisation. TNT needs to know the value of knowledge amongst their employees, and this needs support from top management. Combining this with low-technical training sessions and useful supporting tools will increase the employees’ knowledge, and also creates ownership with the employees. To do so, TNT needs to review its distribution between part-time employees from employment agencies, and employees contracted by TNT. Increasing system knowledge amongst employees is only effective if that knowledge stays within the company. Rewarding well performing VI employees with a contract by TNT will have positive effect on the knowledge on the work floor and not only prevents, but also decreases the amount of downtime. For sensor related incidents, a supporting manual has been developed that functions as a simple flow chart that guides TL through the process of solving these failures. Following these steps in the included manual gives simple but clear instructions how to act and what to do. Before using this supporting manual, the TL need sufficient training before they can execute the process. Although this solution is more focussed on corrective maintenance, this manual helps to solve simple incidents that mechanics do not have to solve by themselves. Not only are these incidents solved much quicker, due to direct handling of the TL, but the mechanics do not have to drive towards the location of the incident. That also gives the mechanics more time to do preventive maintenance tasks, and therefore further decrease the number of incidents of the MHS. This manual strengthens the need for more direct or autonomous maintenance within the sorting sites of TNT (Chen, 2013). Currently, these sites are too depended on the knowledge of external maintenance providers to repair the failures which is not desirable. To improve that employees work more according instructions, better supervision is advised and recommendations are made to reward well-performing operators. Rewarding operators also means that they will be more responsible for their colleagues and have to make sure that they understand the instructions. They become responsible for preventing wrong parcels being put on the sorter, and have to correct their employees if they ignore the instructions because a lot of incidents are caused by wrong packages being put on the sorter. However, TNT should also improve the visibility and clarity of these instructions by using dummy parcels to indicate the allowed parcels sizes. Improving this product flow on the sorter will improve the sorters performance and lowers the number of incidents. The effect of these improvement could only be expressed by a decrease on the number of incidents, and not on downtime due to lacking data registration. If, as a starting point, already half of these structural incidents is solved by these improvements, the total amount of these 210 incidents over 2017 would already decrease with 13%. Due to the unknown length of the breakdowns, they cannot be compared to financial results although these results definitely improve. All these improvements are based on autonomous maintenance which is focussed on letting operators do more maintenance and technical tasks. Finally, all these improvements will help retaining TNT’s on-time delivery and decrease their breakdown costs. This process of finding these bottlenecks led to an even more valuable advice for gathering data. This research showed that TNT needs to improve their data collection system, and document important factors with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) like time registration, downtime during operations, and weight of breakdown. This data also needs to be accessible for OEM’s, so they also have insight in the failures, and can help improve the MHS performance. With this data, TNT can measure the downtime and better monitor its MHS availability to see which devices or incidents need further improvement. The importance of such data collection system is once emphasized by the fact that it was hard to determine the bottlenecks, especially with multiple locations at the sorting locations of TNT. VII The goal was to identify the constraints in a dynamic environment that has a lot of influential factors that make it hard to determine the effects of these variables. Using multiple techniques based on the number of incidents and the failure history, the first bottlenecks could be derived that needed improvement. Together with a costs analysis on the most important financial factors, solutions and recommendations are developed that will retain TNT’s on-time delivery at lower costs. However, the recommendations for a more centralized data-based maintenance system could even be more valuable in the future.

Traditionally, research in supply management has focused on the linear relationship between buyer and supplier (e.g. Chan & Chan, 2004; Hokey, 1994; Rezaei & Ortt, 2012; Sheth & Sharma, 1997) and on the technical issues faced in Supply Chain Management (SCM) (Fisher, 1997). However, as (Kim et al., 2011) and (Bellamy & Basole, 2013) recognized, both perspectives fail to capture the complex and dynamic nature of supply networks. Therefore, it provides managers tools that are based on nonrealistic assumptions. Despite the attention given in the literature to the activity to optimize the supply base the acknowledgement of its strategic importance in the supply management practices, frameworks for carrying out the process to optimize the supply base are rare (Talluri & Narasimhan, 2005). Moreover, the existing frameworks fail to illustrate the complex and dynamic nature of the Supply Networks that encloses the process of supply base optimization (e.g Kraljic, 1983; Luo, Wu, Rosenberg, & Barnes, 2009; Ogden & Carter, 2008; Sarkar & Mohapatra, 2006). Therefore, the academia has not provided managers a representative mental model of the complexities implicated in the process to optimize the supply base nor how to manage them. For this reason, this thesis attempts to fill this gap by exploring what the system level perspective offers to the literature in the field of supply base optimization. In order to fill this gap, three case studies were conducted with three initiatives to optimize the supply base in Royal Philips. This thesis proposes a theoretical framework to visualize and evaluate the landscape of the supply base optimization. This framework characterizes three different networks involved in the optimization of the supply base and proposed to evaluate the landscape based the three fundamental themes: Network structure, dynamics and strategy. The outcome of the research is the creation of propositions to clarify the process that a firm undergoes when optimizing the supply base. The first contribution of this research is to provide a new definition of supply base opti-mization from a network perspective. Based on the input from the experts and the analysis of documentation of the conventions, the definition of supply base optimization is as follows: “Supply base optimization is an ongoing process that aims to have the right number of suppliers with the right capabilities and right performance in order to meet current and future business needs” The second contribution of this thesis is a theoretical framework that serves one main purpose: To provide guidance to analyze the process to optimize the supply base from a network-level perspective, providing researchers a more realistic mental map of the supply network to analyze its processes. On the other hand, the analysis of the data collected in the firm, namely the interviews and the documentation of each convention, lead us to the third contribution of this research, which is the creation of a process to optimize the supply base. This process takes a network level perspective and acknowledges the interactions of the different actors at each network.

The Dutch carpet tile industry is one of the most polluting and unsustainable industries worldwide, with a waste product that is only fit for landfilling. This thesis set out to model the industry and conclude on effective sustainability increasing measures. It was identified that the creation of one carpet tile (0.25 square meters) causes a global warming equivalent of 4.9 kilograms CO2-equivalent units and requires up to 78 megajoule of energy. With the current material composition of a carpet tile, no fully sustainable supply chain can be achieved. The recycling of these materials is simply too costly and too difficult. This makes for the downcycling of end-of-lifecycle (EOL) carpets into building insulation material the most effective form of disposal, only achieving a 31% reduction in environmental effects at best. This is a far cry from the envisioned full circularity by the carpet industry. In order to achieve a fully sustainable carpet industry, a shift in problem ownership is required. Currently, the consumer and government are paying for the inability of the carpet industry to produce a carpet that is (fully) recyclable. Once a carpet is sold, the costs of disposal are the responsibility by whoever buys the carpet, and the environmental costs affect welfare and are thus a governmental problem. This study advices a product-service system, where through leasing contracts and deposit systems, the carpet manufacturer remains the owner of a carpet at its EOL. Through this system, the carpet manufacturer is incentivized to produce a carpet that is more easily recyclable, or to establish a market and create demand for the EOL product. This study set out to discover how the current generation of carpets can be diverted from landfills and be used to establish a sustainable industry. It can be concluded that recycling cannot be achieved, and downcycling needs further exploration as it requires the establishment of a new market. Thus, it is concluded that the current generation of carpets is unfit to create any sort of sustainable supply chain, and efforts are best invested in the establishment of a new type of carpet which is more easily recyclable.

Throughout this report a logistic design for the floriculture supply chain from the growers to the buyers of the flower auction is developed to be feasible around the year 2025. Trends and developments in and around the floriculture market as consolidation of transport, shift in customer demand and the Internet of Things are plotted on a hype cycle to test which trends are feasible in this market on the mid-term. This analysis in combination with a relationship analysis results in two solution directions that include a lot of other trends and developments and could be feasible to implement before 2025. Those two solution directions are a virtual storage and a hub-network and are elaborated into conceptual designs. These designs operate on different levels and could be combined for a future logistic design. In this final design, storage hubs and transit hubs will deal with physical products with a focus on storage of goods for just in time delivery and consolidation. The virtual storage is represented in a commercial and transportation platform. On the commercial platform products can be sold at any time and place in the world even if they are not physically located in a storage. The transportation platform will take care of consolidation of product flows and the assignment of transport orders to logistics providers. The combination of those two conceptual designs with inclusion of the described trends is expected to be feasible before 2025, however, the implementation in this complex floriculture market will take a lot of effort and trust from all stakeholders.

Background: With around 70 supermarkets, Hoogvliet is one of the smaller supermarkets in the Netherlands. During the past years, more companies have become aware of the importance of efficient reversed logistics (Senthil et al., 2018). By optimizing this return flow, the return hall of supermarkets plays an important role. With the expected increase of supermarkets that the same return hall must serve and the limited capacity of employees in mind, Hoogvliet wants to redesign its return hall. However, based on literature research, research is primarily done on reusable packaging systems instead of processes and the dynamics within a return hall. This article partly closes this knowledge gap with a conceptual design for the return hall of Hoogvliet, which gives insight in the efficient solutions and layouts within a return hall. Based on the brownfield of the return hall of Hoogvliets DC, this article aims to ‘design an efficient, flexible, scalable and future-proof return and packaging hall, which solves the capacity issues in employees and workspace and increases the throughput of containers per hour.’ Method: A design method is used, derived from Dym et al. (1999), containing five phases: problem definition, conceptual design, model and evaluate design, optimize and implement design, and conclusion. Results: Analysing the current situation shows that 23 main processes can be defined. The quantitative analysis shows that the transportation of loading carriers is one of the most labor-intensive jobs. For all of the 23 processes, three designs are made called ‘split waste and packaging’ (1), ‘carousel’ (2), and ‘completely automated’ (3). All these designs are simulated for three future scenarios. The simulation shows that design 2 has the best score for transport and loading. However, design 3 obtains a higher overall score. The disadvantage of design 3 is the long inbound queue. With some improvements, the second design will get the most stable performance in the future and has an inbound line that is acceptable for Hoogvliet. Implementation: The second design is advised to implement at the return hall of Hoogvliet. This could be done in different phases. First, Hoogvliet needs to make someone responsible for the implementation and coordination. One of his first tasks should be job standardization and allocation per employee, then relocating some sorting stations, and lastly, the different solutions could be implemented step by step. Per scenario, the estimated quantities per solution are given. Based on the developments in terms of growth, a separate floor is needed as a buffer zone for empty loading carriers, which is already part of the optimized second design of this thesis. Concluding: The (different) conceptual design(s) give insight that closes the knowledge gap: (1) Transportation within return halls with the same processes significantly impacts the workload and should be eliminated as far as possible. (2) In the short term (<3 years), transport solutions could result in significant savings. (3) In the long term (>3 years), advanced automated sorting systems have higher savings than minor improvements.

In a world where companies rely increasingly on machines and automated production lines to deliver customer value, asset availability is a becoming a larger driver of companies’ productivity and thus performance. In effect, where maintenance was historically perceived as a cost-centre, it is generally treated as a value-adding business element that must be effectively managed today. However, the increased use of machines and automation has also resulted in an increasing portfolio of assets, often with a highly complex nature. Coupling the growing portfolio of complex assets with factors such as maintenance being a cross-functional activity, stricter HSE requirements, a stochastic maintenance demand, maintenance management complexity has also increased drastically. The result is a reality where maintenance is, on the one hand, becoming more critical to companies’ performance. Simultaneously, it is also a large and growing source of operational issues and costs that is highly challenging to improve. This thesis project is conducted for a consulting firm specialised in helping customers realise benefits. Prior to this thesis, they had access to a highly successful way of managing maintenance developed and applied in the industry by a second company. This maintenance management approach is called The Maintenance Wheel. It has realised benefits in the magnitude of roughly 10 M EUR per year in combined savings from two large-scale facilities. Moreover, it contributed to a significant increase in maintenance quality. In effect, this maintenance management approach provides a way to cope with the increased maintenance complexity, with massive empirical benefits. Seeing this, the consulting firm has attempted to help customers with ineffective and inefficient maintenance operations realise benefits through The Maintenance Wheel. However, they have struggled to convince their customers to implement it, seeing that the customers struggle to understand the management approach. As senior managers considering The Maintenance Wheel will perceive it as an innovation, Karabin is struggling with an innovation diffusion barrier, caused by a failure to transfer knowledge on how The Maintenance Wheel works effectively. The management approach was developed internally by the second company, without considering diffusion. Consequently, there existed no conceptual description of the management approach prior to this thesis. Seeing this, the thesis project research objective was to design an MMF aimed communicating how The Maintenance Wheel works to help cope with the knowledge-based diffusion barrier. Note that an MMF is a theoretical framework explaining an approach to managing maintenance. This MMF effectively provides knowledge on how The Maintenance Wheel work, and was constructed with a design science research methodology. The evaluation indicated that the constructed MMF sufficiently communicates how The Maintenance Wheel works. After a brief presentation for senior managers with no prior knowledge of how The Maintenance Wheel worked, it was possible to have in-depth discussions. Thus, the knowledge-based diffusion barrier caused by customers’ senior managers not understanding the management approach should be solved. Nevertheless, the evaluation also showed that one particular area of future development is required. The senior managers interviewed requested examples of how the framework work in practice. In effect, to help more effectively transfer knowledge on how The Maintenance Wheel works, the consulting firm should provide practical examples of the different elements of the framework.