Supply chain optimization under uncertainty

供应链是由实体组成的网络，其中包括原材料供应商、将材料转化为产品的生产制造单位、储存仓库以及涵盖从供应商到零售商和客户的产品流动的配送中心。现代行业努力拥有最优化的供应链，因为这通常会为公司带来更好的业绩。 供应链优化包括三类活动的优化：(1)战略设计、(2)战术计划和(3)操作执行，这些活动具有管理水平、时间跨度和决策环境中的不确定性。 战略设计决策建立和修改企业可用的资源，如制造工厂和仓库。战术计划决策意味着为计划的生产、维护、运输、劳动力、销售和库存水平制定时间表，使高质量的生产和销售达到最佳匹配。业务控制涉及组织所有部门详细执行短期计划，以实现计划确定的利润和业绩目标。 在每个级别上，都存在许多类型的不确定性，这些不确定性给优化带来了巨大的挑战。这些不确定性包括机器故障、事故、袭击、需求、原材料和价格波动。我们的研究计划是旨在开发有效的决策支持工具的持续努力的一部分，以解决在供应链的战略设计、战术规划和运营执行中遇到的重要优化问题。拟议的研究计划将侧重于以下项目： 在战略层面上 -设计防御战略，以保护供应链设施(如制造工厂和仓库)免受恶意代理人的蓄意攻击。 -设计在汽车、电子和木材行业等大批量生产中使用的易发生故障的制造系统。 在战术层面上 -不确定情况下的战术计划，考虑集成的采购、生产、分销和销售计划。 -生产、维护和质量的综合规划。 -从第三方维护提供商的角度进行备件管理。 在运营层面上： -在需求、供应量、原材料成本、机器故障和价格波动不确定的情况下进行无功计划。 将努力确保研究计划的成果转化为产业。考虑到供应链的社会经济重要性，以及在处理不确定性时遇到的具有挑战性的科学和实际问题，这一新研究计划的影响可能被证明是极其重大的。

Supply chains are networks of entities that include suppliers of raw material, production manufacturing units who convert the material into products, warehouses that store, and distribution centres that cover the flows of products from suppliers to retailers and customers. Modern industries strive to have the most optimized supply chain because it usually translates to a better performance for the company. Supply chain optimization implies optimization of three types of activities: (1) strategic design, (2) tactical planning and (3) operational execution, which are distinguished by managerial level, time horizon and uncertainty in the decision environment. Strategic design decisions establish and modify the resources available to the enterprise, such as manufacturing plants and warehouses. Tactical planning decisions imply developing timetables for planned production, maintenance, transportation, workforce, sales and the inventory levels that will optimally match high-quality production to sales. Operational control involves the detailed execution of short-term schedules by all parts of the organization in such a way as to achieve the profit and performance goals established by the plans. At each level, there are many kinds of uncertainties that create significant challenges for optimization. These uncertainties include machine failures, accidents, attacks, demands, raw material and price fluctuations. Our research program is part of a continuing effort aimed at developing effective decision-support tools to tackle important optimization problems encountered at the strategic design, tactical planning and operational execution of supply chains. The proposed research program will focus on the following projects: At the strategic level - Design of defence strategies to protect supply chain facilities (such as manufacturing plants and warehouses) against intentional attacks that can be performed by a malevolent agent. - Design of failure-prone manufacturing systems used in high-volume production, such as automotive, electronics, and wood industries. At the tactical level - Tactical planning under uncertainty considering integrated procurement, production, distribution, and sale planning. - Integrated planning of production, maintenance and quality. - Spare parts management from a third-party maintenance provider perspective. At the operational level: - Reactive planning under uncertainties in demand, supply quantities, raw material costs, machine failures, and price fluctuations. Efforts will be made to ensure the transfer of the results of the research program to industry. Considering the socio-economic importance of supply chains and the challenging scientific and practical problems encountered when dealing with uncertainties, the impact of this new research program could prove to be extremely significant.