The Role of Optimization in Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management refers to the design, planning, procurement, production, and delivery of materials and other resources used in delivering both products and services to customers. Applications of supply chain management techniques can reduce costs and increase service levels. Supply chain management uses advanced information management and optimization models to design, plan and control the allocation of resources in the production and delivery of products and services.

This workshop will focus on the definition and formulation of large scale structured optimization problems that arise in supply chain management. It will emphasize new problems that are emerging in the movement away from traditional distribution and retail toward electronic commerce. The workshop will include academic researchers, leading industrial practitioners and representatives from advanced supply chain software companies.

In particular, the workshop will focus on:
_ New algorithms and software capabilities
_ New mathematical models that support new business models
_ Methods for transforming vast amounts of data into knowledge to drive business decisions
_ Real time algorithms to continually optimize in response to business and marketplace dynamics

The workshop will include presentations and discussions on topics such as:
_ Dynamic pricing
_ Supply chain design
_ Supply chain coordination
_ Advanced and complex marketplaces
_ Combinatorial auctions
_ Transportation optimization
_ Service parts optimization
_ Available-to-promise models
_ Methods for dealing with uncertainty