Design of a knowledgebased logistics strategy systemWord文档下载推荐.docx

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bDepartmentofIndustrialandManufacturingSystemsEngineering,UniversityofHongKong,HongKong,China

Abstract

Traditionally,theformulationoflogisticsstrategiestoexecutevariouslogisticsservicesisdonebyhumanexperts.Inthispaper,aknowledge-basedlogisticsstrategysystem（KLSS）isdesignedinhelpingthemtosupportthelogisticsstrategydevelopmentstagebyretrievingandanalyzingusefulknowledgeandsolutionsinatimelyandcosteffectivemanner.Theproposedknowledge-basedsystem,whichissuitableforusageinHongKong/PearlRiverDeltaregion,enhancestheeffectivenessinformulatinglogisticsstrategiesbyintegratingtechniqueslikedatawarehouse,on-lineanalyticalprocessing,multi-dimensionaldatabasemanagementsystemandcase-based

reasoning.ThroughapplyingKLSSinEasternWorldwideCompany（EWW）,resourceutilizationismaximizedandworkefficiencyisgreatlyreduced.

@2005ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.

Keywords:

Logisticsstrategy;

Knowledge-basedsystem;

Datawarehouse;

On-lineanalyticalprocessing;

Case-basedreasoning

1.Introduction

Logisticsserviceprovidersareprofessionalsthatserveclientslikemanufacturers,rawmaterialsuppliers,distributors,retailers,andshipperswithinthesupplychain.Thepressureonlogisticsserviceprovidersinoperatingabusinessisgettingheavyduetothecontinuousincreaseindemandofclients.Itisthereforenecessaryforlogistics

serviceproviderstoformulatebusinessstrategiesfromtheknowledgeperspectiveinordertokeepdistinctivecompetitivenessadvantageinsuchachangingmarketenvironment（Davenport,Jarvenpa,&

Beers,1996）.Logisticsstrategyplanningisacomplexprocessthatrequiresanunderstandingofhowthedifferentelementsandactivitiesoflogisticsinteractintermsoftrade-offsandthetotalcosttotheorganization.Furthermore,itisalwaysachallengeforlogisticsstrategyplannerstodevelopaseriesoflogisticsstrategiesfordifferentclients,integratingmanpower,facilitiesandworkflowinthelogisticsstrategiestogethertocompromisewithotherclients’logisticsstrategies.Currently,logisticsstrategyplannersusuallyrelyonacollectionofknowledgewithintheorganizationtoformulateastrategy.Ingeneral,organizationalknowledgeisdividedintotwomaincategories:

namely,experimentalknowledgeandanalyticalknowledge（Kim,Yu,&

Lee,2003）.

AsillustratedinFig.1,basedondataandinformationsuchasthestockkeepingunit（SKU）,thedimensionandweightofSKU,andthekindsoflogisticsservicesrequests,providedbyclients,thegoalordirectionoflogisticsstrategyisinitiallyconstructed.Next,thecontentoflogisticsstrategyisformulatedbystrategyplannerswhoseekappropriateknowledge,retrievesimilarpastcasesandmodifythemtofitthegivensituation.Infact,logisticsstrategyplannersalwaysmakebiasjudgmentsonlogisticsstrategyformulationbasedsolelyontheirexperience.Inaddition,itisdifficultforthemtoacquire,retrieveandmanipulatevarioustypesoforganizationalknowledgewithouthelpofdecisionsupportsystems.Hence,thereseemstobenosystematicapproachforlogisticsserviceproviderstocapturetherelevantknowledgeforlogisticsstrategyformulation.Manylogisticsstrategyplannersarenowusingdecisionsupportsystemstosupportlogisticsstrategiesformulation.However,mostofthemaredata-drivenratherthanknowledge-driven.Hence,thesetechniquesareincapableofretrievingknowledgeatstrategydesignstage.Insuchsense,thereisaneedofknowledge-basedsystems（KBS）thatcancollect,transformandstoretheorganizationalknowledgetosupportthestageof

Fig.1.Currentlogisticsstrategyplanningprocess.

formulatinglogisticsstrategyinasystematicway.AccordingtoWiig（1994）,thedefinitionofKBSishumancentered,whichhighlightsthefactsthatKBShavetheirrootsinthefieldofartificialintelligence（AI）andthattheyattempttounderstandandinitiatehumanknowledgeinthecomputersystem.Liao（2003）categorizednumbersofKBSresearchesanditsapplications.AsshowninTable1,itisfoundthatthereisnoresearchrelatedtotheformulationof

logisticsstrategy.Inthispaper,aknowledge-basedlogisticsstrategysystem（KLSS）ispresented.Thisisahybridsystemtoexploreimportantattributesforcaseretrievalandmatchingprocessinacase-basedsystem.Theaimofthissystemistoeffectivelyretrieveusefulpriorcasestoassistlogisticsserviceprovidersinplanningacost-effectiveaswellasahigh-customersatisfactory-levellogisticsstrategyamong

theirclients.Inordertodevelopaflexibleandtimelydataaccessingframeworkforthesystem,thecombinationof

datawarehouse,multi-dimensionaldatabasemanagementsystem,onlineanalyticalprocessing（OLAP）andcasebasedreasoning（CBR）technologiesisproposed.WhilstthereareadequatepublicationsaboutthedataprocessingofCBRmodels,thereisonlyalittleliteraturerelatedtotheseamlessintegrationofthedatawarehouse,multi-dimensionaldatabasemanagementsystem,onlineanalyticalprocessing（OLAP）andcase-basedreasoning（CBR）modeltodevelopaneffectivesystemtoformulatelogisticsstrategies.

Thispaperisdividedintosixsections.Section2isadescriptionofthechangesinthecurrentlogisticsoperatingenvironment,andanexplanationoftheimportanceofmanagingrelevantdataandrelatedinformationintheprocessofformulatinglogisticsstrategies.DatamanagementtechniquesandCBRtechnologywillalsobediscussedandtheirsuitabilityintheformulationlogisticsstrategyillustrated.InSection3,theknowledge-basedlogisticsstrategysystem（KLSS）isexplained,whileacasestudyofimplementingthesysteminEasternWorldwideCompanyLimitedisdiscussedinSection4.TheresultsandadiscussiononthefindingsarelistedoutinSection5.Finally,theoverallconclusionabouttheuseofKLSSismadeinSection6.

2.Reviewofrelatedstudies

2.1.Currentlogisticsoperatingenvironment

Since1990s,theenvironmentoflogisticshaschangedgreatlybecauseofglobalintegrationandthegradual

shorteningoflifecyclesofproducts.Themodeofproductioninenterpriseshaschangedfromthetraditionalmassproductionmodeledbyproductsintothemasscustomizationproductionmodetofacilitateincreasing

globalmarketcompetition.Srinivasa（2001）pointedoutthreemainreasonsofsuchrevolution.

2.1.1.Changeofmanufacturingstrategy

Inthepast,logisticswasrecognizedasadistinctfunctionwiththeriseofmassproductionsystems.Since1990s,theJapanesephilosophyofdistributedmanufacturingandleanmanufacturinghasbecomethekeytechniquewhichiswidelyadoptedaroundtheworld.Consequently,thelogisticsoperationisforcedtochangeinordertofitsuchnewJapanesemanufacturingstrategy.Asawhole,logisticshasbecomeanextremelycomplicatedprocessinwhichexpertknowledgeisrequired.

2.1.2.Changeofcustomerdemand

Businessenvironmentasawholeisbecomingextremelyvolatile.Asproductlifecyclebecomesshorter,manufacturerscannolongerpushtheirproductsdownthesupplychaineasily.Onthecontrary,itistheconsumerwhopullstheproductsalongthissupplychain.Priceandqualityarenolongersufficienttothriveinthismarket.Asspeedtomarketandflexibilityofthesupplychainbecomethewinningcriteria,logisticsmanagementhasgrownmuchmorecomplexinordertosatisfytheseconditionssimultaneously.

2.1.3.Globalization

Asenterprisesexpandtheirmarketsbeyondnationalboundaries,theneedformoresophisticatedserviceslike

multi-modaltransportandinternationaltraderulescomplianceincreases.Hence,redesignoflogisticsoperationis

essentialinordertoachievegreaterefficiencyandeffectivenessontheseissues.

Theseissuesrevealedthecomplexityoflogisticsmanagementinthattraditionallogisticsoperationwhichincludeslargequantityofstockstorageanddistributioncannotfulfilltherealtime,flexibilitylogisticsservice

demandamongthesupplychainparties.Moreover,sincelogisticsnetworkhasbecamemorecomplex,ittakestimetomakecriticallydecisioninresourceallocationandworktaskarrangementaccurately.Insuchsenses,avarietyofresearchershaveexaminedtheusageofvariousdecisionsupportsystems（DSS）tosolveaspecificsetofrelatedlogisticsoperatingproblems.FungandRen（1994）defineddecisionsupportsystem（DSS）asaviablestrategicweaponthatcanhelptoshortensuchtimebyaidingtheplannertoformulatelogisticsstrategiesintheareaofplanningandmanagementofoperationtask.HokeyandSean（1994）proposedanintegrateddecisionsupportsystem（IDSS）thatlinksworldwidecommunicationanddistributionnetworksamongtheparentcompany,itsforeignbusinesspartners,andthird-partylogisticiansinordertocopewithglobalizationofbusinessactivitiesproblemincludesduplicateddata,communication,resourceallocationandtransactionallogisticoperation.Moreover,astrategicdecision-makingmodelbasedontheanalyticalnetworkprocess（ANP）toassist

managementindeterminingwithwhichthirdpartylogisticsprovidertopartnerinthereverselogisticsprocesshas

addressed（Meade&

Sarkis,2002）.Withregardtothepressureoffastdeliveryofsmallbatcheswithminimized

transportationcost,VannieuwenhuyseandPintelon（2003）presentedamulti-criteriadecisionmakingtool（MCDM）tosupportlogisticsdecisionmakersonthetransportationm