Matching product architecture with supply chain design.pdf

European Journal of Operational Research 216 (2012) 312–325Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect European Journal of Operational Research journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate /e jorProduction, Manufacturing and Logistics Matching product architecture with supply chain design Bimal Nepal a,?, Leslie Monplaisir b, Oluwafemi Famuyiwa c a Industrial Distribution Program, Texas AM University, College Station, TX, USA bDepartment of Industrial Systems Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA c Schneider Logistics Corporation, Green Bay, WI, USA a r t i c l e i n f oArticle history: Received 5 November 2010 Accepted 25 July 2011 Available online 12 August 2011 Keywords: Product architecture Supply chain design Modular strategy Product development0377-2217/$ - see front matter  2011 Elsevier B.V. A doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2011.07.041 ? Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 979 845 2230; fax E-mail address: Nepal@ (B. Nepal).a b s t r a c t Product architecture is typically established in the early stages of the product development (PD) cycle. Depending on the type of architecture selected, product design, manufacturing processes, and ultimately supply chain configuration are all significantly affected. Therefore, it is important to integrate product architecture decisions with manufacturing and supply chain decisions during the early stage of the prod- uct development. In this paper, we present a multi-objective optimization framework for matching prod- uct architecture strategy to supply chain design. In contrast to the existing operations management literature, we incorporate the compatibility between the supply chain partners into our model to ensure the long term viability of the supply chain. Since much of the supplier related information may be very subjective in nature during the early stages of PD, we use fuzzy logic to compute the compatibility index of a supplier. The optimization model is formulated as a weighted goal programming (GP) model