{"title":"Integrated training course planning and hierarchical multi-skilled employee scheduling in the workforce skill transformation context","authors":"Guiping Su, Huiling Zhong, Jian Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109642","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109642","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The technological advances in many areas bring new skill requirements to the workforce, leading to a large number of workers facing the need of skill transformation and an increasing demand for workforce skill training. For many companies, to meet the complex and changing skill requirements of their tasks, their employees must be trained before being assigned to fulfill these tasks. As a result, when planning the training courses and scheduling the tasks of a company, a series of complex constraints related to the precedence of training and tasks, task-dependent skill requirements, course capacity, etc., should be taken into account, which poses a significant challenge for the management of the company. To solve this challenge, in this paper, we first formulate an integer programming model for the integrated training course and employee scheduling problem (ITCESP) to maximize the company’s total profits. Secondly, we develop a column-generation-based heuristic (CGBH) algorithm to obtain approximate solutions while achieving a high computational efficiency as well as a desirable solution accuracy. Thirdly, based on the context of home services, we simulate 18 sets of test instances and validate the advantages of the CGBH algorithm. Finally, through scenario comparisons and sensitivity analyses on key parameters, we provide practitioners with useful managerial insights.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 109642"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143899472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How do circular economy and blockchain technology adoption relate to firm financial performance?","authors":"Lihua Sun , Chunguang Bai , Joseph Sarkis","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109655","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109655","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental challenges and increasing resource consumption may be mitigated through organizational circular economy (CE) practices. Implementing CE practices requires organizations to rethink, develop, and implement new initiatives and processes. It has been argued that blockchain technology (BCT) can support corporate and supply chain CE practices. However, empirical evidence on whether BCT adoption can complement corporate CE practices when considering firm financial performance is virtually non-existent. Using the resource-based view and a dataset of 1766 firm-year observations of Chinese listed companies, we investigate the relationship between corporate CE practices and financial performance, as well as the moderating effect of BCT adoption. Initial findings reveal a significantly positive relationship between corporate CE practices and financial performance. However, counterintuitively, BCT adoption not only directly negatively relates to firm financial performance but also weakens the positive relationship between CE practices and financial performance. Further analysis found that these direct and indirect negative effects of BCT adoption are only observed in resource-constrained firms, supporting our argument from a resource scarcity perspective. This study provides new insights into the nuanced relationship among CE practices, BCT adoption, and financial performance from the resource-based view. These insights provide new and valuable guidance for researchers and practitioners.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 109655"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143895518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Integrating 3D printing and inventory to manage multi-product demand uncertainties","authors":"Lan Deng , Juliang Zhang , T.C.E. Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109650","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109650","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recently, many firms have rapidly adopted 3D printing technology to better align their supplies with demands and enhance profitability. We examine a firm that sells multiple products and utilizes 3D printing to navigate uncertain demands. Initially, the firm determines product inventories, 3D printing capacity, and raw material investments. Once the demands are realized, they are first met using the existing inventories, with any excess fulfilled through 3D printing. We analyze the optimal policy and profit, comparing the outcomes with and without 3D printing to assess its value. Our findings indicate that 3D printing is advantageous when investment and raw material costs are low. In addition, we explore how various parameters affect this value, identifying two key benefits of 3D printing: cost-saving and flexibility. Given the complexity of determining an exact optimal policy for the general case, we propose a heuristic algorithm to address this challenge. Finally, we investigate the influence of product characteristics, diversity, and supply disruption risks on the value of 3D printing, concluding that its value increases with product diversity and it can effectively mitigate supply risks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 109650"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143941421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spillover of bad publicity: Effect of negative ESG coverage in supply chains on firm performance","authors":"Li Wang , Yuxiao Ye , Baofeng Huo","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109654","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109654","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In an increasingly open and transparent information environment, negative media coverage of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) misconduct can undermine focal firms' legitimacy and performance. However, we have a limited understanding of how such coverage of supply chain partners spills over to focal firms, particularly in emerging markets. Drawing on the signaling theory, we argue that negative ESG coverage serves as a signal of a focal firm's illegitimacy, and the signal's visibility, clarity, and fit become more significant. Using samples from Chinese listed firms, our results reveal that negative media coverage of supply chain partners' ESG issues significantly reduces focal firms' financial performance. Notably, the magnitude of this effect depends on media reach and framing. Stronger ties between focal firms and their supply chain partners intensify the negative spillover. These findings underscore actively managing supply chain partners' ESG risks to avoid potential financial losses within supply chains. This study has fruitful contributions to the literature on supply chain sustainability and the spillover effect in multi-tier supply chain relationships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 109654"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143895517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dynamic rebalancing strategies for dockless bike-sharing systems","authors":"Ruicheng Liu , Jianyu Xu , Çağatay Iris , Jianghang Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109634","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109634","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bike-sharing systems have developed rapidly with the influence of the sharing economy, and many operational challenges have arisen. The bike rebalancing problem is one of the main challenges in bike-sharing systems. In this paper, we propose a framework to address the dynamic bike rebalancing problem in dockless bike-sharing systems by using trucks to relocate bikes to meet the time-varying demand at each location. We decompose the problem into two processes: dynamic clustering and bike relocation. For dynamic clustering, we propose an optimisation model to select cluster centroids and decide the number and coverage of clusters to maximise operational profit based on trip revenues and expected traversal costs between clusters. An Adaptive Large Neighbourhood Search (ALNS) algorithm is developed to solve this problem. Clusters with too many bikes would lead to bike piles and cause urban blight, while clusters with too few bikes may result in user dissatisfaction. To prevent such issues, in the bike relocation process, we construct vehicle routes with pickup and delivery for bike relocation between clusters. We test the framework using real data from Louisville, USA. We show that the proposed ALNS can efficiently solve large real-life instances and obtain high-quality solutions. Numerical experiments also indicate that the dynamic clustering model significantly increases average daily profit compared to static clustering benchmarks. We provide operators with several insights into the impact of clustering and relocation in bike-sharing systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 109634"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143874091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dynamic analysis of the proportional order-up-to policy with damped trend forecasts","authors":"Qinyun Li , Gerard Gaalman , Stephen M. Disney","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109612","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109612","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study the bullwhip behaviour in the proportional order-up-to (POUT) policy with non-stationary autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) demand. We build a state-space model of the POUT policy where the damped trend forecasting method predicts ARIMA(1,1,2) demand. The POUT policy is closely related to the order-to-up (OUT) policy with the addition of a proportional feedback controller in the inventory and work-in-progress feedback loops. Our modelling approach allows us to derive and/or analyse the demand, order, and inventory variances. We also find the covariance between the demand forecast and the inventory forecast in an attempt to obtain the order variance. However, both the demand and the order variances are infinite under the non-stationary ARIMA(1,1,2) process. Thus, the traditional bullwhip measure (the ratio of the order variance divided by the demand variance) is indeterminate. Despite this difficulty, we can study the difference between the order variance and the demand variance for both the OUT and POUT policies. These differences are finite and their sign indicates whether a bullwhip effect has been generated or not. We find under non-stationary demand, the POUT policy’s bullwhip behaviour contradicts some of the existing bullwhip theory. The POUT policy sometimes generates more bullwhip than the OUT policy, revealing that existing knowledge based on stationary demand should be used with caution in non-stationary demand environments. We validate our findings with an investigation of some ARIMA(1,1,2) time series from the M4 competition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 109612"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143888076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhipeng Dai , Yong (Jimmy) Jin , T.C. Edwin Cheng , Xingchen Zhu
{"title":"Strategic peril of sustainable logistics innovations under channel co-opetition","authors":"Zhipeng Dai , Yong (Jimmy) Jin , T.C. Edwin Cheng , Xingchen Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109643","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109643","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Developing sustainable technology innovations has been widely regarded as a promising solution for reducing environmental pollution and emissions in the logistics service supply chain. As consumers become more sustainability-minded, they increasingly prefer sustainable logistics services, prompting logistics service providers (LSPs) to put more effort into developing sustainable logistics. Sustainable logistics strategy enhances LSPs' competitive advantages, especially when competing against a powerful logistics service integrator (LSI) in the service market. However, this pursuit might introduce a strategic peril, where the simultaneous goals of improving economic and environmental performance may be at odds, potentially undermining the profits of LSPs in co-opetitive supply chains. In this paper, we consider a Cournot competition model to study a logistics service provider's (LSP's) decision to develop sustainable logistics while competing with a logistics service integrator (LSI) in logistics service and collaborating with the LSI in cargo canvassing. The LSP's costly effort to develop sustainable logistics can enhance its market competitiveness and reduce pollution per unit of its logistics service. We find that while sustainable logistics can benefit the LSP, its impact on the LSI's profit depends on the canvassing service price charged by the LSI. Notably, if this price is set strategically by the LSI rather than fixed exogenously, the LSI can also benefit from the LSP's sustainable logistics by optimally balancing its logistics and canvassing profits. We show that sustainable logistics may still <em>fail</em> to reduce environmental impact, even under endogenous service pricing. However, we also identify conditions under which economic and environmental sustainability can be coordinated.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 109643"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unlocking the value in product return data: Inventory management with sales dependent stochastic product return flows from multiple periods","authors":"Esra Gökbayrak , Enis Kayış , Refik Güllü","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109618","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109618","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the fast fashion retail sector, handling product returns has become a significant challenge due to rapidly changing consumer preferences and high product return rates. These retailers are now inclined to consider product return flows in managing product inventories using detailed product return data. This study investigates an optimal inventory control policy for a retailer facing stochastic product returns from multiple previous sale periods to maximize expected profit during a single selling season. The problem is formulated using dynamic programming, and due to its computational complexity, we propose an Approximate Dynamic Programming value iteration algorithm using basis functions. Our proposed algorithm reduces the solution time drastically without a significant sacrifice from optimality. We quantify the value of leveraging detailed return information and demonstrate that our proposed model increases the retailer’s profit by 9% in the base case and up to 31% considering other cases compared to a model ignoring such information, especially under decreasing product prices over time or per period order capacity constraints. Finally, using an extensive computational study, we propose managerial insights on how to best leverage the value in the product return data using advanced analytics for fast-fashion retailers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 109618"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143874090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The intelligent production line configuration strategy","authors":"Qiguo Gong , Yanyu Zhang , Guohui Chen , Hui Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109647","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109647","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Establishing an intelligent production line with high flexibility entails significant expenses, thereby strategic decision-making regarding the utilization of labor flexibility in the production line configuration becomes crucial for the success of a smart factory. This study considers two predominant production line configuration strategies in a production environment characterized by multi-variety and small-batch orders: (1) a <em>double-line configuration strategy</em>, where a fully automated intelligent production line focuses on producing relatively standardized products, while a manual production line is dedicated to crafting personalized products. We obtain optimal work allocation under this strategy. (2) a <em>line-changeover configuration strategy</em>, characterized by a single flexible production line where machine-driven tasks are automatically executed. Manual intervention is only required during line changeovers and setups between different product types. A comparative cost analysis between these two configuration strategies reveals that, for production batch size exceeding a batch threshold, the line-changeover strategy outperforms the double-line strategy. Moreover, if a square root rule is satisfied, the line-changeover strategy consistently outperforms the double-line strategy. Notably, investments directed towards setup reduction prove instrumental in reducing production costs and reducing the batch threshold, thereby amplifying the advantages of the line-changeover strategy. The future comparative advantage of these two configuration strategies is contingent upon ongoing technological developments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 109647"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dynamic product quality improvement using social media data and competitor-based Kano model","authors":"Lu Zheng , Lin Sun , Zhen He , Shuguang He","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109645","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109645","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recently, social media data have emerged as an important information source for product quality improvement. Previous studies utilize social media data and the Kano model to delineate opportunities for product quality enhancement. However, a favorable performance appraisal from customers does not guarantee that the product gains a competitive edge over its rivals. Performance evaluation may be inaccurate and biased without comparing the product to its competitors. Moreover, few studies research dynamic quality attributes and propose strategies for dynamic quality enhancement. In this study, we propose a dynamic approach to improving product quality using social media data. Firstly, we categorize social media data into texts with positive, negative, and neutral sentiments. By considering competitors, we then dynamically estimate product performance and customer satisfaction using these texts, Dynamic Topic Models, and sentiment analysis. Secondly, we cluster product features into diverse quality attributes using our proposed competitor-based Kano model. Finally, we use a case study of laptops for validation. Experimental results not only validate the lifecycle of quality attributes (changing from indifferent to attractive attributes, which turn to one-directional/must-be attributes) proposed by extant research, but also reveal new trajectories of quality attributes (fluctuating among one-directional, must-be, and attractive attributes). Additionally, the comparison with baseline methods manifests that our method provides manufacturers with timely decision support to improve product quality, formulate product development strategies, and enhance product competitiveness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 109645"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143854536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}