LIS programme design, strategy & research themes

Programme design and leadership

The aim of the LIS research group is to be at the forefront of the developments in logistics and supply chain management in interaction with information and communication systems and to make a major contribution both to management science and to management practice. Within the Netherlands we aim to contribute significantly to the country’s leading role as a gateway to Europe. Much of our logistics research is inspired by the new opportunities offered by innovative information and communication systems and technologies. The research is interdisciplinary (taking into account research paradigms from operations research, logistics, supply chain management, information systems, computer science, organisation science, and human factors). The LIS programme is a coherent research network of researchers from both the Erasmus School of Economics and the Rotterdam School of Management. Cooperation between researchers is stimulated both in executing research projects and writing research papers, which are increasingly published in the top journals in the areas of operations and supply chain management (see our P+P* list). Our research is embedded in practice and innovative, and is at the forefront of the business and science community. Cooperation in national and international research networks to set the relevant research agenda is one of our primary activities.

Problem formulation, goals, focus, methods

Within the wide area of operations and supply chain management the focus of our group is primarily on inbound and distribution operations (like inventory, transport and terminal operations) and inter-company processes and networks, rather than on production (area IV in Exhibit 1). In the research programme a wide range of research methods is used; both quantitative (simulation, mathematical modelling, survey, and experimental research) and qualitative research (case study, action research). Methodological rigour is combined with practical relevance. A strong emphasis is placed on the valorisation of developed knowledge to the business community in the Netherlands and Europe.

Exhibit 1. Supply chain processes

Description of the programme and research themes

The research programme is organised around five focus research themes within supply chain management. These themes are problem-oriented, and since our approach is often problem oriented the themes interact with each other and together form a coherent body of knowledge. Therefore, most of the researchers contribute to several research themes, and within every theme multiple research methods are used. The research themes are:

1. Supply chain optimisation and planning
2. Sustainable supply chain management 
3. Terminal optimisation 
4. Transportation management 
5. Smart business networks

Theme 1. Supply chain optimisation and management

This theme addresses design, management, optimisation, coordination, and planning issues in supply chains, and thereby covers major parts of areas I, II, IV, and VI of Exhibit 1. It is a broad theme with various research methods ranging from analytical research for a wide range of more or less traditional optimisation and planning problems in supply chains (such as inventory planning, production and maintenance planning and scheduling, logistics network optimisation) on the one hand, to field-based and empirical research in the area of purchasing and sourcing, manufacturing, outsourcing, distribution, and intra-organisational collaboration issues on the other hand. In recent years, less use has been made of the more traditional operations research methods in favour of approaches such as behavioural operations management and quantitative empirical research. Our research has resulted in optimisation algorithms to analyse and optimise complex supply chains. They are finding their way into decision support systems. Insights from all studies have been communicated to managers and were used in executive and student education.

Theme 2. Sustainable supply chain management

Research within this theme focuses on developing analytic approaches to improve economic and environmental performance of supply chains, by integrating the forward chain with the reverse chain (see the Returns Flow in Exhibit 1). Sustainable supply chains have been an important area of attention within the ERIM LIS group for over 15 years. According to Cradle to Cradle principles, closing material and product loops is essential for reaching true sustainability and this calls for radical innovations in the supply chain. Smarter use of existing resources and processes in the forward chain and avoiding material and energy needs altogether through reverse logistics leads to important gains in terms of economical and ecological footprints. Stimulated by an EU network on reverse logistics, REVLOG, much new theory has been developed in various disciplines, such as logistics network design, production planning and inventory control, information management, and accounting. New theory is needed because closed loop supply chains generally face many specific challenges in terms of sourcing opportunities, processing capabilities and available markets. A new sub-theme of service logistics was developed, in which we closely cooperate with industry, and we were able to put this topic into the top 3 most promising logistics research topics as addressed by Dinalog (the national logistics research institute established in 2009). Our research has resulted in several decision models and algorithms with which both reverse and service logistics problems can be analysed and improved. Some models have already been implemented in companies, insights have been communicated to various managers and detailed algorithms for other models are finding their way into decision support systems.

Theme 3. Terminal optimisation

The goal of people cooperating on this theme is to develop theories, methods and tools to improve the design, operation, planning and control of terminal processes. Such terminals include warehouses, port terminals, trans-shipment centres, and railway stations with related material handling systems. The theme particularly covers areas III and V of Exhibit 1. Methods employed vary from deterministic and stochastic operations research to quantitative empirical research and experimentation. The people active in this theme work in close cooperation with industry as an inspiration for research subjects and as application area for results achieved. Our research has resulted in insights into the relations between layout, storage strategies, order batching, and picker routing methods. Algorithms for picker routing developed by us have gradually found their way into standard warehouse management software packages. Design principles developed by us (layout, system selection) are currently used by several warehouse design companies.

Theme 4. Transportation management

The goal of this theme is to improve the performance of passenger and cargo transportation systems. The theme focuses on the Material Flow in Exhibit 1 (which is also partly covered in area V) and in addition on People Flows. One of our approaches is based on the development of mathematical optimisation models of such systems, and the development and implementation of algorithms for solving them. Because of close cooperation with Netherlands Railways, much of the research focuses on railway systems. Another approach is based on the effective use of information and revenue management. Initially, the focus was mainly on planning processes (timetabling, vehicle circulation, crew scheduling), but recently the focus has been redirected to real-time operations management. Specific topics include integrated vehicle and crew scheduling, robust planning and rescheduling of resources, computer-aided timetabling, reliability of transportation systems, rolling stock planning, hub location, fleet composition, city distribution, and revenue management. There is a link with the research theme on terminal optimisation, which includes the study of port terminals and shunting operations at railway stations. In the latter area, a significant research stream is concerned with issues related to the Port of Rotterdam.

Theme 5. Smart business networks

The Smart Business Networks research programme aims to understand how companies make use of advanced communications networks to organise business in a “smart” way and improve performance. It integrates the different areas sketched in Exhibit 1 thereby focusing on intercompany networks. As networking capabilities increase dramatically, organisations become multi-linked nodes in complicated network structures. Organisations are not just seen as individual actors in a sequential supply chain, but as dynamic nodes in a loosely structured network in which they are linked according to the customer’s specific delivery requirements.