Supply network configuration using the value engineering based method

Supply network configuration considers business logistics as a whole in order to maximize enterprise economic performance. This configuration is a complex strategic decision problem involving the long-term organization of suppliers, factories, distribution centers, and manufacturing resources, making efficient decision support necessary. The study in question proposes a hybrid decision support model for supply network optimization. This model first analyzes the businessprocess of a supply chain using Supply Chain Operations References (SCOR) models. The value of the business processes in the supply network are then evaluated using the Value Engineering (VE), wherein the key functions of the processes are chosen via function analysis with quantitative comparison and optimized configuration alternatives are created. Subsequently, the Taguchi method is applied to assess the performance of different alternatives to identify the optimum combination of alternatives. An example of application of global enterprise is elaborated using the proposed method. The results of the case demonstrate that the proposed model can effectively optimize the supply network configuration.