Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
@semnan.ac.ir
Industrial Engineering department
Semnan University
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, Fatemeh Bahrami, Masood Fathi, and Shahla Asadi
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AbstractHealthcare waste disposal center location (HCWDCL) impacts the environment and the health of living beings. Different and sometimes contradictory criteria in determining the appropriate site location for disposing of healthcare waste (HCW) complicate the decision-making process. This research presents a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, named PROMSIS, to determine the appropriate HCWDCL in a real case. The PROMSIS is the combination of two well-known MCDM methods, namely TOPSIS and PROMETHEE. Moreover, fuzzy theory is used to describe the uncertainties of the problem parameters. To provide a reliable decision on selecting the best HCWDCL, a comprehensive list of criteria is identified through a literature review and experts’ opinions obtained from the case study. In total, 40 criteria are identified and classified into five major criteria, namely economic, environmental, social, technical, and geological. The weight of the considered criteria is determined by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Then, the score of the alternative HCWDCLs in each considered criterion is obtained. Finally, the candidate locations for disposing of HCWs are ranked by the proposed fuzzy PROMSIS method. The results show that the most important criteria in ranking the alternatives in the studied case are economic, environmental, and social, respectively. Moreover, the sub-criteria of operating cost, transportation cost, and pollution are identified as the most important sub-criteria, respectively.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, Shakiba Sayadinia, and Masood Fathi
Wiley
AbstractPreventing energy waste in residential and office buildings has emerged as a critical issue in both developed and developing countries over recent decades. The growing demand for oil and energy reserves has amplified the urgency of this concern. The deployment of building energy management systems (BEMSs) can lead to timely responses to changes in environmental conditions, the prevention of energy wastage, a reduction in CO2 emissions, and an increase in the longevity of building equipment. Despite the undeniable benefits of BEMSs, their market size remains small, creating challenges for providers in reaching potential customers. This research seeks to identify and prioritize the marketing strategies for BEMSs. A case study was conducted, employing the “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats” analysis as a tool for identifying marketing strategies related to BEMSs. This method resulted in the identification of 18 distinct marketing strategies. These strategies were subsequently prioritized using a novel fuzzy multicriteria decision‐making technique, VIkor‐topSIS, considering six specific criteria. The findings of the study suggested a hierarchical influence of six criteria on the BEMS market, arranged in the following order of significance: effectiveness, cost, attainability, complexity, timing, and popularity. Furthermore, the top three marketing strategies for BEMSs were found to be internet advertising strategies, discounts to consumers, and online sales. The analysis of the results has also offered valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the studied BEMS provider, as well as the opportunities and threats present within the BEMS market.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, Ali Jozi, and Masood Fathi
Informa UK Limited
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, Fatima Sedady, Masood Fathi, Morteza Ghobakhloo, and Mohammad Iranmanesh
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
This study aims to introduce a method to integrate and coordinate departments’ activities to enhance the service quality of organizations using Quality Function Deployment (QFD). To this purpose, the classical two-dimensional House Of Quality (HOQ) matrix is changed to a three-dimensional form (3D-HOQ). The 3D-HOQ is applied to the marketing and Human Resources (HR) departments of a bank to determine customers’ and employees’ demands, respectively. The 3D-HOQ is also employed to provide a unique list of technical requirements to satisfy the identified demands. Obtaining a unique list of technical requirements with the cooperation of both departments reduces the inconsistency between departments, saves cost and time by preventing reworks and parallel works, and increases the organization’s efficiency. Moreover, 3D-HOQ is combined with the SERVQUAL technique and fuzzy theory to determine the weight of obtained technical requirements. The study is conducted in four main steps: 1) identifying the customers’ and employees’ demands; 2) identifying the technical requirements for simultaneous satisfaction of both customers’ and employees’ demands; 3) determining the relationships between the technical requirements and the identified demands; and 4) prioritizing technical requirements. Applying the 3D-HOQ resulted in identifying 30 customers’ demands, 30 employees’ demands, and 50 technical requirements. The study results show that “using new banking technologies” has the highest weight among the customers’ demands, and “job security” has been found to have the highest weight among employees’ demands. Moreover, “Intra-organizational processes automation” has been identified as the technical requirement with the highest weight.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, Sanaz Jafari Kahoo, and Masood Fathi
Informa UK Limited
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia and Masood Fathi
Wiley
Peyman Borna and Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
In some organizations, there are various departments, each having customers with different wants. The purpose of this research is to use a new tool named 4-Dimensional House of Quality (4DHOQ) and combine it with a mathematical model for determining and prioritizing the optimal list of technical requirements for satisfying customers’ wants in different departments of an organization regarding the budget constraint. Using 4DHOQ creates an integrated approach within the organization and leads to better use of the organization’s resources, increasing coordination between different departments, eliminating reworks, and enhancing efficiency. The proposed method is implemented in the municipality of Shahreza county in Iran. First, the customers’ wants at three different departments of “city services”, “social and cultural” and “public transportation” were identified and their weights were calculated. Then, technical requirements that fulfill these customers’ wants and their weights were determined with the help of the 4DHOQ. Finally, with the use of a mathematical model the budget constraint was considered. Results identified 21, 15, and 12 customers’ wants in the “city services”, “social and cultural” and “public transportation” departments, respectively. Moreover, 41 technical requirements to satisfy these customers’ wants were introduced and the optimal list of the technical requirements for implementing in the organization was determined.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, Parisa Feizollahy, and Masood Fathi
MDPI AG
Supply chain optimization concerns the improvement of the performance and efficiency of the manufacturing and distribution supply chain by making the best use of resources. In the context of supply chain optimization, scheduling has always been a challenging task for experts, especially when considering a distributed manufacturing system (DMS). The present study aims to tackle the supply chain scheduling problem in a DMS while considering two essential sustainability aspects, namely environmental and economic. The economic aspect is addressed by optimizing the total delivery time of order, transportation cost, and production cost while optimizing environmental pollution and the quality of products contribute to the environmental aspect. To cope with the problem, it is mathematically formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. Due to the complexity of the problem, an improved genetic algorithm (GA) named GA-TOPKOR is proposed. The algorithm is a combination of GA and TOPKOR, which is one of the multi-criteria decision-making techniques. To assess the efficiency of GA-TOPKOR, it is applied to a real-life case study and a set of test problems. The solutions obtained by the algorithm are compared against the traditional GA and the optimum solutions obtained from the MILP model. The results of comparisons collectively show the efficiency of the GA-TOPKOR. Analysis of results also revealed that using the TOPKOR technique in the selection operator of GA significantly improves its performance.
Mostafa Moghimi and Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Emerald
Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the optimization of the scheduling of production and transportation systems while considering delay time (DT) and environmental pollution (EP) concurrently. To this, an integrated multi-site manufacturing process using a cumulative transportation system is investigated. Additionally, a novel multi-society genetic algorithm is developed to reach the best answers. Design/methodology/approach A bi-objective model is proposed to optimize the production and transportation process with the objectives of minimizing DT and EP. This is solved by a social dynamic genetic algorithm (SDGA), which is a novel multi-society genetic algorithm, in scenarios of equal and unequal impacts of each objective. The impacts of each objective are calculated by the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) using experts’ opinions. Results are compared by dynamic genetic algorithm and optimum solution results. Findings Results clearly depict the efficiency of the proposed algorithm and model in the scheduling of production and transportation systems with the objectives of minimizing DT and EP concurrently. Although SDGA’s performance is acceptable in all cases, in comparison to other genetic algorithms, it needs more process time which is the cost of reaching better answers. Additionally, SDGA had better performance in variable weights of objectives in comparison to itself and other genetic algorithms. Research limitations/implications This research is an improvement which allows both society and industry to elevate the levels of their satisfaction while their social responsibilities have been glorified through assuaging the concerns of customers on distribution networks’ emission, competing more efficient and effective in the global market and having the ability to make deliberate decisions far from bias. Additionally, implications of the developed genetic algorithm help directly to the organizations engaged with intelligent production and/or transportation planning which society will be merited indirectly from their outcomes. It also could be utilitarian for organizations that are engaged with small, medium and big data analysis in their processes and want to use more effective and more efficient tools. Originality/value Optimization of EP and DT are considered simultaneously in both model and algorithm in this study. Besides, a novel genetic algorithm, SDGA, is proposed. In this multi-society algorithm, each society is focused on a particular objective; however, in one society all the feasible answers will have been integrated and optimization will have been continued.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, Narjes Salmabadi, and Somaye Rahimi
Emerald
Purpose This paper aims to provide an integrated production-routing model in a three-echelon supply chain containing a two-layer transportation system to minimize the total costs of production, transportation, inventory holding and expired drugs treatment. In the proposed problem, some specifications such as multisite manufacturing, simultaneous pickup and delivery and uncertainty in parameters are considered. Design/methodology/approach At first, a mathematical model has been proposed for the problem. Then, one possibilistic model and one robust possibilistic model equivalent to the initial model are provided regarding the uncertain nature of the model parameters and the inaccessibility of their probability function. Finally, the performance of the proposed model is evaluated using the real data collected from a pharmaceutical production center in Iran. The results reveal the proper performance of the proposed models. Findings The results obtained from applying the proposed model to a real-life production center indicated that the number of expired drugs has decreased because of using this model, also the costs of the system were reduced owing to integrating simultaneous drug pickup and delivery operations. Moreover, regarding the results of simulations, the robust possibilistic model had the best performance among the proposed models. Originality/value This research considers a two-layer vehicle routing in a production-routing problem with inventory planning. Moreover, multisite manufacturing, simultaneous pickup of the expired drugs and delivery of the drugs to the distribution centers are considered. Providing a robust possibilistic model for tackling the uncertainty in demand, costs, production capacity and drug expiration costs is considered as another remarkable feature of the proposed model.
Mahdad Pourmadadkar, Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, and Kamran Ghods
Emerald
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce an integrated approach using failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM), mathematical modeling and quality function deployment (QFD) techniques, for risk assessment and service quality enhancement in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) as a treatment for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).Design/methodology/approachFirst, the disruptions in the CABG process are identified and prioritized following FMEA instructions, using two MCDM techniques, called analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and TOPSIS. Consequently, several corrective activities are identified and weighted on the basis of QFD. Finally, a mathematical model is established to determine the most cost-effective activities for implementation. The approach is developed in a fuzzy environment to reflect the uncertainty and ambiguity of human reasoning.FindingsRegarding the CABG process disruption, a total of 30 failure modes in four main categories were identified and prioritized. Moreover, eight corrective activities were devised and ranked according to their impact on the failure modes. Finally, considering a limited amount of budget, a sensitivity analysis on the mathematical model’s objective function indicated that using 30 percent of the total budget, required to implement all corrective activities, was enough to cover more than 70 percent of the effects of corrective activities on the failure modes.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the quality risk assessment knowledge by introducing an integrated approach to evaluate and improve healthcare services quality. Also, the case study conducted on the CABG process has not been done by other related studies in the literature.
Shakiba Sayadinia and Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Emerald
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, by combining the AHP, ELECTRE II, ELECTRE III, ELECTRE IV and Copeland techniques for road maintenance prioritization, in which the roads are evaluated and ranked based on various criteria. The proposed method is applied to four streets in Tehran, as a case study.Design/methodology/approachFirst, a set of criteria for road maintenance was determined and their weights were obtained using the AHP method. Four streets in Tehran, Iran were considered as alternatives and prioritized using the ELECTRE II, ELECTRE III and ELECTRE IV methods. Finally, the results of employing the three methods were integrated using the Copeland method and a final result was obtained.FindingsThe findings of the study suggested that “road safety” is the most important criterion in maintenance and “traffic volume” and “pavement quality index (PCI)” have the second and third rank in importance. Moreover, “The width of the street” is the least important criterion in road maintenance. Additionally, the streets' final ranking was obtained using the proposed method.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed method helps managers effectively assign their limited budget and resources to roads with higher maintenance priority and as the result, increase the roads efficiency.Originality/valueIn this research, eight main criteria were collected using previous researches and experts' opinions. Also, a new combination of different MCDM techniques is proposed in this research.
Moein Farokhnia and Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Emerald
Purpose Nowadays, many organizations use quality function deployment (QFD) in order to recognize their customers’ wants and arrange a set of corrective activities in order to satisfy these wants. In a competitive environment, two or more organizations cooperate in order to meet their customers’ wants. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new hybrid approach of QFD employing SERVQUAL method, named three-dimensional house of quality (3DHOQ) to help the cooperation between two organizations with common customers by determining some common corrective activities that would satisfy their customers’ wants. Design/methodology/approach In order to better explain the proposed model, it is implemented in Birjand International Airport and Iran Air airline. At first, the customers’ want in the airport and airline sections are identified and the SERVQUAL method is used to determine the final weight of these wants. Afterwards, the corrective activities for satisfying the customers’ wants are determined using the three-dimensional QDF; and then are given weights using the multi-dimensional relation matrix. Findings Results of this study show the customers’ wants in two sections of airport and airline, the importance of each customer want, the gap between customers’ perception and expectation of each want, the collective corrective activities required to satisfy the customers’ wants and the weight of these corrective activities. Research limitations/implications This paper helps the airline and airport sections have an analyzed list of their customers’ wants and a set of shared and unshared corrective activities to meet these wants. Originality/value This paper presents a simultaneous QFD analysis in the airport and airline sections. Moreover, a new hybrid approach employing SERVQUAL method, named 3DHOQ is introduced to determine the corrective activities of both organizations and their weights.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia and Mohsen Farzaneh Azad
Informa UK Limited
Quality enhancement in the hospitality industry can lead to satisfied customers, increase the number of visitors and positively affect the GDP of countries. This paper proposes a hybrid model using the House of Quality (HOQ), SERVQUAL and Kano models for the hotel industry under budget constraint. The model was then implemented at a hotel in the city of Rasht in Iran. After identifying 31 customer needs, they were prioritised using a combination of the SERVQUAL and Kano approaches. HOQ was then implemented to determine and prioritise the acts and technical requirements required to meet customer needs. A mathematic model was developed to determine the optimal selection of activities within the specified budget. These functions were accomplished in a fuzzy environment. The results demonstrate the importance of each customer need, its gap to the desired condition and its type. The results also identify the cost and weight of each technical requirement.
Ahmad Torkzad and Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Emerald
Purpose Hospital evaluations create competition between healthcare providers. In this study, a multi criteria decision-making (MCDM) method is used to evaluate criteria that affect hospital service quality. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Criteria affecting hospital service quality are identified. Four Iranian public hospitals are evaluated using these criteria. Four hybrid methods, including modified digital logic–technique for order of preference by similarity to an ideal solution, analytical hierarchy process–technique for order of preference by similarity to an ideal solution, analytical hierarchy process–elimination and choice expressing reality and modified digital logic–elimination and choice expressing reality are used to evaluate hospital service quality. Results are aggregated using the Copeland method and final ranks are determined. Findings The four main criteria for evaluating hospital service quality are: environment; responsiveness; equipment and facilities; and professional capability. Results suggest that professional capability is the most important criterion. The Copeland method, used to integrate four MCDM hybrid methods, provides the final hospital ranks. Practical implications The criteria the authors identified and their weight help hospital managers to achieve comprehensive organizational growth and more efficient resource usage. Moreover, the decision matrix helps managers to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Originality/value New and comprehensive criteria are proposed for hospital quality assessments. Moreover, a new hybrid MCDM approach is used to achieve final hospital rankings.
Fatima Sedady and Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Emerald
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a new multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique to determine the priority of renewable power plants construction conceding technical, economic, social, political and environmental aspects. Design/methodology/approach First, a comprehensive set of 5 main criteria of technical, economic, social, political and environmental are considered for renewable power plants construction, each including 5 sub-criteria (a total of 25 sub-criteria). Then, the analytic hierarchy process method is used to determine the weight of the criteria. Finally, a new MCDM technique proposed to prioritize the construction of renewable power plants, named TOPKOR. To demonstrate the capability of the proposed method, a case study is conducted in which six types of renewable power plants are evaluated. Findings Comparison results of the main criteria weights show that the “economic” [0.403], “environmental” [0.296] and “technical” [0.17] aspects have the highest importance, respectively. The results also show that solar, hydroelectric and wave and tidal power plants have the highest priority for construction, respectively. Research limitations/implications The result of this research could be useful for related decision makers in construction of the renewable power plants to have a comprehensive set of criteria in technical, economic, social, political and environmental aspects in their decision process. Originality/value This research provides a comprehensive set of criteria and sub-criteria for prioritizing the renewable power plants. Moreover, a new hybrid MCDM technique is introduced for prioritizing the construction of power plants.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia and Amir Ghasemi
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT In a supply chain, scheduling plays a significant role in coordinating and cooperation. This article considers an integration of supplier and vehicle scheduling problems in terms of vehicle routing determination for transporting raw materials from the suppliers to some manufacturing centres. The aim is to minimize the total tardiness of all assigned orders to the suppliers and simultaneously minimize the total travelled distance of the vehicles. Most manufacturing companies, which have to manage their suppliers as an industrial unit, experience this problem. A new metaheuristic algorithm called the multiple league championship algorithm (MLCA), inspired by championship matches, is proposed to solve this problem. To show the efficiency of MLCA, it is compared with two different algorithms used for the problems in the literature that are closest to this problem and a soccer-based algorithm called golden ball. The experimental results prove that the proposed algorithm has better performance than these algorithms.
Ali Borumand and Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Emerald
Purpose Proper management of supplies and their delivery greatly affects the competitiveness of companies. This paper aims to propose an integrated decision-making approach for integrated transportation and production scheduling problem in a two-stage supply chain. The objective functions are minimizing the total delivery tardiness, production cost and the emission by suppliers and vehicles and maximizing the production quality. Design/methodology/approach First, the mathematical model of the problem is presented. Consequently, a new algorithm based on a combination of the genetic algorithm (GA) and the VIKOR method in multi-criteria decision-making, named GA-VIKOR, is introduced. To evaluate the efficiency of GA-VIKOR, it is implemented in a pharmaceutical distribution company located in Iran and the results are compared with those obtained by the previous decision-making process. The results are also compared with a similar algorithm which does not use the VIKOR method and other algorithm mentioned in the literature. Finally, the results are compared with the optimized solutions for small-sized problems. Findings Results indicate the high efficiency of GA-VIKOR in making decisions regarding integrated production supply chain and transportation scheduling. Research limitations/implications This research aids the manufacturers to minimize their total delivery tardiness and production cost and at the same time maximize their production quality. These improve the customer satisfaction as a part of social and manufacturer’s power of competitiveness. Furthermore, the emission minimizing objective functions directly provides benefits to the environment and the society. Originality/value This paper investigates a new supply chain scheduling the problems and presents its mathematical formulation. Moreover, a new algorithm is introduced to solve the multi-objective problems.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia, Amir Ghasemi, and Moein Farokhnia
Emerald
Purpose This study aims to propose a new genetic algorithm for solving supply chain scheduling and routing problem in a multi-site manufacturing system. The main research question is: How is the production and transportation scheduled in a multi-site manufacturer? Also the sub-questions are: How is the order assigned to the suppliers? What is the production sequence of the assigned orders to a supplier? How is the order assignment to the vehicles? What are the vehicles routes to convey the orders from the suppliers to the manufacturing centers? The authors’ contributions in this paper are: integration of production scheduling and vehicle routing in multi-site manufacturing supply chain and proposing a new genetic algorithm inspired from the role model concept in sociology. Design/methodology/approach Considering shared transportation system in production scheduling of a multi-site manufacturer is investigated in this paper. Initially, a mathematical model for the problem is presented. Afterwards, a new genetic algorithm based on the reference group concept in sociology, named Reference Group Genetic Algorithm (RGGA) is introduced for solving the problem. The comparison between RGGA and a developed algorithm of literature closest problem, demonstrates a better performance of RGGA. This comparison is drawn based on many test problems. Moreover, the superiority of RGGA is certificated by comparing it to the optimum solution in the small size problems. Finally, the authors use real data collected from a drug manufacturer in Iran to test the performance of the algorithm. The results show the better performance of RGGA in comparison with obtained outputs from the real case. Findings The authors presented the mathematical model of the problem and introduced a new genetic algorithm based on the “reference group” concept in sociology. Robert K. Merton is a sociologist who presented the concept of reference groups in society. He believed that some people in each society such as heroes or entertainment artists affect other people. The proposed algorithm uses the reference group concept to the genetic algorithm, namely, RGGA. The comparison of the proposed algorithm with DGA and the optimum solution shows the superiority of RGGA. Finally, the authors implement the algorithm in a real case of drug manufacturing and the results show that the authors’ algorithm gives better outputs than obtained outputs from the real case. Originality/value One of the major objectives of supply chains is to create a competitive advantage for the final product. This intension is only achieved when each and every element of the supply chain considers customers’ needs in every function of theirs. This paper studies scheduling in the supply chain of a multi-site manufacturing system. It is assumed that some suppliers produce raw material or initial parts and convey them by a fleet of vehicles to a multi-site manufacturer.
Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia and Sedighe Omidi
Emerald
Purpose This paper aims to propose a hybrid multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique for performance evaluation of banks in which the banks are assessed and ranked according to the criteria of the balanced scorecard (BSC) methodology and corporate social responsibility (CSR) views. Design/methodology/approach To clarify the performance of the proposed model, the MCDM technique was implemented in four banks in Iran as a pilot. First, proper criteria for banking industry are identified considering BSC and CSR. Consequently, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and modified digital logic (MDL) techniques are used to determine the weights of criteria. The banks are ranked by fuzzy TOPSIS (FTOPSIS) and fuzzy VIKOR (FVIKOR). Using a combination of these techniques, four methods, namely, AHP-FTOPSIS, AHP-FVIKOR, MDL-FTOPSIS and MDL-FVIKOR, are obtained, each of which provides a different set of rankings for banks. Eventually, the obtained ranks are integrated using the Copeland method. Findings The results showed that the return on investment, debt ratio and lower energy consumption criteria are the most important, and enhancement of brand value, increasing customer loyalty and environmental care criteria have the lowest percentage of importance. Also, the final bank ranking is determined by the proposed method. Originality/value This paper identifies 6 criteria and 25 sub-criteria for evaluating the banks considering BSC and CSR viewpoints including some new sub-criteria that has not been considered before. Moreover, these hybrid approaches and especially MDL techniques have not been used by previous researchers.
Jalil Vaziri and Mohammad Ali Beheshtinia
Emerald
Purpose In today’s highly competitive business environment, the main approach of all businesses is to optimally provide customers’ requirements and gain their satisfaction and trust. The process of value creation for customers consists of value chain activities which are concentrated on providing maximum level of customers’ needs. The purpose of this paper is to propose a holistic model by which the quality, the transferred value to customers and the firm’s competitive advantage would be improved simultaneously under budget constraint. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a combination of several quality management (QM) tools including SERVQUAL, Kano’s model, quality function deployment and knapsack problem. Moreover, the triangular fuzzy logic is used throughout the model to address data uncertainty and increase the model flexibility. The proposed model includes five steps which are implemented in the case study of life-insurance services. Findings The lack of coordination and cooperation between the people working in the inherently related sections leads to incorrect decisions and also the failure in implementation of adopted decisions. Hence, the interface between quality and strategic management should be well considered in organizations. The model generates an integrated vision to the process of decision making in this interface. The framework has several significant outcomes which would be used by both researchers and practitioners. Research limitations/implications The study shows that the individual elements of decision-making process in the interface between quality and strategic management are related to each other, recommending the need to coordinated and consistent effort between different parts of a firm. The results are limited by the sample size and geography of the survey. Originality/value This paper is among the few in the literature that have presented a holistic and step-by-step approach to the decisions on the intersection between two areas of quality and strategic management, recommending the managers to not have insular look to the issues and try to make a sufficient and efficient relationship between the different sections. This study is an important step in reflecting these relations and the need to create an integrated decision model.
S.H. Zegordi, I.N. Kamal Abadi, and M.A. Beheshti Nia
Elsevier BV
This study considers the scheduling of products and vehicles in a two-stage supply chain environment. The first stage contains m suppliers with different production speeds, while the second stage is composed of l vehicles, each of which may have a different speed and different transport capacity. In addition, it is assumed that the various output products occupy different percentages of each vehicle's capacity. We model the situation as a mixed integer programming problem, and, to solve it, we propose a gendered genetic algorithm (GGA) that considers two different chromosomes with non-equivalent structures. Our experimental results show that GGA offers better performance than standard genetic algorithms that feature a unique chromosomal structure. In addition, we compare the GGA performance with that of the most similar problem reported to date in the literature as proposed by Chang and Lee [Chang, Y., & Lee, C. (2004). Machine scheduling with job delivery coordination. European Journal of Operational Research, 158(2), 470-487]. The experimental results from our comparisons illustrate the promising potential of the new GGA approach.
Seyed Hessameddin Zegordi and Mohammad Ali Beheshti Nia
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
This study is concerned with the integration of production and transportation scheduling in a two-stage supply chain environment while considering the assignment of orders to the suppliers. The first stage contains m suppliers distributed in various geographic zones, and the second stage is composed of l vehicles with different speeds and transportation capacities that transport n jobs from the supplier to a manufacturing company. In addition, it is assumed that each job occupies a different vehicle size and could be processed by some permissible suppliers. After modeling the problem as a mixed integer programming problem, a genetic algorithm named dynamic genetic algorithm (DGA) is proposed to solve it. Since this problem has not been mentioned in the literature, DGA performance was evaluated by comparing its outputs with optimum solutions for small-sized problems and to the random search approach for larger problems. Additionally, the performance of the DGA was compared with that of a similar problem from the literature. The results of these comparisons show that the DGA is an excellent approach. In addition, the impact of grouping technology initialization is examined, showing that the quality of the solution was not improved and that there was an increase in the CPU time.
S.H. Zegordi and M.A. Beheshti Nia
Elsevier BV
This study considers the integration of production and transportation scheduling in a two-stage supply chain environment. The objective function minimizes the total tardiness and total deviations of assigned work loads of suppliers from their quotas. After modeling the problem as a mixed integer programming problem, a genetic algorithm with three populations, namely, a multi-society genetic algorithm (MSGA), is proposed for solving it. MSGA is compared with the optimum solutions for small problems and a heuristic and a random search approach for larger problems. Additionally, an MSGA is compared with a generic genetic algorithm. The experimental results show the superiority of the MSGA.