• Digital Transformation: a distributed perspective promised by Blockchain and IoT

• Organisation: IntelliLab

• Venue: Sherbrooke, Canada

• Period: November 3rd, 2020

• Collaborative initiative: SC4 and the Innovation 4.0 Network, Creactech Research Center on Intelligent Organisations, relyActive, EOS Nation, Cercle-i, Merinov and ÉTS-Fusée Lab.

• Agenda: Conference program.

• Language: French

• Diffusion: online via Teams or face-to-face in Sherbrooke.

• Registration:

o  Free, no fees

o  Registration link

• Date: February 14, 2022 – 2pm UTC

• Project Title: Unveiling Hidden Critical Suppliers in Deep Supply Networks

• Short Description: Of the many factors affecting supply chain resiliency, visibility can have a profound effect on critical decisions for improving the readiness, response, and recovery from supply chain disruptions. The visibility of tier-1 suppliers gives only a narrow view of the entire picture. This work expands on the application of the Nexus Supplier Index (Shao et al, 2018) using a data-driven approach that deviates from traditional analysis in that it relies on the network topology, leveraging graph centralities. Data collection started with 40 focal companies, representing 24 industries, 14 clusters, different sectors, sizes, generating $1.7T in revenue and 2.3M jobs. We collected ~16,000 datapoints covering upstream and downstream supply chains, which is the largest application of the NSI reported in literature. We calculated different node centralities for the focal companies and all companies in their supply networks, with the intention of providing increased supply chain visibility to key worldwide companies. We propose improvements for identifying hidden critical suppliers (HCS) within the network, that when combined provided visibility of depths up to 11-tiers. Hence, this work illustrates the results of a partnership between academia with governmental and non-governmental agencies in a data-driven approach to identify critical suppliers hidden in a US state’s main manufacturers’ supply network. From this work, 43 companies were identified as hidden critical suppliers in an initial analysis, from which 35 did not have any presence in the analyzed state (82%). All of them were contacted for possible future economic development endeavors. It is also important to mention that 15 of the 43 critical suppliers were in industries related to semi-conductors (35%) and that this data was collected in the fall of 2020, before the worldwide semiconductor shortage, illustrating the potential to identify industries with greater supply chain resiliency risk.

• Presenters: Francis Bowen & Jane Siegler (Butler University)

• Date: December 14, 2021 – 2pm UTC

• Project Title: Blockchain technology in operations and supply chain management: a multi-layer approach on adoption, prospects and implications

• Short Description: Blockchain technology has the potential to initiate a disruptive change in collaborative relationships between actors in operations management (OM) and supply chain management (SCM). In the context of distributed ledger technologies (DLT), blockchain technology (BCT) can increase transparency in networks, reduce information asymmetries, create trust between previously unknown actors, and help increase the efficiency of collaboration through rapid data exchange and information sharing. The technology is being investigated in a wide variety of business sectors. In OM and SCM, initial applications have been developed and initial research work has been carried out. However, the breakthrough of the technology and its widespread application have not yet been achieved. This is also because the implications of BCT applications are still insufficiently researched. The impact of the introduction and use of the technology on the collaboration in the networks, the structures and the economic opportunities and risks are still rather unclear. The presentation will be based on my thesis, exploring the fit of blockchain technology for OM and SCM through a multi-layered research approach. I will present the included articles that serve to achieve four main research objectives: gain insights into the current use of the technology in industrial environments to unify the state of research and industry to identify further research needs; analyzing the implications of BCT for functional areas of SCM & OM; evaluating BCT for specific use cases of OM and SCM, and finally classify previous research to uncover numerous new research trends and research opportunities.

• Presenters: Jacob Lohmer (Technische Universität Dresden) 

• Date and Time: October 18, 2021 – 1pm UTC

• Project Title: Digital organisational readiness: experiences from manufacturing companies

• Short Description: Research and experience from manufacturing companies indicate that digital transformation is not only technology-centric, but represents an important organisational change process. However, many companies still understand digital transformation only as “advance digitisation” and not as a continuous process of changes. The appeal of adopting new digital technologies without an appropriate foundation and purpose can increase organisational barriers, undermine companies’ maturing processes and stopping them from having full access to digital technologies’ benefits. Studies within manufacturing companies in Sweden enable identifying a set of organisational conditions that need to be assessed to evaluate the readiness for digital transformation in manufacturing companies. Volvo CE has included the set of conditions in their digital readiness assessment model, and they are willing to share experiences regarding their digital transformation journey. The seminar will seek expand the research and the findings from the first paper (doi: 10.1108/JMTM-05-2019-0188) discussing aspects related to SCM, for example: how digital transformation can be escalated to companies’ supply chains? What are the requirements to access organisational digital readiness in the supply chain to enable horizontal integration?

• Presenters: Carla Machado (Jönköping University) & Anna Öberg (Volvo CE)

• Date: June 14, 2021

• Project Title: Managing scarcity: the case of Electric Vehicles batteries in global supply chains

• Short Description: There is a projected growth of Electric Vehicles (EV) batteries demand by 25x by 2035, while the demand for power storage in sectors other than automotive is also expanding fast, but the scarcity of raw material to cope with the expected production is already a visible challenge. As an example, the European Union is already creating tight regulations for collecting and recycling EV batteries, but more importantly, proposing a mandatory closed loop to keep the batteries’ value chain inside the Union to facilitate access to the recovered material to be used to manufacture new products. This creates several challenges, especially for companies that depend on the same materials for production and those relying on a battery aftermarket. In this study, we aim to discuss how different business models influence the scarcity of materials in the EV battery supply chain and their consequences for the various stakeholders in this market.

• Presenters: Jannis Angelis (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) & Elias Ribeiro da Silva (University of Southern Denmark)