Analysis and optimization of Ethicon's suture needles supply chain, a Johnson & Johnson franchise

Details

Supervisors

Chevalier, Philippe

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en Ingénieur de gestion

Abstract

The present text analyses the Ethicon suture needles supply chain in order to give recommendations aiming at optimizing the end-to-end future flow. A complete analysis of this supply chain is therefore conducted. It will help to understand the current supply chain as well as the future changes that will occur. A brief analysis of the supply chain complexity will also be performed to give further insights about the case. Afterwards, the main aspect that will drive my methodology will be focused on the inventory management as it will be discovered that the changeovers along the whole supply chain are key to consider. As a matter of fact, different lot sizing optimization models will be developed for each production step. More concretely, an economic production quantity (EPQ) inventory model will be developed for the first production step and a multiple family lot scheduling model for the two other steps. Then, the results of the optimization modelling will be presented and analyzed, allowing to perform a capacity analysis for each manufacturing sites. Finally, different scenarios will be developed in order to give recommendations on volume allocation, based on the previous analyses. A final recommendation will be then built allowing to determine an optimal feasible production plan for the whole supply chain.