Browsing by Author "Savola, Mikko Erik"

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Long-term needs for logistics capacity in the pharmaceutical industry
(2013) Savola, Mikko Erik
Perustieteiden korkeakoulu | Master's thesis
In this master's thesis was analyzed, how a large pharmaceutical company can improve its forecasting of the long-term need for warehouse capacity. To support its strategic planning, the company wanted to develop a forecast tool and process, with which the company's global need for warehouse capacity could be forecast up to the next ten years. Creating a forecast tool and process was the goal of the mother project of this thesis. In this thesis was analyzed and evaluated, what requirements the long-term forecasting of warehouse capacity needs set for forecast tools and their input data. Furthermore, this thesis evaluated, what feasible forecast tools exist and whether they can be applied at the company. The first phase of the master's thesis showed that academic research provides few tools for forecasting long-term warehouse capacity needs. The provided models and tools are often short-term optimization tools that require highly detailed input data and therefore cannot be used for high-level global planning. An interview series conducted with selected industries showed that the long-term forecasting of warehouse capacity needs requires not only suitable tools, but also good data management and seamless system integration. In addition, supply chains have to be more flexible in the future, which requires collaborative forecasting of warehouse capacity needs with customers and suppliers. This master's thesis also evaluated the feasibility of three different modeling concepts for one of the client company's sites. The initial results show that currently the implementation of any of the concepts is difficult, due to problems in data management and systems integration. However, one of the concepts may provide a forecast tool to be used companywide in the future