There are extensive cooperations with industrial, commercial and service companies where students can work on problems from practice. The cooperation within the framework of the preparation of student research projects and diploma theses refers to first-rate companies of the German economy such as Audi, Bayer, BMW, Adtranz/Bombardier, Bertelsmann, Bosch, Braun, DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bahn, Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo AG, Frankfurt / Main Airport, Gildemeister, Gilette, Kühne & Nagel, Porsche, Quelle, Schering, Schindler, Siemens, Volkswagen and others.
(I)STROD - (International) Student Thesis and Research Opportunities Database Students can use (I)STROD to search and apply directly for thesis and research topics.
Secretary of the Chair of Logistics
+49 30 314-22877
+49 30 314-29536
Organization name | Logistics |
---|---|
Office | H 90 |
Building | H |
Room | H 9105 |
Introduction to scientific research.
Requirements at the Chair of Logistics
SupplyChainGuide.org
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Earning a DBA or Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics can take your SCM career to the highest of heights! While exploring cutting-edge theories and tools, you’ll have the opportunity to work on practical research projects that will prepare you to become a supply chain professor, executive, or consultant. Use our guide to learn more about doctoral programs in SCM/L, including curricula, career paths, and the differences between the DBA & Ph.D. Or leap ahead to our degree directory to find a supply chain doctorate that works for you.
A Doctorate in Supply Chain Management and Logistics (SCM/L) is a research-intensive degree that is designed for students who are interested in working in academia or high-level SCM positions within the industry. Students who choose to pursue a Ph.D. or DBA in Supply Chain Management typically have a passion for pushing the boundaries of SCM and logistics through innovation and research. They seek to make a difference in the field of supply chains by asking “what is possible?” rather than “what is standard practice?”
If this sounds like the right fit for your goals, take a moment to explore the opportunities in our listings . As a doctoral student in SCM/L, you’ll tackle courses in business, operations research, marketing, and quantitative methods. You’ll study everything from the ins & outs of consumer behavior to the complexities of global logistics management. In the second half of the degree, you will also be required to complete a dissertation on an SCM/L topic of your choosing.
Many types of doctorate programs in our listings focus on SCM/L fields, so it’s important to find one that fits your needs. Standard offerings include:
Your choices don’t end there! A variety of specialty Ph.D. programs in Supply Chain Management and Logistics are also available, including:
Both the DBA and Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics programs will teach you about the research and management of supply chains. However, there are a few key differences between these programs:
Program | DBA Supply Chain Management and Logistics | Ph.D. Supply Chain Management and Logistics |
---|---|---|
Focus | Professional | Academic |
Credits | 60 | 90+ |
Application | Real World | Theoretical |
Program Length | 3 Years | 3-5 Years |
Careers | Executive, Consultant | Professor, Author, Research |
Most Ph.D. programs in Supply Chain Management and Logistics take three to five years to complete. You’ll be required to take advanced-level coursework in supply chain management and logistics, complete a range of research projects and academic papers, and write a dissertation. Credit hours for a Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics will vary, but you can expect to complete a minimum of 90 credit hours.
To be accepted into a Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics program, prospective students must have a master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution (or the international equivalent). GRE or GMAT scores are frequently required. Some programs will also expect you to have prior work experience in the field of supply chain management.
We’ve included links to admissions requirements in our listings so you can assess whether you’re ready to apply. Be prepared to provide the following items:
Note: If you only have a bachelor’s degree, you may be able to apply for a streamlined bachelor’s-master’s-doctorate pathway within the university. Ask the Ph.D. program coordinator about your options.
Universities are at liberty to develop their own plans of study for a Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics. A doctorate founded on business administration is not going to have the same focus as a doctorate in engineering. However, most SCM/L doctoral programs will offer a range of intriguing courses that will teach you about the research and management of supply chains.
Here are some subjects you can expect to encounter in a standard SCM/L doctorate in our listings :
During this time, you could also be writing up academic papers for submissions to journals & conferences and working on industry-related projects.
Ph.D. coursework is frequently completed in the first few years of your doctorate. Before you’re allowed to write your dissertation, you’ll usually be expected to pass a Comprehensive Exam. This exam will test your knowledge of the material covered in your Ph.D. program in Supply Chain Management and Logistics. It’s typically a written exam, although departments often have the discretion to make it an oral exam as well.
Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics Programs almost always include a five-chapter dissertation. (DBA programs could contain a doctoral thesis.) Here’s how the Ph.D. dissertation process works:
A doctorate in SCM/L can provide you with the skills & knowledge to work in a range of high-paying fields, including academia, research, and logistics management. Most Ph.D. graduates secure positions as university professors, but the right DBA or Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management & Logistics can also open doors to various executive & consultancy positions.
Possible career paths for doctoral graduates include:
Ready to start assembling a shortlist of Ph.D. and DBA options? Use these listings to narrow down your choices. Keep in mind that many Ph.D. programs will be full-time, campus-based, and fully funded by the university. DBA programs will have more flexibility in scheduling and may be available online. But you will also have to pay quite a bit for tuition.
The university of alabama.
Culverhouse College of Business
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Arizona state university.
W.P. Carey School of Business
Tempe, Arizona
University of arkansas.
Department of Supply Chain Management
Fayetteville, Arkansas
University of california-riverside.
School of Business
Riverside, California
University of miami.
Herbert Business School
Coral Gables, Florida
Phd in operations management, georgia institute of technology.
Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering
Atlanta, Georgia
University of illinois at urbana-champaign.
Gies College of Business
Champaign, Illinois
Indiana university bloomington.
Kelley School of Business
Bloomington, Indiana
Krannert School of Business
West Lafayette, Indiana
Iowa state university.
Debbie and Jerry Ivy College of Business
Department of Doctoral Programs
Laurel, Maryland
Offered Online
Robert H. Smith School of Business
College Park, Maryland
Massachusetts, university of massachusetts amherst.
Isenberg School of Management
Amherst, Massachusetts
Michigan state university.
East Lansing, Michigan
Ph.d. in operations and sourcing management, university of minnesota-twin cities.
Supply Chain & Operations Department
Minneapolis, Minnesota
University of missouri-st louis.
College of Business Administration
Saint Louis, Missouri
Washington university in st louis.
Olin Business School
University of nebraska-lincoln.
College of Business
Lincoln, Nebraska
Rutgers university.
Rutgers Business School
Newark, New Jersey
Cornell university.
SC Johnson College of Business
Ithaca, New York
New york university.
Leonard N. Stern School of Business
New York, New York
Whitman School of Management
Syracuse, New York
Duke university.
Fuqua School of Business
Durham, North Carolina
Kenan-Flagler
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
North dakota state university-main campus.
Department of Transportation, Logistics, and Finance
Fargo, North Dakota
Air force institute of technology-graduate school of engineering & management.
Graduate School of Engineering & Management
Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
Kent state university at kent.
Ambassador Crawford College Of Business And Entrepreneurship
Ohio state university-main campus.
Fisher College of Business
Columbus, Ohio
Operations and Technology Management Department
Toledo, Ohio
University of oklahoma norman campus.
Michael F. Price College of Business
Norman, Oklahoma
Lundquist College of Business
Eugene, Oregon
Pennsylvania state university-main campus.
Smeal College of Business
University Park, Pennsylvania
Temple university.
Fox School of Business
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
University of pittsburgh-pittsburgh campus.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Rhode island, university of rhode island.
Kingston, Rhode Island
Ph.d. in operations and supply chain management specialization, south carolina, clemson university.
Department of Management
Clemson, South Carolina
University of south carolina-columbia.
Darla Moore School of Business
Columbia, South Carolina
The university of tennessee.
Knoxville, Tennessee
Department of Multidisciplinary Engineering
College Station, Texas
Ph.d. in business administration - operations & supply chain management, the university of texas at austin.
McCombs School of Business
Austin, Texas
University of houston.
Bauer College of Business
Houston, Texas
G. Brint Ryan College of Business
Denton, Texas
David Eccles School of Business
Salt Lake City, Utah
Liberty university.
Lynchburg, Virginia
Old dominion university.
Strome College of Business
Norfolk, Virginia
Virginia tech.
Pamplin College of Business
Blacksburg, Virginia
University of wisconsin-madison.
Madison, Wisconsin
University of wisconsin-milwaukee.
Lubar School of Business
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Published on November 11, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 20, 2023.
Choosing your dissertation topic is the first step in making sure your research goes as smoothly as possible. When choosing a topic, it’s important to consider:
You can follow these steps to begin narrowing down your ideas.
Step 1: check the requirements, step 2: choose a broad field of research, step 3: look for books and articles, step 4: find a niche, step 5: consider the type of research, step 6: determine the relevance, step 7: make sure it’s plausible, step 8: get your topic approved, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about dissertation topics.
The very first step is to check your program’s requirements. This determines the scope of what it is possible for you to research.
Some programs have stricter requirements than others. You might be given nothing more than a word count and a deadline, or you might have a restricted list of topics and approaches to choose from. If in doubt about what is expected of you, always ask your supervisor or department coordinator.
Start by thinking about your areas of interest within the subject you’re studying. Examples of broad ideas include:
To get a more specific sense of the current state of research on your potential topic, skim through a few recent issues of the top journals in your field. Be sure to check out their most-cited articles in particular. For inspiration, you can also search Google Scholar , subject-specific databases , and your university library’s resources.
As you read, note down any specific ideas that interest you and make a shortlist of possible topics. If you’ve written other papers, such as a 3rd-year paper or a conference paper, consider how those topics can be broadened into a dissertation.
After doing some initial reading, it’s time to start narrowing down options for your potential topic. This can be a gradual process, and should get more and more specific as you go. For example, from the ideas above, you might narrow it down like this:
All of these topics are still broad enough that you’ll find a huge amount of books and articles about them. Try to find a specific niche where you can make your mark, such as: something not many people have researched yet, a question that’s still being debated, or a very current practical issue.
At this stage, make sure you have a few backup ideas — there’s still time to change your focus. If your topic doesn’t make it through the next few steps, you can try a different one. Later, you will narrow your focus down even more in your problem statement and research questions .
There are many different types of research , so at this stage, it’s a good idea to start thinking about what kind of approach you’ll take to your topic. Will you mainly focus on:
Many dissertations will combine more than one of these. Sometimes the type of research is obvious: if your topic is post-war Irish poetry, you will probably mainly be interpreting poems. But in other cases, there are several possible approaches. If your topic is reproductive rights in South America, you could analyze public policy documents and media coverage, or you could gather original data through interviews and surveys .
You don’t have to finalize your research design and methods yet, but the type of research will influence which aspects of the topic it’s possible to address, so it’s wise to consider this as you narrow down your ideas.
It’s important that your topic is interesting to you, but you’ll also have to make sure it’s academically, socially or practically relevant to your field.
The easiest way to make sure your research is relevant is to choose a topic that is clearly connected to current issues or debates, either in society at large or in your academic discipline. The relevance must be clearly stated when you define your research problem .
Before you make a final decision on your topic, consider again the length of your dissertation, the timeframe in which you have to complete it, and the practicalities of conducting the research.
Will you have enough time to read all the most important academic literature on this topic? If there’s too much information to tackle, consider narrowing your focus even more.
Will you be able to find enough sources or gather enough data to fulfil the requirements of the dissertation? If you think you might struggle to find information, consider broadening or shifting your focus.
Do you have to go to a specific location to gather data on the topic? Make sure that you have enough funding and practical access.
Last but not least, will the topic hold your interest for the length of the research process? To stay motivated, it’s important to choose something you’re enthusiastic about!
Most programmes will require you to submit a brief description of your topic, called a research prospectus or proposal .
Remember, if you discover that your topic is not as strong as you thought it was, it’s usually acceptable to change your mind and switch focus early in the dissertation process. Just make sure you have enough time to start on a new topic, and always check with your supervisor or department.
If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
Methodology
Statistics
Research bias
Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .
However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:
All research questions should be:
You can assess information and arguments critically by asking certain questions about the source. You can use the CRAAP test , focusing on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.
Ask questions such as:
A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.
It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.
Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.
The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, November 20). How to Choose a Dissertation Topic | 8 Steps to Follow. Scribbr. Retrieved August 19, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/dissertation-topic/
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A list of possible topics to write a Master thesis under the supervision of the center’s researchers.
The research interests of the center’s members revolve around two major fields: economics and operations research.
The aim of our research work is to explore the use of the theoretical and empirical results of these two fields to innovate in the transport and logistics area to help improving the competence of the Norwegian industry.
Here is a list of possible topics to write a Master thesis under the supervision of the center’s researchers:
Utilizing weather data and AIS data, we aim to evaluate the influence of climatic events on routine maritime trade operations. Significant events, such as the draught restriction in the Panama Canal due to severe droughts, have resulted in costlier transits and prolonged waiting time durations. This thesis can investigate the externality cost of severe weather patterns, such as intensified El Niño.
Supervisor: Gabriel Fuentes
By quantifying shipping emissions, including greenhouse gases (GHGs) and sulfur, a thesis on this topic can investigate the impact of maritime climate-related policies on the overall trajectory of vessel emissions. There's ongoing debate surrounding regulations like the IMO 2020 Sulphur Cap and the introduction of measures like the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII). We will evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of these regulations.
Maritime investments face uncertainties with evolving climate-related policies. A seemingly recent and valuable asset today might become obsolete or uncompetitive due to policy shifts in the near future. A thesis on this topic could aim to introduce a model that navigates potential scenarios related to the progression of climate policies.
The phenomenon of "dark fleets" refers to vessels that operate in hidden or illegal capacities, often eluding detection through various means. Leveraging a blend of AIS (Automatic Identification System) data and satellite optical imagery, we can observe the activities of these fleets, particularly in the grain and oil trade sectors. Your thesis could focus on the externalities of the dark fleet on the legal market or the effect on trading patterns.
Working with Vake.ai
Supervisor: Evelina Gavrilova-Zoutman and Gabriel Fuentes
In 2019 before the sanitary emergency started, Norway received 5.88 million tourists representing 7,04 billion dollars and 1,7% of its GDP, reaching the highest levels in 2017. In this year, the tourism industry represented nearly 4,2% of Norwegian GDP and attracted around 170 billion NOK in total tourism consumption. These numbers show the potential of this industry for economic growth and depict some challenges. Particularly when we put the number of tourists in relation to the population of the country, it becomes clear the necessity to take a closer look at current policies and opportunities from point of view of operation research.
For the City of Bergen, the cruise industry is especially important. Bergen receives the largest number of cruise tourists in the country, making of it one of the most visited cities in Scandinavia.
It might be interesting for cruise companies to have touristic recommendations for their passengers, itineraries that provide the most benefits out the visit, and ensure the passengers will be back to the ship on time. But also, from the city hall perspective, it might be desirable to have a more homogenous distribution of the visitors across town in order to avoid crowds. Additionally, according to Bergen’s urbanization plan, there could be desirable areas of the city where it is more interesting to bring visitors and the money they spend on their trip, in the frame of urban development, social welfare, and environment.
In order to assess the different locations, it is necessary to understand the city trends, socio-economic indicators, passenger preferences, and tourist offers, among others. Then use this information as support for an optimization model, allowing to suggest the best routes, both for the tourists and the City of Bergen.
Main supervisor: PhD-candidate Andres Felipe Velez Correa .
In the oil and gas industry, helicopters are widely used for personnel and cargo transport between offshore platforms and heliports on the land. Therefore, the decision-making regarding the composition of the helicopter fleet and the allocation of this resource is vital for a stable operation of oil & gas exploration and extraction. Such tactical decision affects various aspects of an oil company, including contract utilization, carbon footprint, plan robustness and operating expenses.
However, the common practice in the industry is that the decision of fleet composition and allocation is still manually made based on demand forecast and individual’s experience. Such decision-making process cannot guarantee optimal solutions, is not scalable, and would likely lead to low resource utilization rate and high operating cost.
We are now seeing a clear trend in the oil and gas industry which is to apply automation in its various and complex decision-making process with the support of optimization. In terms of the helicopter fleet composition and allocation problem in this case, a decision support tool is expected to facilitate the decision of helicopter chattering and deployment with stochastic demand for the next planning period. Moreover, resource sharing, namely utilizing idle helicopter resources from other operators, is also a promising opportunity to increase the overall efficiency on an industry level and hence is becoming increasingly popular among different oil companies and helicopter operators.
With its trademark solution DaWinci as the industry standard in personnel logistics management, Quorum is the software supplier for many of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. Quorum Software Norway, as the market leader, is now cooperating with several major players in the oil and gas industry to address various new challenges with new software planning tools. This master project will take advantage of Quorum’s expertise in logistics management in oil and gas industry, and look at some of the following issues:
Students choosing this project should expect to visit Quorum Software’s Bergen office to work alongside our optimization engineers for up to a week.
Collaborator: Quorum Software, contact person Xin Wang ( [email protected] ).
Supervisor: Yewen Gu .
The penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) in the Norwegian market is massive. I have dedicated part of my recent research to the optimization of charging schedules of EVs and to compare how the optimal patterns differ from the actual behaviour of EV owners. These are only examples from the broad range of topics in the research agenda on EVs nowadays. There is a lot of literature about it. I would be open to discuss your specific interests and to provide you with references that could set the basis for a potentially relevant master thesis on EVs.
Supervisor: Mario Guajardo .
Using empirical case studies to quantify how more accurate short-term weather forecasting can improve chartering decisions for a ship operator.
Working with company Western Bulk.
We have comprehensive data on micro-level commodity trades, vessel behaviors, satellite-based information, in addition to the commodity and freight market data. By addressing practical challenges faced by shipping companies, theses can be developed based on hands-on projects in collabration with shipping companies, banks or insurance companies. The following aspects serve as broad examples:
Topic 1: Trade flow and freight rate forecasting
Topic 2: Investment horizon. How to balance asset lifespan, carbon neutral regulation and investment costs.
Topic 3: Carbon costs in transportation
Topic 4: ESG disclosure in shipping & offshore industry
Topic 5: Climate change and credit risk in shipping & offshore
Supervisor: Haiying Jia
Topic 1: Marine accident analysis w.r.t. attributes such as trade, location, or crew
Topic 2: Automated underwriting in marine insurance
Topic 3: Risk exposure vs. financial return
Large cruise ships can be hard to exit in emergency situations and face unique challenges regarding evacuation. The ship’s steel hull has so far precluded the use of wireless technologies, which implies that all communications must be cabled-based, not even cell-phones work in an emergency. Another challenge is that evacuation plans are static and cannot be adapted as the emergency unfolds, something important in this context as different factors, such as winds, waves and tilting of the boat, affect passenger behaviour and the evacuation itself. In an ongoing project we try to develop a practical and theoretically sound stochastic and dynamic evacuation model for a large passenger ships aided by innovative wireless technology.
The project is in cooperation with NTNU (that covers the technical parts with respect to engineering and ship design) while NHH cover the dynamic modeling of an evacuation. The new wireless technology comes from ScanReach at Sotra - https://www.scanreach.com/ - and they are closely involved in the project.
Possible theses would cover aspects (to be agreed upon between supervisor and student) of modeling the evacuation or solving resulting models. There are many challenges in the modeling so that the resulting model is fast, which is required in an emergency.
Supervisor: Stein W. Wallace
For e.g. breakbulk and chemical shipping companies it is challenging to find out which cargoes fit best together into a voyage such that all cargoes can be transported on voyages and ships travel the least possible distance. The aim of this topic is to create a model with typical restrictions and find a good weighing of the different aspects of the objective function. In cooperation with Dataloy Systems, you can use data to develop and test your model as well as discuss the underlying concepts.
Supervisor: Julio Cesar Goez
Using unique daily spatial data for vessel employment, analyze how regional freight rate changes are driven by supply and demand, and whether the specifications and operator of a ship matters for its attractiveness in the market.
Supervisor: Haiying Jia .
Urban population growth is driving an increase in the amount of freight that goes into and out of cities. That growth poses an increasing challenge to freight transportation in smaller compact cities with difficult topology, which is typical for most Norwegian cities and numerous cities abroad.
This transportation challenge is exacerbated by phenomena such as an increase in internet trade, the demand for fast delivery, and a reduction in the ownership of private cars in the city centre which could be used for shopping. The result is an increase in the total volume of freight, and more critically, in the total number of deliveries, normally managed by a large variety of transportation companies.
Unless planned for and regulated, a consequence might be increased traffic, with enhanced energy consumption, that competes for available space and may affect living conditions for a growing urban population.
This project will study small city logistics, with a focus on Bergen, to find the options available for the authorities, business models for a better city logistics setup, as well as mathematical modeling. Will be done in cooperation with the City of Bergen, Vestland County, Bergen Chamber of Commerce and Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation (CET) at The University of Bergen. The project can be qualitative as well as quantitative.
The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway, and we offer two project grants of NOK 25,000.
Possible supervisors: Stein W. Wallace , Julio C. Goez or Mario Guajardo .
If you are a hunter from the Stone Age and one day you are facing an offer to replace you wooden stick with a brand new shotgun, will you still use your new weapon just as a harder stick made of steel to kill your prey, or use it in a better way? Similar challenges are now faced by the shipping companies due to the forthcoming technological evolution, namely the autonomous ship. Obviously, an autonomous ship with no crews on board can significantly reduce a shipping company’s crew cost.
However, just like the increased hardness of a shotgun in the hunter example, the reduction of crew cost might just be a tiny benefit of the autonomy of our ships. Besides the lower crew cost, what are the fundamental advantages of an autonomous vessel comparing to the conventional manned ship?
Greater potentials are expected by better utilizing these advantages with innovative ideas in the daily operation of the vessels, such as higher frequency of ferry in the night time, flexible hub location for waterway taxi and multi-functioned vessels with different remote control teams. The world’s first commercial autonomous vessel (Yara Birkeland) will be soon launched in Norway in the end of 2018. And it is a great opportunity for the students here to also take the leading position in the research of the autonomous vessel.
Contact: Mario Guajardo
The aim of emergency medical services (EMS) is to provide timely assistance to emergencies in order to save lives. Within this service, quality and capacity have sometimes deteriorated because staffing is not satisfactory and because the organization and directives are not clear. My interest is to work on the use of autonomous vessels to help ameliorate the burden that EMS staffing represents in the case of boat ambulances, and to improve the logistics planning of the system.
The aim is to analyze the use of autonomous vessels to improve response times and coverage. For example, by combining autonomous vessels with geographic information systems, one may use real time information of potential patients to improve the deployment of the resources. In particular my interest is to explore the following key research topic: designing algorithms with predictive capabilities that can be included in real time systems and capable of managing a continuous feed of data points coming from users’ cell phones and other sources.
Supervisor: Julio C. Goez .
Aim: find key drivers for decision-making process of repositioning empty vessels - current market conditions, sentiment - repeating patterns, etc.
Supervisor: Vít Procházka.
Dairy farmers with combined milk and beef production face complex decisions regarding optimum milk yield, slaughter age for bulls, calving age for heifers, disposal of farm land etc. The aim for this topic is to explore how operations research may help farmers improve their decision making process to increase their profitability. In this project the students will interact with TINE, Norway's largest producer, distributor and exporter of dairy products with 11,400 members (owners) and 9,000 cooperative farms.
Supervisors: Mario Guajardo and Julio C. Goez .
Car-sharing provides short-term vehicle access to a group of user members who share the use of a vehicle fleet owned by a car-sharing organization that maintains, manages, and insures the vehicles. An example of this model in Bergen is bildeleringer. Managing the fleet involves decisions such as the size of the fleet, how to position and reposition the vehicles, maintenance schedules, and pricing approaches. Strong background on analytics required
Supervisor: Julio C. Goez
The providers of online applications usually need to find the deployment of minimum cost for running it in the cloud. For the deployment, the planner on the application side must consider renting resources from cloud providers. However, there is a service level constraint that must be satisfied to ensure the quality of the service.
Scheduling takes an important role in making shipping as efficient as possible. We want to evaluate the quality of a schedule in practice. As the amount of information changes from what is available during planning to what is available when the plan comes into action, this is a complex problem. The aim of this topic is to find a model to evaluate a plan with respect to how it was used in practice. This will allow us to evaluate if companies improved their scheduling over time. Using data provided by Dataloy Systems, we want to test the model and for example analyse if the implementation of a scheduling software had a positive impact on the schedules.
Supervisors: Julio Cesar Goez
Fishing in the antarctic is a profitable business that is aiming to professionalize its scheduling. Fishing boats are fishing and at the same time producing various fish products on board, increasing their stock of fish products on board. On regular intervals they need to meet a cargo vessel to transfer all their cargo onto the cargo vessel. This is to avoid the fishing boat having to go all the way to the coast and losing valuable fishing time. We want to find a model that fits this operation and can be extended to other storage scenarios (storage on the cargo ship, storage at a warehouse the cargo ship delivers to)
For a ship that should visit several terminals in a port to discharge cargo and load cargo scheduling these terminal visits is not trivial. Each terminal has an individual waiting list, each cargo potentially has a deadline when it needs to be discharged or loaded and additionally the ship is not allowed to be overloaded at any point in time. We are interested in a model to evaluate the quality of different solutions.
Below you will find the current topic proposals of the Institute for master theses.
In the master thesis, a solution approach for the optimization of handling processes for container terminals in the hinterland is to be developed. For this purpose, methods from the fields of machine learning or operations research are to be applied. The developed solution shall be tested in the context of a research project. [ more ]
In your work you focus on the existing models of sensor transfer learning from electro-optical sensors to motion sensors. You will compare the applicability of the models to the maritime domain and the use on board for the purpose of wave height determination. In the current literature, only singular sensor values have been considered so far, disregarding transfer learning. [more]
In the master's thesis, an AI agent is to be developed that enables the autonomous operation of a gantry crane in a container terminal. The agent will be trained and tested in a simulation environment to ensure the efficient and safe movement of containers. [ more ]
When a container vessel arrives at a container terminal, it heads for its previously assigned berth, is moored, and unloading and loading begins with the help of ship-to-shore gantry cranes. This process must be organized efficiently: If the containers unloaded from the ship can be placed close to the berth and the containers to be loaded are also waiting close to it, the distances travelled by the horizontal transport vehicles to and from the ship-to-shore gantry crane can be minimised. You start with a structured literature review. How have berth planning and storage strategy been considered together to date? How have planning uncertainties been dealt with? In the next step, you create a small simulation model to abstractly recreate selected approaches and identify tipping points for a few operating systems. [ more ]
It is of both public and scientific interest to identify current and expected future bottlenecks in seaports. This is because maritime transport is key in the climate crisis due to the high energy efficiency of transport across seas. A clear picture of the current situation is needed in order to drive forward the expansion of ports in line with demand. That's why you start with structured research: What approaches are there for determining port KPIs and identifying bottlenecks? What information do these approaches rely on? In the second step, you calculate the KPIs for exemplary ports of your choice and compare them fairly. [ mehr ]
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We welcome students to engage in state-of-the-art research projects.
For this, we supervise Bachelor and Master theses, Project Studies, and Interdisciplinary Projects (IDPs). Below you can find a list of offered topics. You can also suggest a topic of your own (areas can include but are not limited to: transportation logistics, inventory management, warehouse management, retail, supply chain management, procurement and sourcing, lot sizing or production systems).
Please consider the information below regarding the application process .
Note that since we have a high load of ongoing theses, among future applications we will favor students who have already conducted their project study at our chair.
Master theses.
Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Inventory Management
Digital Logistics and Transportation Optimization
Data Science, Optimization and Reinforcement Learning in Logistics
Online Algorithms for Commodity Procurement (advisor: Moritz Rettinger)
Automation of Ordering Decisions in C-Parts Wholesale (advisor: Mahsa Nakhost )
If you are interested in doing your Bachelor (Master)’s Thesis at our group, then please send an e-mail (in English) to [email protected] with the following information:
Do you like to suggest a topic of your own? Please also include:
If you do not find a particular topic to apply to, please contact us for a list of further topics with application documents, specifying the field of research you are interested in: Mobility, transportation logistics, inventory management, warehouse management, retail, supply chain management, procurement and sourcing, lot sizing or production systems.
Please note: Since we have a high load of ongoing theses, among future applications we will favor those students who have passed more courses at our chair.
Seminar papers as well as bachelor/master's thesis and project studies vary in length and depth. However, they share same requirements and standards with regard to format and style. We therefore summarized good practice for you in our:
Guidelines and writing tips
MS Word template
Latex template (You can also copy the Overleaf project from this link to your own project board)
Hard copy submission:
Electronic submission:
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Supply Chain Management is one of those research domains that will always have research opportunities and research topics for dissertation and thesis projects. This is because the global business frameworks operated and managed by multinational businesses are changing rapidly because of the challenges posed by globalization and liberalization, which directly affects supply chain design and management of an organization. Environmental issues, economical challenges, financial crisis, challenges to sustainability, fluctuating oil prices, increase of carbon footprints, dynamic scenarios of multinational trade relationships, agreements, and barriers, global conflicts and wars, rising threats to international sea cargo, land cargo and air cargo, rising threats to congested lanes and channels, single points of failures, lack of feasible alternate routes, increasing supply chain risks, increasing global competition, rising benchmarks of customers' expectations, challenges of flexibility, agility, and responsiveness and many more similar issues are significant challenges facing modern supply chain managers who are already under pressure to reduce lead times, inventory holding and costs in every step of supply chain management. Modern supply chain practices need to be highly proactive, horizontally integrated, synchronized, information driven, network based, and technology enabled. These challenges are rapidly eliminating the old beliefs and practices giving way to new ways of managing the components of supply chain. The core elements of supply chain, viz. procurement management, production and operations management, inventory management, distribution management, and retail management, can no longer operate as distinct verticals but need to be integrated horizontally with the help of accurate and timely information management and flow, effective and efficient management of funds, synchronous activities, effective coordination, decision-making power at lower levels, better economies of scale, elimination of wastes, increased reliability on actual demands (than demand forecasting), flexible logistics infrastructure, operations, and processes, organization wide cost reduction targets and excellent service delivery. In this context, I hereby present some of the key areas in which, the students may like to conduct their research studies. In each of these areas and the suggested sample topics, you may select an industry in a country/region or a specific company in that industry with multiple locations for conducting a narrow and focussed study. (A) Functional Integration of Procurement, Production, Inventory, Distribution, and Inventory Management: In modern supply chains, organizations are giving high emphasis on horizontal integration of supply chain components by breaking all the traditional functional barriers and organizational hierarchies that have existed since the concept was born. Modern supply chain agents integrate effectively by sharing timely and accurate information with everyone in very transparent manner. For example, if the supply chain has multiple inventory points (Stock Keeping Units), the procurement manager may have access to daily, or even hourly, updates of the inventory levels at all the points. Functional integration is evident even with suppliers and customers. The systems like automatic reordering by an IT enabled system at fixed pre-negotiated prices whenever inventory levels dip below the reorder points, continuous flow of consumption information upstream and shipping information downstream between the endpoints, supplier managed inventory at customer premises, exact and timely flow of actual demand information reducing the need for demand forecasting, strategic supplier agreements, framework agreements, sustainable procurements, etc. are emerging modern practices. I suggest that students may like to undertake academic research studies on how supply chain integration is carried out by modern companies, by conducting on-field surveys and interviews. The studies can be conducted on a particular company or on the entire supply network of a commodity. A sample of possible research topics in this area is presented below. In addition to the following sample topics, please contact us at or to get more topic suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) Logistics performance through coordination and collaboration in multi-echelon supply chains (b) Constructs and their measurements comprising interrelationships among functional variables in supply chain management (multiple topics involving identification of functional variables in a supply chain environment and their interrelationships established through statistical significance testing) (c) Functional integration in supply chains and competitive advantages of businesses (multiple topics investigating influence of functional integration variables of supply chain management on variables related to competitive advantages of businesses) (d) Functional integration in supply chains and performance of businesses (multiple topics investigating influence of functional integration variables of supply chain management on variables related to financial performance, market performance, supply performance, demand fulfilment performance, and quality performance of businesses) (e) Multi-level inter-echelon integration of functional roles and responsibilities, and their tasks in supply chains (f) Effectiveness of achieving social, economical, and environmental sustainability through functional integration in supply chains (g) Investigation of technological solutions for functional integration in supply chain management (example: investigating the role of logistics information systems, role of RFID, and role of Internet of Things in supply chain functional integration) (h) Achieving supply chain resilience, responsiveness, and flexibility through inter-echelon functional integration (i) Critical success factors for effective and efficient functional integration in supply chain management (multivariate factor analysis and structural equation modeling) (j) Quantitative and system dynamics modeling of supply chain functional integration (comprising study of supply chain system dynamics modeling in Vensim and Arena, and analysis of dependence of integration goals on internal and external factors using Taguchi method) (k) Evolving techniques on supply chain integration through digital transformation in the era of Industry 4.0 (l) Integrating and automating procurement and inventory replenishment and management practices using Industrial Internet of Things and big data analytics (m) Integrating industrial machineries and robotics operations with automated performance monitoring and maintenance to drive automated inventory replenishment in the Industry 4.0 (n) Integrating materials despatch data with inventory data through continuous data streams using Industrial Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics (o) Application of Augmented reality in integrating procurement, logistics operations, and inventory control in the era of Industry 4.0 (p) Automating supplier deliveries and payment processing through Industrial Internet of Things attachments in consignments and integrating with procurement and accounts processes (q) Digital transformation of transportation and distribution networking in the era of Industry 4.0 (r) Conceptualising and designing a Big Data Analytics framework for integrating facilities of strategic suppliers with those of a large global manufacturing organisation (s) Integrating processes from drawing board to final delivery of products - investigating new B2B models in manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain management (t) Integration of procurement, inventory, logistics, and supply chain management functions of multiple suppliers serving shared customers through cloud manufacturing (u) Materials Requirements Planning integration with real-time production consumption data streamed from Industrial Internet of Things attached with robotics and machineries, and their controllers in the Industry 4.0 (v) Real-time visibility into process variables and its impact on lead-time and supply chain risks management performance (w) Resilience, Agility, and Responsiveness achievable through integration of logistics and supply chain processes employing Industrial Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics (x) Multi-functional decision-making protocols by integrating Operations 4.0 with Procurement 4.0 and Inventory 4.0 in the Industry 4.0 (y) Lean and Just-In-Time production, logistics, and supply chain management revisited in the era of Industrial Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 (z) Securing global logistics and supply chain management integration by separating the Industrial Internet infrastructure from the Public Internet Logistics and Supply Chain Management is undergoing a wave of digital transformations worldwide. In this context, we have presented . We will be happy to assist you in developing your narrow research topic with an original contribution based on the research context, research problem, and the research aim, and objectives. Further, We also offer you to develop the "problem description and statement", "aim, objectives, research questions", "design of methodology and methods", and "15 to 25 most relevant citations per topic" for three topics of your choice of research areas at a nominal fee. Such a synopsis shall help you in focussing, critically thinking, discussing with your reviewer, and developing your research proposal. To avail this service, . (B) Supply Chain Network Design: The concept of network design is rapidly gaining popularity in supply chain management. In fact, many modern scholars are talking about renaming "Supply Chain Management" to "Supply Network Management". This is because companies no longer just manage multi-tier suppliers in the form of chains but rather manage a whole network of suppliers for their key purchases. The concept of supply network has evolved as a result of globalization and rapid growth of Internet leading to reduced gaps between suppliers and buyers of the world. The network design concepts are applied in the areas of production facilities, operational facilities (like service locations), logistics facilities, transportation, distribution, and retailing. The actual design depends upon the supply chain strategy, scope, cost, risks and uncertainties, and demand information. The key design considerations in network design are - nodes and links, direct shipments, milk runs, in-transit mergers, domestic transit routes, international transit routes, last mile transit routes, locations of plants, depots, warehouses, distributor storage, retail outlets, and risks related to each node and link. The key factors that need to be taken into account are - strategic factors, technological factors, macroeconomic factors, political factors, infrastructure factors, competitive factors, socioeconomic factors, localization, response time expectations (of customers), facility costs, and logistics costs. In my view, network design in logistics and supply chain management has ample opportunities for conducting academic studies for students and professionals. The studies will be based more on interviews and focus group discussions because the students will need to learn from specialist network designers and network managers in supply chains. A sample of possible research topics in this area is presented below. In addition to the following sample topics, please contact us at or to get more topic suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) Multiobjective optimization problems in supply chain network design under risks and uncertainties (multiple topics are possible for designing different configurations of a supply network through mathematical optimization in operations research theory) (b) Value creation through robust supply chain network design (c) Optimised supply network design through process engineering and value chain creation (d) Agile and lean production strategy through robust closed-loop supply network design (e) Effective Supply chain network design for effective demand fulfilment at low operational costs and through high quality and timely deliveries (f) Effective Supply chain network design for reducing carbon footprints and improving environmental sustainability (g) Effective Strategies for robustness in supply network design for reducing service disruptions amidst uncertainties in flow of supplies (h) Effective Supply network design for dealing with uncertainties in demand information flow and high seasonal fluctuations (i) Effective Supply network design for curbing Bullwhip effect and reducing the resulting effects of beer gaming and order rationing games (j) Supply chain network design for integrated flow of materials, funds, and information in forward and reverse logistics (k) Supply chain network design for implementing, maintaining and operating strategic supplier agreements (l) Multipath routing design in national supply chain networking based on variability in path costs and path delays (m) Supply network optimisation through system dynamics modeling, network simulations, and Taguchi method (n) Designing a multi-echelon multi-vehicle network with optimal routing under time window constraints for perishable products supplies (o) Optimized supply network design for capacity planning and balancing of production capacity, logistics capacity, and distribution capacity (p) Designing locations and interconnectivity of temporary in-transit storage infrastructures for multi-hop multi-path transportation networks (q) Designing a flexible transportation, logistics, and distribution network for lean and agile order fulfilment of small batch orders (r) Solving an integrated supply chain design optimization problem for multiple irregular shipments caused by production and logistics delays using hybrid Taguchi - Immune method (s) Strategic and tactical supply chain network designs for managing risks and uncertainties under stochastic demand variations (t) Evolutionary approaches of flexible logistics network designing and redesigning for variable capacity, resources, and funds allocation decision-making based on variations in costs, efficiencies, and lead-times (u) Principles influencing agility, flexibility, responsiveness, resilience, and quality of supply chain network design (v) Multi-party multi-supplier supply chain network design based on order booking and fulfilment services through cloud computing (C) Demand Pull Supply Chain Strategy: It is almost an empirical fact that the world is now gradually drifting towards demand pull supply chain strategy for demand chain management instead of mass production and products push strategy. Now the businesses are focusing more on gaining accurate and timely demand information rather than depending upon demand forecasts such that demand-based order fulfilment through make-to-order and assemble-to-order processes can be done. The companies have already faced significant problems due to high inventory costs and wastage of unconsumed products in light of forecast inaccuracy and inaccurate demand flow phenomenon caused by Forrester (Bullwhip) effect. However, it may be noted that pull supply chain strategy is not as straightforward as push strategy. The strategists no longer have the leverage to just depend upon demand models, viewed as magic wands in the past, but are required to proactively collect actual demand information. This change requires effective integration with suppliers and buyers, and large scale information sharing through sophisticated information systems. The companies need to think much beyond Japanese Kanbans or lean strategies (even they have backfired, really!!). The students may like to study on what companies are doing or can do to shift to demand pull strategy as much as possible. A sample of possible research topics in this area is presented below. In addition to the following sample topics, please contact us at or to get more topic suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) Enhancing responsiveness of a supply chain through demand pull strategy supported by lean manufacturing and IT-enabled integration (b) A study of make-to-order, assemble-to-order, and engineer-to-order demand fulfilment strategies under demand pull strategy (c) Lean transformation of a supply chain for implementing demand pull strategy and demand-linked order fulfilment (d) Identifying and managing customer order coupling points of a supply chain for implementing demand pull strategy and demand-linked order fulfilment (e) Data collection and management methods from bar codes and RFID data aggregators for implementing demand pull strategy and demand-linked order fulfilment (f) Value chain management by integrating demand and supply information through knowledge management (g) Implementing demand pull strategy and demand-linked order fulfilment through cloud computing-enabled demand chain management (h) Investigating resource-based view and resource-advantage theory for implementing demand pull strategy and demand-linked order fulfilment (i) Principles and factors influencing supply chain design for effective demand chain management (j) Strategic supplier engagements and integration with sales and marketing for effective demand chain management (k) Designing a logistics workflow system for demand chain management using data collected from bar code and RFID databases (l) System dynamics modeling and discrete events simulations for designing and analysing a demand chain management system (m) Demand-driven inventory management based on predictive analytics and collaborative replenishment (n) Demand-driven quick response in digitalised supply chain management (o) Resilience and responsiveness in demand-driven digitalised supply chains (p) Collaborative multi-party logistics for demand-driven supply chains (q) Solving bullwhip effect problem in digitalised supply chains through multi-echelon data collection and analysis (r) Supply chain analytics and visualisation technologies for demand - supply synchronisation (s) Impact of modern real-time data collection and visualisation technologies on demand fulfilment performance of supply chains (t) Role of machine learning and artificial intelligence in responding to highly dynamic stochastic demands (u) Supply chain partnership modeling using modern digitalised integration of logistics and production processes (v) Time-based supply chain competition and related time-based strategies in the digitalised world (w) Process and Value chain mapping in modern digitalised supply chains (x) Advanced category management in demand-driven supply chain management (y) Demand-driven supply chain mapping processes specific to an industry (industry-specific topics) (z) Demand-driven flexible smart contracts in blockchains comprising of closed supplier and customer networking We will be happy to assist you in developing your narrow research topic with an original contribution based on the research context, research problem, and the research aim, and objectives. Further, We also offer you to develop the "problem description and statement", "aim, objectives, research questions", "design of methodology and methods", and "15 to 25 most relevant citations per topic" for three topics of your choice of research areas at a nominal fee. Such a synopsis shall help you in focussing, critically thinking, discussing with your guide/supervisor, and developing your research proposal. To avail this service, . Please visit the (D) Supply Chain Efficiency and Effectiveness: Every organization spends significant amounts on supply chain management. Financial planning, cost control, timely service, high quality of service, elimination of duplicates and wastes, information and information systems integration, horizontal collaboration, cooperation, teamwork, and communications, relevant management practices, process integration, tasks integration, metrics and measurements, continuous improvements, and return on investments in supply chain are key drivers of efficiency and effectiveness. A number of metrics are taken as inputs to the strategic supply chain planning to ensure that optimum efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved. This research area may require on-site quantitative data collection, and quantitative analytics using SPSS and such other statistical analysis tools to arrive at the results. The students may have to discover independent and dependent variables and their interrelationships using statistical significance testing and other inferential statistical methods. A sample of possible research topics in this area is presented below. In addition to the following sample topics, please contact us at or to get more topic suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) Defining and measuring key performance indicators of supply chain performance (b) Differentiation, effectiveness, and efficiency in the context of competitive advantages through logistics performance (c) Strategies for enhancing process, tasks, communications, information systems, and collaboration efficiency in supply chains (multiple topics may be formed each addressing a separate area) (d) Inducing agility and flexibility in supply chains through effective supplier selection and management (e) Effects of inter-echelon collaboration, coordination, and communications on effectiveness and efficiency of demand fulfilment (f) Enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of supply chains by achieving triple bottomline (environmental, economic, and social) sustainability objectives for supply chain management (g) Investigating the impact of global information and supplier integration on stock replenishment effectiveness and demand fulfillment of multinational retail brand stores (h) Investigating the impact of demand and supplies forecasting accuracy on logistics costs and demand fulfillment of multinational retail brand stores (i) Investigating the influence of online comparative quotes and multi-supplier management in web-based global procurement on business value enhancement and profitability (j) Investigating the influence of IT innovation and Information Integration on Global supplier development, and business value creation (k) Investigating the impact of demand and supplies forecasting accuracy on business value creation, resources prioritization, and inventory planning effectiveness (l) Investigating the influence of IT innovation, Information Integration, and Relevant decision support reporting on long-range planning effectiveness, resources forecasting, and budgeting in supply chain management (E) Supply Chain Integration: This research area may be taken as an extension of functional integration (point A). Other forms of integration in supply chain management are logistics integration, process integration, supplier integration, technology integration, data integration, information and information systems integration, quality integration, funds integration, and infrastructure and services integration. The student may like to study how companies are integrating with key suppliers and customers to improve flow of information about demands (upstream) and supply (downstream) and to reduce lead times. The modern concepts like direct delivery (from suppliers to customers), vendor managed inventories (VMI), cross-docking, optimal procurement policy, optimal manufacturing strategy, inventory minimization, input and output control, aggregation planning, process integration, real time monitoring and control, optimization of operations, supply chain object library, enterprise supply chain integration modelling, 3PL and 4PL, quick response (QR), efficient consumer response (ECR), continuous replenishment planning (CRP), and collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) are included in the scope of supply chain integration. The students may chose a particular area and conduct on-site interviews of supply chain experts about how these practices are incorporated by organizations in their supply chain integration strategies. A sample of possible research topics in this area is presented below. In addition to the following sample topics, please contact us at or to get more topic suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) A study of strategies for achieving effective integration of an organisation with customers and suppliers for value creating demand chain management (b) Competitive advantages of IT enabled supply chains by virtue of integrated processes, integrated information, and integrated team collaboration (c) Strategies and logistics planning for integrating forward and reverse supply chains (d) Performance outcomes achievable through supply chain integration in manufacturing companies (e) Logistics capability development through supply chain integration (f) Lean and agile transformation of supply chains through supply chain integration (g) Effective supply chain risk management through logistics processes, infrastructure, and tasks integration strategy (h) Integrating supply chain processes and information through e-collaboration tools on cloud computing (i) Implementing lean and six-sigma philosophies for supply chains through information and process integration (j) Developing dynamic capabilities and flexibility in a supply chain through integration (k) Information integration and collaboration in reverse supply chain management (l) Enablers and barriers to integration in supply chain management (m) Reducing supply chain disruptions through information integration and collaboration (n) Integrating demand and supply sides in a supply chain through value chain management (o) Eliminating duplicates and wastes in supply chains through multi-echelon process and information integration and standardisation (p) Tactical supply chain integration under supply uncertainties, disruptions, and demand fluctuations (q) Collaborative planning and replenishment and vendor-managed inventory in modern cloud-based multinational e-commerce (Amazon case study) (r) Collaborative logistics planning through 3PL and 4PL for supply chain flexibility and quick response (s) Closed loop supply chain integration for remanufacturing of rapidly recyclable products (separate product-based case studies, like batteries, bags, consumer electronics, mobile phones, and Vehicle tyres) (t) Applying ISO 9001 standard for integrating supply chain processes (u) Transactional and relational mechanisms for integration with buyers and suppliers in small-scale industries (v) Global supply chain integration with lean and green practices for triple bottom-line (environmental, economical, social) sustainability (w) Integration in services supply chain for customer-centric value creation (x) Integrating marketing, sales, procurement, and logistics functions and their processes for effective demand chain management (y) Carbon accounting and carbon footprint tracing of supply chains through knowledge and information integration (z) Curbing dysfunctional phenomena in supply chains through multi-echelon functional, process, information, and skills integration (examples are: Bullwhip effect, beer gaming, order rationing, large batch sizes, inaccurate demand forecasting, stock outs, stock overruns, cost overruns, and high defects density) We will be happy to assist you in developing your narrow research topic with an original contribution based on the research context, research problem, and the research aim, and objectives. Further, We also offer you to develop the "problem description and statement", "aim, objectives, research questions", "design of methodology and methods", and "15 to 25 most relevant citations per topic" for three topics of your choice of research areas at a nominal fee. Such a synopsis shall help you in focussing, critically thinking, discussing with your reviewer, and developing your research proposal. To avail this service, . Please visit the (F) Supply Chain Performance Drivers: The key performance drivers of supply chain management are - facility effectiveness, inventory effectiveness, transportation effectiveness, information effectiveness, sourcing effectiveness, cost effectiveness, speed effectiveness, delivery effectiveness, quality effectiveness, service effectiveness, green effectivness, economic effectiveness, social empowerment effectiveness, employee skills and competencies, supplier effectiveness, flexibility, lean effectiveness, agility, responsiveness, resilience, and market orientation effectiveness. These drivers comprise multiple performance indicators that may be measured quantitatively by collecting data and applying them in SPSS. The studies in this area may primarily be quantitative with statistical significance analysis of interrelationships between variables. A sample of possible research topics in this area is presented below. In addition to the following sample topics, please contact us at or to get more topic suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) Influence of information systems on supply chain operational performance (b) Influence of multi-echelon integration on supply chain operational performance (c) Market orientation and demand penetration in supply chains and their effects on demand fulfilment performance (d) Strategic lock-in under win-win buyer-supplier relationships for enhanced supplier performance (e) Identifying the performance key indicators and their measures of a global multi-echelon supply chain following the balanced scorecard approach (f) Customer and supplier perspectives of value chain performance with end-to-end integration of logistics facilities and processes (g) Developing and testing an instrument based on SCOR for performance measurement of global sustainable supply chains (h) Evaluating the structure, speed, responsiveness, resilience, agility, and flexibility metrics and their measurements of a modern global supply chain in the context of fulfilling lean and agile demands (i) Performance metrics and measurements in reverse closed-loop supply chains for recycling and reengineering (j) Approaches for developing industry-specific KPIs, KPMs, and measurement methods of a global supply chain (k) Applying economic value added (EVA) and activity based costing (ABC) for enabling lean and agile performance of a global supply chain (l) Factors and preparations influencing development of performance measurement indicators and their measures in a multi-echelon supply chain (m) Defining configurable and comprehensive performance metrics for selecting suppliers based on contractual terms and customers' needs (n) Enablers and barriers of performance measurements of e-supply chains using cloud computing (o) Greening a supply chain through selection and measurement of green KPIs and KPMs (p) Measurements of maintenance and after sales performance in a closed-loop supply chain (q) Modeling lean and agile practices through a strategy-structure-performance paradigm change in supply chain management (r) Approaches for developing logistics KPIs, KPMs, and measurement methods of a complex multi-company multi-industry global supply chain managed by international freight and forwarding (courier) companies (this topic is specifically designed to study the logistics and supply chain performance of multinational courier companies like DHL, Blue Dart, FedEx, United Parcel Service, TNT, etc.) (s) Role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in enhancing logistics performance in a global supply chain (t) Supply chain performance drivers for fostering greenness and sustainability in developing economies After reading this entire article; (G) Demand Forecasting: The concept of demand forecasting is diminishing as more and more companies are now focusing on getting accurate and timely demand information rather than depending upon forecasts. This is carried out by effective integration of information from all the nodes of the supply chain and disseminating upstream as well as downstream. However, there are many industries that will continue to depend upon push strategy and demand forecasting. The students may like to study about the drawbacks of traditional forecasting methods (like time series forecasting, moving averages, trend analysis, etc.) and the ways of improving forecasting accuracy. Many companies want to incorporate real time data in their forecasting models and focus on forecasting for shorter periods. This requires lots of additional knowledge over and above the traditional ways of working upon past demand data. The modern forecasting models may be based on accurate knowledge of customer segments, major factors that influence forecasting accuracy, information integration, bullwhip effect, scenario planning, simulations, external factors, risks, and causal (Fishbone or Ishikawa) analysis. Most of the studies may be qualitative or triangulated. A sample of possible research topics in this area is presented below. In addition to the following sample topics, please contact us at or to get more topic suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) Demand forecasting for reducing Forrester (bullwhip) effect caused by distortion induced during information flow (b) A Study of advanced planning methods and techniques in supply chain management (c) Factors influencing timeliness and accuracy of demand forecasting in supply chain management (d) Judgmental adjustments approaches in demand forecasting based on localised scenario analysis of the supply chain in a location (e) The role of knowledge management in demand forecasting in supply chains (f) Scenario planning and system dynamics modeling for studying the effects of demand forecasting on supply chain performance (g) Forecasting of spares stocking and materials flow in reverse supply chains based on service logs of the service centres (h) Demand and supplies mapping through customer facing data collection in CRM applications (i) Demand forecasting through big data analytics of Internet retail websites (j) Advanced techniques in demand forecasting for decision support (studies on neural networks, fuzzy algorithms, neuro-fizzy models, goal oriented programming methods, scenario analysis, advanced planning tools, AHP, etc.) (k) Demand forecasting through study and analysis of customer actions and order coupling points in a supply chain (l) Demand forecasting under uncertainties and supply risks following advanced planning tools (m) Aggregation of sales, order booking, production, inventory, and supplies information for adaptive demand forecasting for businesses running in volatile markets (n) Predictive analytics for supporting follow-the-demand strategy in digitalised supply chains (o) Artificial Intelligence for Predictive Analytics of demand waves in stochastic demand environments (p) Predictive and prescriptive analytics for Procurement 4.0 (q) Advanced data analytics for predictive visualisation of transportation and distribution risks (r) Predictive data modeling for detecting provenance-related anomalies in supplier reports (s) Predictive data modeling for flows prioritisation in warehouses having dynamic capabilities of racks and routes (t) Demand-driven flow management in supply chains using predictive analytics (u) Real-time visualisation of consumption in modern retail supermarkets and hypermarkets (v) Lean replenishment of inventory using real-time data visualisation of inventory flows and predictive analytics (w) Supply chain synchronisation following advanced demand and supplies predictions (x) Managing time-based opportunities following demand and supply predictive modeling (y) Predictive data analytics for reducing flows and storage periods in digitalised warehousing (z) Supply chain business models exploiting the predictive data analytics capabilities Please visit the (H) Aggregation Planning: Aggregation is carried out by a company to determine the levels of pricing, capacity, production, outsourcing, inventory, etc. during a specified period. Aggregation planning helps in consolidation of the internal and external stock keeping units (SKUs) within the decision and strategic framework for reducing costs, meeting demands and maximising profits. It may be viewed as the next step of either demand forecasting (push strategy) or demand information accumulation (pull strategy) for carrying out estimations of the inventory level, internal capacity levels, outsourced capacity levels, workforce levels, and production levels required in a specified time period. Aggregation planning in modern supply chains is carried out using advanced planning tools comprising of 2D layout maps, 3D spatial maps, structural maps, data association with map items, spatial data mining, location-aware data mining, analytical hierachy planning, etc. The students may like to conduct qualitative case studies and modeling-based quantitative studies to research about modern practices of aggregation planning in various industrial and retail sectors. A sample of possible research topics in this area is presented below. In addition to the following sample topics, please contact us at or to get more topic suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) Planning and aggregating customer order points, stock keeping points, and transportation routes for order fulfilment with agreed service levels (b) Aggregation of supply chain processes for logistics planning in a global supply chain (c) Hierarchical aggregation planning of transportation routes and their lead-times for predicting delivery reliability (d) Aggregation of city logistics facilities for planning of urban food and essential supplies distribution under crisis scenarios (e) Supply chain planning matrix with hierarchical aggregation of stock keeping units (SKUs) and transportation routes for determining pricing, demand fulfilment thresholds, safety stocks, and lead-times (f) Multi-objective urban logistics planning through aggregation of locations and spatial capacity consumption patterns on a city map (g) Holistic planning of supermarket and hypermarket inventories using aggregation of 3D spatial models, RFID data of packaged products, and storage/retrieval tools (h) Aggregation planning through virtualisation of logistics clusters of supermarkets and hypermarkets in 3D spatial mapping tools (i) Aggregation planning for spare parts inventory in large-scale service centres based on integrated information availability from installed bases, service stations, stock keeping units, and production units (j) Aggregation planning for on-site service provisioning and spares stocking at customer locations using installed base, SKUs, and transportation route maps and information (k) Logistics park layout planning for deciding on SKU locations and routing (l) Aggregation planning of information assets for maintaining information systems inventory for large IT customers (this topic will involve case studies of enterprise IT support by large IT vendors like Cisco, IBM, HP, Dell, etc. using their logistics operations and inventories) (m) Layout planning of construction assets and materials storage and flow in a large construction site (n) A structural map of horizontal inter-echelon cooperation for improved logistics effectiveness and efficiency (o) Classification and nomenclature of nodes in a supply network plan for organising data in spatial data maps and spatial data mines (p) Multi-agency coordination through 3D spatial model of a virtualised supply chain using RFID-based tracking and tracing of items Copyright 2020 - 2026 ETCO INDIA. 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COMMENTS
1. Impact of Ukraine and Russia war on global logistics and supply chain. This topic tries to find the consequence of the ongoing war in Europe on the supply chain and logistics of the world. This is one of the best logistic dissertation topics for 2022 that is not yet covered in length. Therefore, one can easily develop a great thesis from it. 2.
Typically, logistics is a broad subject with numerous subfields and hence you may struggle to identify the right research topic for your logistics dissertation. But with our assistance, you can easily spot the best logistics research topics. Especially, for your convenience, in this blog, we have published a list of unique dissertation topics ...
A list Of Dissertation Topics in logistic management. Investigating the impact of the change in demand and supply on the logistics functions and costs. Evaluating the growing importance of IT in the management of logistics and supply chain. Analyzing the influence of IT innovation on the effectiveness of logistics and supply chain management.
The 7 Powerful Supply Chain Trends (I also dubbed "Supply Chain 7.0") have the potential to become a powerful influence over time. These trends include Augmented reality (AR), Big Data, Gamification of the supply chain, moving the supply chain to the "Cloud," and the Internet of Things (IoT) - Industry 4.0.
Trending Logistics Research Topics. Listed below are some latest logistics research topics that will help you prepare an excellent dissertation. Explain the role of artificial intelligence in streamlining SCM. Write about Blockchain technology in secure logistics operations. Discuss the impact of the e-commerce boom on warehousing strategies.
The 7 Powerful Supply Chain Trends (I also dubbed "Supply Chain 7.0") have the potential to become a powerful influence over time. These trends, including Augmented reality (AR), Big Data, Gamification of the supply chain, moving supply chain to "Cloud," and Internet of Things (IoT) - Industry 4.0.
Master Theses at MIT. Title: A Qualitative Mapping and Evaluation of an Aerospace Supply Chain Strategy. Author: Jonathan Hung and Nicholas Pierce. Advisor: Roberto Perez-Franco. Year: 2011. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URL: CTL Publication Link.
Content analysis was utilized when examining the dissertation abstracts based on the key terms. 3.1 Defining logistics and supply chain management While logistics management is a part of SCM, because earlier compendiums specifically examined that topic, key search terms and subjects had to necessarily include logistics components if comparisons ...
The International Journal of Logistics Management. 21:3, 338-352. Richey, R. Glenn, Anthony S. Roath, Judith M. Whipple, and Stanley E. Fawcett (2010), "Exploring a Governance Theory of Supply Chain Management: Barriers and Facilitators to Integration." Journal of Business Logistics. 31:1, 237-256.
We suggest some ideas of topics for your dissertation on the supply chain: the impact of new technologies on the supply chain, the link between supply chain management and logistics. Photo Credit: Unsplash Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition. Subject 1 - Supply chain and the impact of new technologies. Subject 2 - Supply chain management and ...
Applying blockchain processes to the supply chains, transport, and logistics fields. Logistics and e-commerce policies: focus on potential barriers. Humanitarian logistics consulting: focus on the measures of improvement. Logistics in low-cost country sourcing: a systematic analysis.
This Master Thesis presents a framework of this new industrial (r)evolution applied to Logistics Processes, where Cyber-Physical System and technologies, which free humans to carry out activities which are repetitive and automatic, play an essential role. It is explained which are the technical components of Logistics 4.0, giving current examples
environmental sustainability, green logistics, sustainable supply chains Topic of this master's thesis is third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and environmental sustainability. The aim of the thesis is to provide understanding of the role which three-party logistics providers have on advancing the environmental sustainability in supply chains.
The document then lists various logistics research topics in different categories like interesting topics, outstanding topics, amazing dissertation topics, unique SCM topics, new topics, and management topics. The topics range from crowd-sourced freight and warehousing trends to risk management, sustainability, and the impact of technology on ...
Logistics is a principal function which supports the production and marketing systems of corporations. It intends to satisfy all the corporate goals by minimizing the costs. More specifically, logistics management strives to distribute the proper products, in the proper quantity, on the proper time, at the proper place, with the minimum cost. It
Fardeen Afradh Mohideen Abdul Cader, 2022. Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management September 2022. Peter Ning, 2022. Feasibility of Last Mile Autonomous Drone Delivery in E-Commerce - An Exploratory Study. Keerthana Ravichandran, 2022. Stimulating and Evaluating Supply Chain Innovation in the Private Sector. Grace Tabb, 2021.
Simulation of (regional) logistics networks Transport Logistics : Brands, Jonas: Automation Technologies : Coll, Angelica: Logistics in the Textile Industry Humanitarian Logistics ... STROD to search and apply directly for thesis and research topics. more Please send applications to. Sarah Wopp. Secretary of the Chair of Logistics. sekretariat ...
Choose a Dissertation Topic: You'll collaborate with a faculty advisor to find a topic of interest. A dissertation should be a deep-dive into a specific realm of research. ... A Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics dissertation is typically around 100-120 pages long, so be prepared to spend a few years in writing up your work.
Step 3: Look for books and articles. Step 4: Find a niche. Step 5: Consider the type of research. Step 6: Determine the relevance. Step 7: Make sure it's plausible. Step 8: Get your topic approved. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about dissertation topics.
A list of possible topics to write a Master thesis under the supervision of the center's researchers. The research interests of the center's members revolve around two major fields: economics and operations research. The aim of our research work is to explore the use of the theoretical and empirical results of these two fields to innovate ...
Open Master Topics. Below you will find the current topic proposals of the Institute for master theses. If you require further (detailed) information on individual topics, please contact the supervising employee directly by e-mail or telephone. We are always open to constructive ideas for a possible adaptation of topics.
The subject of the email should be Thesis Submission Name/Matriculation Number: xxxxxx. You may choose the file names for the thesis and all the other documents. To top. Logistics and Supply Chain Management. TUM School of Management. Room 1573. Arcisstraße 21. 80333 Munich, Germany. +49 (0)89 289 28201.
opportunities and research topics for dissertation and thesis projects. This is because the global business frameworks operated and managed by ... suggestions and to discuss your topic. (a) Logistics performance through coordination and collaboration in multi-echelon supply chains (b) Constructs and their measurements ...