RANKING OF INTEGRATION FACTORS WITHIN SUPPLY CHAINS OF FORWARD AND BACKWARD TYPES - RECOMMENDATIONS FROM RESEARCHES

Background: Integration trends are one of main determinants of the development of modern logistics. After the period of interest focused mainly on supp ly chains realizing one-way flows only, at present there is a time for supply chains characterized by two-way flows, reali zing at the same time both forward and backward flo ws. The possibility of various configurations of such chain s requires identification of integration factors an d determination of their influence on the results of the whole supply chain. Experiences of the science as well as the practice of supply chains show the urgent need of learning of reasons of the integration within supply chains of the two-way typ e. Material and methods : The researches on modeling and simulation of inte gration processes within supply chains of forward and backward type were carried out in the e nvironment of iGrafx Process 2013 for Six Sigma. The empirical material obtained in these researches was put to th e statistical analysis by the used of Minitab 17. T he identification of the significance of differences was made with the help of analysis of variance ANOVA. Additionally the analysis of differences in form of absolute averages was made. The following measures are main ones for the evalu ation of the integration of a supply chain of forward and backwa rd types: cashflow, profitability, service level. Results : 8 192 simulation experiments were made for 6 inte gration factors: accessibility of recycled material s, production planning, stock management, integration of transpor t, unification of packing materials and optimizatio n of the material flow. Based on the analysis of the significance and values of differences, the results of the influenc e of each integration factor on global results of supply chains of forwar d and backward type were obtained. They were used to prepare the ranking of integration factors. The main factors, f orming the integration shape of two-way supply chai ns were: stock management, production planning and accessibility of recycled materials. Conclusions: The integration offers new possibilities therefore it is the promising option of actions. In complica ted and complex logistic reality, it is more and more diffi cult to function, in economic sense, without starti ng and tightening close cooperation. Sometimes it is even not possible at a ll. The growing popularity of two-way supply chain s opens the dimensions of the possible cooperation. However, bo th science and the practice need the reliable quant itative information covering the conscious creation of the integration in supply chains. Such tool could be a ranking, rec ommended in this paper, of integration factors from the perspective of three measures of evaluation of global level of functioning of the supply chain.