Approach and Dissertation Outline

Gunther and Tempelmeier (2005, p. 332) even question the usefulness of trying to do so. 

The dissertation consists of 5 chapters in addition to this introduction. Chapter 2 lays the foundation by establishing the role of production network design within supply chain management. To this end key terms are defined, the role of Advanced Planning Systems in production network de- 

Chapter 4 covers the site selection and site controlling phase. Consequently, it deals with the assessment of individual production sites based on primarily qualitative criteria. Alternative Multiple Attribute Decision Analysis methods are reviewed and a decision support model employing the Analytic Hierarchy Process, which can be used both for site selection problems and as a controlling tool to perform site portfolio rankings of entire production networks, is proposed. Experiences from application in industry are reported. 

An application case study of the production network optimization model is reported in Chapter 5. In this context the integration of the optimization model into a planning tool to support interactive explorations of the solution space is demonstrated and guidance on how to develop the data required for quantitative strategic network design analyses is provided. Additionally, important analyses that can be performed using the proposed optimization model are introduced and improvement potentials identified in the course of a pilot application in industry are explained. 

To conclude the dissertation, Chapter 6 summarizes the key findings of this work and provides directions for future research. 

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