OPTIMISING THE ANALYSIS STAGE IN THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS

• Fabio Comer Research Centre on Production Management and Engineering (CIGIP), Universitat Politècnica de València, C/ Alarcón, 1, 03801, Alcoy, Alicante, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0595-5311
• Josefa Mula Research Centre on Production Management and Engineering (CIGIP), Universitat Politècnica de València, C/ Alarcón, 1, 03801, Alcoy, Alicante, Spain http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8447-3387
• Manuel Díaz-Madroñero Research Centre on Production Management and Engineering (CIGIP), Universitat Politècnica de València, C/ Alarcón, 1, 03801, Alcoy, Alicante, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1693-2876
• Hanzel Grillo Industrial Engineering School, University of Costa Rica: San José, Costa Rica https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8621-930X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7166/32-2-2371

Keywords:

Global manufacturing, new facility implementation, global supplier network development, SME, mixed-integer linear programming

Abstract

The internationalisation of the manufacturing operations process includes decision-making about new facility implementation (NFI) and global supplier network development (GSND), whose first step is to analyse the situation of a company and its environment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the optimal design of a manufacturing production and distribution network for global small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This research uses a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model to support decision-making in the analysis stage of the internationalisation of manufacturing operations for global SMEs. A real- world case study is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed model. Different scenarios were evaluated not only to identify the strengths and limitations of the mathematical programming model, but to also provide support for the next strategic decisions that the examined company has to make in the near future.