Qioptiq Ltd

Developing a novel inventory control decision support system for closed loop supply chains.

CAMSAC investigators Professor Aris Syntetos and Dr Fotios Petropoulos have been awarded a grant of £150K following a successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) application.

The grant, awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Innovate UK, will support a two year project with Qioptiq Ltd, a leading designer and manufacturer of photonic products.

Project aims

The project will enable Qioptiq Ltd to develop and apply a novel inventory control decision support system for closed loop supply chains found in the remanufacturing environment.

This is aimed to be a new service offering with dramatic benefits for the company and their customers (including the Ministry of Defence).

Given the difficulties of the remanufacturing environment, the project’s novel research aspects will place the UK in the forefront of successful interventions in this area, being well aligned with the EU attempts to foster developments in the circular economy.

The academic team, who are experts in forecasting and inventory optimisation, will have a unique opportunity to research the challenges of applying and suitably modifying state-of-the-art forecasting, classification and inventory control methods in the widely overlooked re-manufacturing field, in a military supply chain.

Cardiff University will also benefit from the development of business case studies to be introduced in the postgraduate modules offered across the Cardiff Business School.

Funders

The project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Innovate UK.