Qioptic Ltd

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

CAMSAC investigators Professor Aris Syntetos and Professor Mohamed Naim were 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,  supported a two year project with Qioptiq Ltd, a leading designer and manufacturer of photonic products.

Project aims

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

This 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 placed 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, had 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 also benefited from the development of business case studies introduced in the postgraduate modules offered across the Cardiff Business School.

Funders

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