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Book Modelling and Optimization of Closed loop Supply Chain Networks Considering Product Recovery

Download or read book Modelling and Optimization of Closed loop Supply Chain Networks Considering Product Recovery written by Yongtong Chen and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To further inspect the process of product recovery in a CLSC, a multi-period decision model considering uncertainties is established. This model simulates the process of product refurbishment in a CLSC and discusses uncertainties in end of life products collection, including customer demand uncertainty, returned product quality uncertainty and returned product quantity uncertainty. In the literature, few research studies have focused on the process of returned products refurbishment in closed-loop supply chain networks. Considering the deepening crisis caused by abandoned end of life products, especially electronic waste, it is important to propose a model like this. This proposed model structures the end of life products refurbishment process and provides decision supports for end of life products collection, considering the uncertainties in both quantity and quality. In this decision model, a two-layer fuzzy controller embedded with a quality indicator is developed. This proposed method effectively deals with the uncertainties of both supplies and demands in multi-period production planning of returned products refurbishment. A simulation system based on this model is implemented, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy controller. It also proves the efficiency of the quality indicator dealing with the quality uncertainty. The developed simulation system provides decision support for end of life products collection for responsible manufacturers. Additionally, the increasing profits of end of life products refurbishment encourage product recovery to some extent. The originality and significance of this research lies in the proposed models and algorithms. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by: (i) Establishing a closed-loop supply chain model with product recovery, which filling the gap of considering multiple materials with different quality in CLSC networks, (ii) developing a two-stage priority based encoding Genetic Algorithm to reinforce the genetic searching ability in tackling NP-hard problems in closed-loop supply chain, (iii) establishing a multi-period product refurbishment model in closed-loop supply chain, which fill the gap of describing product refurbishment process considering uncertainties, (iv) developing a two-layer fuzzy controller embedded with a quality indicator to deal with uncertainties effectively in product refurbishment, and (v) implementing a simulation system to simulate the process of product refurbishment, which providing decision supports for end of life product collection and in turn mitigate environmental problems. This research provides an important means to better understand the product recovery in closed-loop supply chain and contributes significantly to the further improvement of the performance of end of life product collection.

Book Design and Analysis of Closed Loop Supply Chain Networks

Download or read book Design and Analysis of Closed Loop Supply Chain Networks written by Subramanian Pazhani and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-04-30 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Closed Loop Supply Chains and its management have become mandatory for firms to stay competitive and profitable. This book provides insights for designing supply chain networks by understanding and incorporating key return parameters into the network design, which will affect profitability. The book discusses how customer categories and their acceptance behavior is incorporated into the network design. It will also show how to analyze the interaction of parameters on supply chain network design and profitability, offers modeling framework for incorporating uncertainties in the return product parameters, and how to design a robust network. Invaluable for managers in designing a sustainable, robust, and profitable supply chain network and ideal for managers, practitioners, and researchers in the area of supply chain network design and optimization.

Book Quantitative Models for Reverse Logistics

Download or read book Quantitative Models for Reverse Logistics written by Moritz Fleischmann and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic, marketing, and legislative considerations are increasingly leading companies to take back and recover their products after use. From a logistics perspective, these initiatives give rise to new goods flows from the user back to the producer. The management of these goods flows opposite to the traditional supply chain flows is addressed in the recently emerged field of Reverse Logistics. This monograph considers quantitative models that support decision making in Reverse Logistics. To this end, several recent case studies are reviewed. Moreover, first hand insight from a study on used electronic equipment is reported on. On this basis, logistics issues arising in the management of "reverse" goods flows are identified. Moreover, differences between Reverse Logistics and more traditional logistics contexts are highlighted. Finally, attention is paid to capturing the characteristics of Reverse Logistics in appropriate quantitative models.

Book Reverse Logistics

Download or read book Reverse Logistics written by Rommert Dekker and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-05 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses decision making in reverse logistics, which concerns the integration of used and obsolete products back into the supply chain as valuable resources. It covers a wide range of aspects, related to distribution, production and inventory management, and supply chain management. For each topic, it highlights key managerial issues in real-life examples and explains which quantitative models are available for addressing them. By treating a broad range of issues in a unified way, the book offers the reader a comprehensive view on the field of reverse logistics.

Book Design of Closed Loop Supply Chain Networks

Download or read book Design of Closed Loop Supply Chain Networks written by Subramanian Pazhani and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Integrating forward and reverse supply chains has proven to be a challenging task due to the differences in the nature of the activities that make up the forward and reverse flows. With the increasing concerns over environmental degradation, legislative compliance, diminishing supply of raw materials, and consumer demands for eco-friendly products, companies have begun designing the traditional supply chain paths to form a closed loop to facilitate recycling and reuse of product returns. The integration of forward and reverse supply chains is termed as Closed Loop Supply Chains (CLSC). Largely driven by its profitable business propositions, CLSC practices help to achieve both financial success and environmental benefits. Given that the annual estimate of commercial returns in the US is in excess of $100 billion and huge potential for using the value in the returned products, this dissertation develops optimization models for the design of a CLSC network for commercial returns by explicitly considering the various aspects of product returns, refurbishing costs, and customer acceptance of refurbished products.We first consider a four stage CLSC network for a single product incorporating customer acceptance rate for refurbished products. We develop an optimization model, called the Base model, to determine the optimal locations of the facilities and the distribution of flows between the facilities in the CLSC to maximize the total profit and illustrate it using a realistic example. The results from the sensitivity analysis show that the total supply chain profit increases with the increase in refurbishing activity. The changes in product return parameters lead to changes in the optimal network design, implying the need to explicitly consider the uncertainty in these return parameters. We also observe that the refurbishing cost has an effect on the network design decisions implying the need to include it in the model. Quality of product returns vary depending upon how long the product has been in use, nature of defects, shipping damages etc. In this research, we consider four tiers of product returns, based on the quality of returned products and their refurbishing costs. Buying behaviour of the quality-sensitive high-end customers and price-sensitive low-end customers vary with respect to the price of the refurbished products. We extend our Base model considering the four tiers of product returns, their quality and the customer behaviour towards buying refurbished products. It is called the Extended Base model. We show that the inclusion of the tiers of product returns and customer behaviour towards buying refurbished product increase the supply chain profit. Using sensitivity analysis, we show that the quality of the returned products is an important factor in determining the optimal discount rates for the refurbished products. We also show that the network design varies with the customer acceptance rates of the refurbished products. Network design models are intrinsically multi-objective in nature. The Extended Base model is reformulated with two objectives: maximize profit and minimize energy usage in the warehousing facilities and transportation. We develop a bi-criteria MILP model for the problem and illustrate it using a realistic example. An interactive optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the bi-criteria problem. The algorithm poses less cognitive burden on the decision maker and converges faster to the best compromise solution. Product return parameters, customer demands, and customer acceptance of the refurbished products, are unpredictable. We model these uncertainties using a set of discrete scenarios with associated probabilities. A scenario-based robust optimization model is then developed to maximize the expected profit of the supply chain along with minimizing the variability of the profit across the scenarios. Minimizing the variability is necessary to mitigate the risk associated with the uncertain input parameters in the supply chain. The model is illustrated with an example. We provide a comparison between the robust optimal solution and the deterministic design solution. We show that the expected profit and the customer responsiveness are higher in the robust design compared to its deterministic counterpart.

Book Optimization Modeling for the Operation of Closed loop Supply Chains

Download or read book Optimization Modeling for the Operation of Closed loop Supply Chains written by Aman Gupta and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmentally conscious manufacturing and remanufacturing/recycling of end-of-life products are steadily growing in importance. The problem of managing the waste generated due to the disposal of many types of products has many aspects. The main driving forces for solving this growing problem are the rapid diminishment of raw material resources, decreasing space in landfills and increasing levels of pollution. The drivers associated with these forces are governmental regulations which require that the manufacturers take back the end-of-life products and customer perspectives on environmental issues. This research considers the problem of increasing levels of electronic and electrical equipments waste. The implementation of closed-loop supply chains can be beneficial both economically and ecologically for these problems. Relevant literature to understand various issues involved in the operation of reverse logistics systems and closed-loop supply chains is reviewed. Upon reviewing the issues involved in closed-loop supply chains, the problem is considered as an ill-structured problem. A problem structuring technique called Why-What's Stopping Analysis is used to analyze the problem from various perspectives. Also, since a closed-loop supply chain involves multiple objectives, two techniques for categorizing the objectives into fundamental and means objectives are presented: Fundamental Objective Hierarchy and Means Objective Network techniques, respectively. A Goal Program (GP) modeling approach is used to handle many of the objectives identified by the previously mentioned techniques. In this research a consolidated objective function is defined which includes all of the deviational variables considered in various goals defined in the model. The consolidated goal is to minimize the weighted sum of all deviational variables. A non preemptive goal programming approach has been used with goals being assigned different weights according to their priorities. The values of the deviational variables help the decision maker to see which of the different goals are satisfied with the existing values of parameters and which of the goals aren't. The goal program has been run with both uniform and variable demand values in all the periods. In the absence of real data, all the parameter values considered for this research have been assumed. The major contributions of the research are as follows: each member of the supply chain has its own individual objective and the related constraints which is a more realistic approach, the model considers multiple products, and the model considers operations at the product, subassembly, part, and material levels. All the above contributions make this research as the first approach of its kind which has never been attempted (based on literature reviewed) and the goal programming methodology used is also a well accepted approach among all the multi-objective programming approaches. Results show the effect of varying the priority/weight associated with a goal. Results also show that values of the deviational variables (positive or negative) help a decision maker to analyze the model. The goal programming approach is considered to be the most effective approach in terms of defining the mathematical model, analyzing the output, and modifying the model (if needed).

Book Closed Loop Supply Chains

Download or read book Closed Loop Supply Chains written by Mark E. Ferguson and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2010-04-21 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Closed-loop supply chain activities such as remanufacturing, recycling, dismantling for spare parts, and reverse logistics have helped many companies tap into new revenue streams by finding secondary markets for their products, all while reducing their overall carbon footprint. Written by academic experts, in language that is accessible to practitioners, this authoritative resource examines recent research and case studies of companies running profitable reuse/remanufacture operations in various industries. It illustrates profitable practices in returned and recovered products, clearly explaining how to: design a reverse logistics network, conduct production planning, implement effective marketing strategies, and apply closed-loop supply chain strategies in industries besides manufacturing. From product development to materials to assembly and profitability, this complete resource explores the impact of these processes across all aspects of the supply chain.

Book Product Life Cycle Optimization Models for Closed Loop Supply Chains

Download or read book Product Life Cycle Optimization Models for Closed Loop Supply Chains written by Aswin Dhamodharan and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supply Chain Network design is an important strategic decision that helps Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to position their supply chains for profitable reverse supply chains. We observe that between the competitors of technology products, companies such as HP and Xerox (printers) and Apple and Google (smartphones), one competitor (HP and Apple) manages the reverse supply chain to extract value in a profitable manner, while the other competitor (Xerox and Google) uses a third-party reverse logistics company to simply recycle consumer returns. In the literature, supply chain levers, such as consumer Willingness to Pay (WTP) for remanufactured products, managing the collection process of consumer returns, the quality of the consumer returns and the design of reverse logistics have been identified as key factors influencing OEM participation in reverse supply chain. In this thesis, we show that, under the same supply chain levers mentioned above, the OEMs approach to supply chain network design can significantly impact the profitability in the reverse supply chain over the product lifecycle. To address the supply chain network design problem for an OEM, we propose an integrated multi-period optimization model called Product Life Cycle Optimization Model (PLCOM), to design the Closed Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) for the OEMs. The PLCOM is a Mixed Integer Linear Program that consists of a Demand model and a Pricing model. The Pricing model determines the optimal production quantity and the selling price computed over the product life cycle, based on a realistic customer Willingness to Pay (WTP) for new and remanufactured products. The Demand model computes the demand for new and remanufactured products based on the Extended-Basss diffusion model. The PLCOM also computes the cannibalization of new product sales due to the introduction of remanufactured product and the availability of product returns for remanufacturing, constrained by the collection of the returns. The Demand and Pricing models are then integrated into a Mixed Integer Program (MIP) model to design the CLSC network.The PLCOM is applied to a realistic case study using Apples iPhone 7 for a product life cycle of 8 years. The final MIP model has 30 binary variables, 48066 continuous variables and 3972 constraints and was solved using CPlex in 0.1619 seconds. We show that an integrated approach to design the supply chain network by the OEMs is more profitable compared to a sequential approach, where the OEM initially designs the optimal forward supply chain network and implements it. Later, when the OEM decides to participate in the remanufactured market, the OEM revisits the network design to obtain the optimal CLSC for the reverse supply chain. Using sensitivity analysis, we also show that slow diffusing products are more profitable for remanufacturing and fast diffusing products require flexibility in capacity planning, in order to avoid the fixed cost of opening additional facilities. In the case of fast diffusing products, we also observe a delayed surge in demand for remanufactured products caused by a delayed cannibalization effect on new product demand. Finally, a sensitivity analysis on the quality of the consumer returns gives an upper bound on the investment that can be made by the OEM in incentivizing the consumers to improve the quality of the returns.In the technology industry, frequent new product releases entail OEMs to concurrently manage successive generations of products. For example, Apple currently sells multigeneration iPhones, such as iPhone 6S, iPhone 7, iPhone 8 and iPhone X. Hence, we extend the integrated model to a two-generation product setting. We model the demand for the second-generation product as a substitution for the first-generation product. We identify the \textit{logit} function as the substitution function to compute demand for the second-generation product and validate total sales using the iPhone4 and iPhone 4S sales data. The extended PLCOM is again used in a realistic case study based on the consumer WTP for iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 as the successive generations of products. The extended PLCOM has 30 binary variables, 77474 continuous variables and 6470 constraints and the optimization problem was solved using CPlex and the solver took 46 seconds to solve the problem. Finally, we conduct a sensitivity analysis to determine the most profitable time to introduce the second-generation product, characterize the slow and the fast diffusing products in the two-generation product setting and analyze the impact of the quality of consumer returns on the profit.

Book Modelling a Closed loop Product Recovery System with Supply Uncertainty

Download or read book Modelling a Closed loop Product Recovery System with Supply Uncertainty written by Venkata Sundar Kamal Devu and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Reverse Logistics

Download or read book Reverse Logistics written by Rommert Dekker and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2004-01-22 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses decision making in reverse logistics, which concerns the integration of used and obsolete products back into the supply chain as valuable resources. It covers a wide range of aspects, related to distribution, production and inventory management, and supply chain management. For each topic, it highlights key managerial issues in real-life examples and explains which quantitative models are available for addressing them. By treating a broad range of issues in a unified way, the book offers the reader a comprehensive view on the field of reverse logistics.

Book Closed Loop Supply Chains

Download or read book Closed Loop Supply Chains written by Mark E. Ferguson and published by Auerbach Publications. This book was released on 2010-04-21 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Closed-loop supply chain activities such as remanufacturing, recycling, dismantling for spare parts, and reverse logistics have helped many companies tap into new revenue streams by finding secondary markets for their products, all while reducing their overall carbon footprint. A comprehensive yet concise presentation of closed-loop supply chain processes, Closed-Loop Supply Chains: New Developments to Improve the Sustainability of Business Practices investigates the state of the art in this rapidly growing and environmentally significant field. Written by academic experts, in language that is accessible to practitioners, this reader-friendly reference examines recent research and case studies of companies running profitable reuse/remanufacture/recycling operations in various industries. It illustrates profitable practices in returned and recovered products, and clearly explains how to: design a reverse logistics network, conduct production planning, implement effective marketing strategies for recovered products, and apply closed-loop supply chain strategies in other industries besides manufacturing. From product development to materials to assembly and profitability, this authoritative resource illustrates the impact of these processes across all aspects of the supply chain. It provides a business perspective of how to properly implement these processes in your company to achieve profitable and sustainable operations in a more environmentally friendly manner. It also: Investigates strategic decisions companies face in regard to the secondary market for their products, including opportunity costs Examines tactical issues firms will face once the decision to remanufacture has been made, including how to market remanufactured products Summarizes the key characteristics and practices in a variety of industries where remanufacturing has been successful Explains how to conceptualize and manage changes due to switching to a closed-loop supply chain Demonstrates how to handle changing legislation Designed for ease of reference, each chapter covers a specific topic—in a completely self-contained manner—allowing readers to quickly and easily reference the chapters of particular relevance to their industry and situation.

Book Closed loop Supply Chain Network Design

Download or read book Closed loop Supply Chain Network Design written by Mohammad Jeihoonian and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Closed loop supply chains comprise, in addition to the conventional forward flows from suppliers to end-users, a reverse flow of products, components, and materials from end-users to the manufacturers and secondary markets. Designing a closed-loop supply chain is a strategic level planning which considerably impacts on tactical and operational performance of the supply chain. It refers to the decisions taken on the location of facilities involved in the supply chain network along with the management of the physical flows associated with forward and product recovery channels. Our problem of interest is mainly motivated by the case of durable products including but not limited to large household appliances, computers, photocopying equipment, and aircraft engines. Such category of products has a modular structure, composed of independent components. As opposed to simple structured products, e.g., printer cartridges, that can only be recycled, each of the components in the reverse bill of materials of durable products can be recovered by a particular type of recovery process. Besides, durable products share a long life cycle characteristic which indeed makes designing their CLSC networks more complicated. In this thesis, in keeping with the abovementioned motivation, we focus on designing closed-loop and reverse supply chains in the context of durable products that are of various quality conditions. The recovery decisions for product return include remanufacturing, part harvesting, bulk recycling, material recycling, and landfilling/incineration. Moreover, we take into account environmental concerns regarding the harmful impacts of used products in the closed-loop supply chain planning. As the closed-loop supply chains typically encounter uncertainty in quality and quantity of the profitable return stream, we further aim to consider the impact of uncertainty in designing the recovery network. For such purposes, in the first phase, we address a closed-loop supply chain planning problem in the context of durable products with generic modular structures. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer programming model which is then solved by an accelerated Benders decomposition-based algorithm. The performance of the proposed decomposition approach is enhanced through incorporating algorithmic features including valid inequalities, non-dominated optimality cuts, and local branching strategies. Next, in the second phase, we propose a precise approach to model the uncertain quality status of returns, in which the availability of each component in the reverse bill of materials is modeled as discrete scenarios. We propose a two-stage stochastic programming model to address this problem setting. Then, since the cardinality of the scenario set grows exponentially with the number of involved components, we detail on a scenario reduction scheme to alleviate the computational burden of the proposed model. The stochastic problem is solved by a L-shaped algorithm enhanced through valid inequalities and Pareto-optimal cuts. Finally, we investigate designing a dynamic reverse supply chain where the quantity of the return flows is uncertain. We introduce a multi-stage stochastic programming model and develop a heuristic inspired by scenario clustering decomposition scheme as the solution method. It revolves around decomposing the scenario tree into smaller sub-trees which consequently yields a number of sub-models in accordance with sub-trees. The resulting sub-models are then coordinated by Lagrangian penalty terms. On account of the fact that each sub-model per se is a hard to solve problem, a Benders decomposition-based algorithm is proposed to solve sub-models.

Book Decomposition Based Solution Approaches for Multi product Closed loop Supply Chain Network Design Models

Download or read book Decomposition Based Solution Approaches for Multi product Closed loop Supply Chain Network Design Models written by Gopalakrishnan Easwaran and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) management provides opportunity for cost savings through the integration of product recovery activities into traditional supply chains. Product recovery activities, such as remanufacturing, reclaim a portion of the previously added value in addition to the physical material. Our problem setting is motivated by the practice of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the automotive service parts industry, who operates a well established forward network. The OEM faces customer demand due to warranty and beyond warranty vehicle repairs. The warranty based demand induces part returns. We consider a case where the OEM has not yet established a product recovery network, but has a strategic commitment to implement remanufacturing strategy. In accomplishing this commitment, complications arise in the network design due to activities and material movement in both the forward and reverse networks, which are attributed to remanufacturing. Consequently, in implementing the remanufacturing strategy, the OEM should simultaneously consider both the forward and reverse flows for an optimal network design, instead of an independent and sequential modeling approach. In keeping with these motivations, and with the goal of implementing the remanufacturing strategy and transforming independent forward and reverse supply chains to CLSCs, we propose to investigate the following research questions: 1. How do the following transformation strategies leverage the CLSC's overall cost performance? ·Extending the already existing forward channel to incorporate reverse channel activities. ·Designing an entire CLSC network. 2. How do the following network flow integration strategies influence the CLSC's overall cost performance? ·Using distinct forward and reverse channel facilities to manage the corresponding flows. ·Using hybrid facilities to coordinate the flows. In researching the above questions, we address significant practical concerns in CLSC network design and provide cost measures for the above mentioned strategies. We also contribute to the current literature by investigating the optimal CLSC network design. More specifically, we propose three models and develop mathematical formulations and novel solution approaches that are based on decomposition techniques, heuristics, and meta-heuristic approaches to seek a solution that characterizes the configuration of the CLSC network, along with the coordinated forward and reverse flows.

Book The Measurement of Efficiency of Production

Download or read book The Measurement of Efficiency of Production written by Rolf Färe and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Human Centered Computing

    Book Details:
  • Author : Danijela Milošević
  • Publisher : Springer Nature
  • Release : 2020-01-20
  • ISBN : 3030374297
  • Pages : 729 pages

Download or read book Human Centered Computing written by Danijela Milošević and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-01-20 with total page 729 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes thoroughly reviewed, revised and selected papers from the 5th International Conference on Human Centered Computing, HCC 2019, held in Čačak, Serbia, in August 2019. The 48 full and 23 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 133 submissions. The papers focus on deep learning and its applications on a variety of real-life problems, ranging from image/video analysis, to human-computer interaction, and to logistics and supply chain management.

Book Optimization and Decision Support Systems for Supply Chains

Download or read book Optimization and Decision Support Systems for Supply Chains written by Ana Paula Barbosa Póvoa and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This contributed volume presents a collection of materials on supply chain management including industry-based case studies addressing petrochemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and reverse logistics topics. Moreover, the book covers sustainability issues, as well as optimization approaches. The target audience comprises academics, industry managers, and practitioners in the field of supply chain management, being the book also beneficial for graduate students

Book Approximation Theory and Optimization

Download or read book Approximation Theory and Optimization written by M. D. Buhmann and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-11-13 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Powell is one of the world's foremost figures in numerical analysis. This volume, first published in 1997, is derived from invited talks given at a meeting celebrating his 60th birthday and, reflecting Powell's own achievements, focuses on innovative work in optimisation and in approximation theory. The individual papers have been written by leading authorities in their subjects and are a mix of expository articles and surveys. They have all been reviewed and edited to form a coherent volume for this important discipline within mathematics, with highly relevant applications throughout science and engineering.