It caused local Optima, which often result in no overall optimum – in monetary terms, nor regarding the resource / energy efficiency – for the entire value network. Thus, it is both from an environmental and economic point of view necessary and sensible to create a planning tool for the integration of internal and cross-company optimisation of resource and energy use. Objective target of Green4SCM of mentioned project is therefore the design and prototype implementation of a central and web-based SCM planning platform, enables a sustainable local and company-wide optimization of resources and energy consumption and the environmental impact of the production in value creation networks. This advanced planning and optimization algorithms are required that enable the aspired improvement of resource and energy efficiency. In addition to the software engineering realization of networking, synchronization and optimization of the heterogeneous infrastructure of planning in value-added networks, the Green4SCM platform includes organisational concepts to overcome the inherent restrictions and barriers for the industry-wide coordination and optimisation of value creation. It allows a sustainable improvement of resource exploitation (including human, machine, materials, energy), productivity and thus the competitiveness of individual companies, partial value chains and entire value creation networks.
Primary users and profiteers of the Green4SCM platform should be small and medium-sized industrial enterprises, as they have today to meet the greatest challenges with regard to productivity and competitiveness as a tier-3/n-dependent suppliers. In addition to be enabled also OEMs and large tier-1/2 suppliers to overarching planning and optimizing individual or networked supply chains. Green4SCM platform the developing Green4SCM planning platform is divided into seven modules (Figure 1). The module 1. Infrastructure, 2 Administration 3 interfaces, making the information technology foundation of the Green4SCM platform. The applications themselves are implemented in Java.
Java offers the advantage of independent of hardware to be used operating system and database. In module 4. Planning and simulation are the user provided for energy – and resource-efficient scheduling and capacity planning in the value chain, as well as in the entire network to provide powerful and flexible customizable planning and simulation algorithms.