Publications de Ralf Seifert | EPFL Graph Search

Optimizing omnichannel assortments and inventory provisions under the multichannel attraction model

Assortment optimization presents a complex challenge for retailers, as it depends on numerous decision factors. Changes in assortment can result in demand redistribution with multi-layered consequences. This complexity is even more pronounced for omnichann ...

2025

Balancing Resilience and Efficiency: A Literature Review on Overcoming Supply Chain Disruptions

Ralf Seifert, Anna Timonina-Farkas

The supply chain risk management literature differentiates between disruption risk that arises from supply disruptions to normal activities and recurrent risk that arises from problems in coordinating supply and demand in the absence of disruptions. Over t ...

2024

The Quiet Supply Chain Revolution

Ralf Seifert, Richard Markoff

Looking back on recent supply chain disruptions, Richard Markoff and Ralf W. Seifert describe the current revolution in supply chain management. They illustrate how supply chain management is ever more integrated with overall business strategy, emphasizing ...

SAGE Publications2024

Assortment optimization using an attraction model in an omnichannel environment

Ralf Seifert, Andrey Vasilyev, Sebastian Maier

Making assortment decisions is becoming an increasingly difficult task for many retailers worldwide as they implement omnichannel initiatives. Discrete choice modeling lies at the core of this challenge, yet existing models do not sufficiently account for ...

2023

Information Retrieval Under Network Uncertainty: Robust Internet Ranking

Ralf Seifert, Anna Timonina-Farkas

Internet ranking algorithms play a crucial role in information technologies and numerical analysis due to their efficiency in high dimensions and wide range of possible applications, including scientometrics and systemic risk in finance (SinkRank, DebtRank ...

2023

Utilizing additive manufacturing and mass customization under capacity constraints

Ralf Seifert, Anna Timonina-Farkas, Rachel Agnès Laetitia Rosemonde Marie Lacroix

Additive manufacturing (AM), originally used for prototyping, is increasingly adopted for custom final part production across different industries. However, printing speed and production volume are two barriers for the adoption of AM for product customizat ...

2023

A Machine Learning-based Framework for Forecasting Sales of New Products With Short Life Cycles Using Deep Neural Networks

Ralf Seifert, Yara Kayyali El Alem

Demand forecasting is becoming increasingly important as firms launch new products with short life cycles more frequently. This paper provides a framework based on state-of-the-art techniques that enables firms to use quantitative methods to forecast sales ...

2022

Modeling and mitigating supply chain disruptions as a bilevel network flow problem

Ralf Seifert, Anna Timonina-Farkas, René Yves Glogg

Years of globalization, outsourcing and cost cutting have increased supply chain vulnerability calling for more effective risk mitigation strategies. In our research, we analyze supply chain disruptions in a production setting. Using a bilevel optimization ...

2022

Managing Perishability in the Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains

Ralf Seifert, Mervegül Kirci

Spoilage reduction in fresh product supply chains is an important challenge and represents great opportunities for cost savings and reduced environmental and social footprints. The purpose of this paper is to identify the drivers of spoilage and to discuss ...

2022

Why Do Companies Need Operational Flexibility to Achieve Sustainability at Source?

Ralf Seifert, Isik Bicer, Yara Kayyali El Alem

We analyze the environmental benefits of operational flexibility that emerge in the form of less product waste during the sourcing process by reducing overproduction. We consider three different options for operational flexibility: (1) lead-time reduction, ...

2022

Limiting the impact of supply chain disruptions in the face of distributional uncertainty in demand

Ralf Seifert, Anna Timonina-Farkas, René Yves Glogg

Service-level requirements play a crucial role in eliminating stock-outs in a production pipeline. However, delivering a specific service level can become an unattainable goal given the various uncertainties influencing both the production pipeline and cus ...

WILEY2022

Manufacturing Management in Process Industries: The Impact of Market Conditions and Capital Expenditure on Firm Performance

Ralf Seifert, Philipp Urs Moser, Olov Isaksson

2021

Benefiting from additive manufacturing for mass customization across the product life cycle

Ralf Seifert, Anna Timonina-Farkas, Rachel Agnès Laetitia Rosemonde Marie Lacroix

Additive manufacturing (AM) was initially designed for prototyping and product personalization, where high production quantities were not required. Now, it is also implemented for final part production to achieve cost-effective mass customization (MC). Tha ...

ELSEVIER2021

Mitigating Product Shortage Due to Disruptions in Multi-Stage Supply Chains

Ralf Seifert

We focus on the optimal use of risk mitigation inventory (RMI) and reserve capacity to manage disruption risk in serial multi-stage supply chains where product transformation occurs at each stage. We find that under reasonable conditions it is better to ho ...

2020

Product assortment and space allocation strategies to attract loyal and non-loyal customers

Ralf Seifert, Argyro Katsifou, Anna Timonina-Farkas

Assortment planning deserves much attention from practitioners and academics due to its direct impact on retailers' commercial success. In this paper we focus on the increasingly popular retail practice to use combined product assortments with both "standa ...

2020

Optimal replenishment cycle for perishable items facing demand uncertainty in a two-echelon inventory system

Ralf Seifert, Mervegül Kirci

2018

Roles of inventory and reserve capacity in mitigating supply chain disruption risk

Ralf Seifert, Florian Christopher Matthias Lücker

2018

Optimal Dynamic Order Scheduling Under Capacity Constraints Given Demand-forecast Evolution

Ralf Seifert, Isik Bicer

2017

Inventory dynamics in process industries: An empirical investigation

Ralf Seifert, Philipp Urs Moser, Olov Isaksson

Process industry firms have thrived in recent decades, but changes in the markets are currently putting both growth and profitability at risk. In this context, inventory management is increasingly viewed as an essential lever for creating a sustainable com ...

Elsevier2017

Benefits of working capital sharing in supply chains

Ralf Seifert, Margarita Protopappa

Supply chain finance and working capital management are important avenues to reduce supply chain costs. Small suppliers may not have sufficient working capital to finance their operations and efficiently supply their customers. We develop a model that capt ...

Palgrave Macmillan2017