Economic Aspects of a Resource Sharing Manufacturing Network under Turbulences

Nowadays, manufacturing companies face more difficulties than ever. Unrest in global supply chains triggered by fluctuating customer demand, raw material shortages and crises (Covid pandemic, global warming, wars) complicate the utilization of production resources necessary for economic success. Also, the rapidly changing environment causes existing production plans to be adapted, which results in order changes, causing additional costs for manufacturers. One solution to cope with these problems is cooperation and sharing resources: requesting capacity from partners when having shortages and offering them temporarily in case of excess capacity. In this paper, a platform-based resource sharing mechanism is investigated from the economic perspective. In the mechanism, requests and offers are matched by a central platform applying a complex matching logic. The platform provides valid alternatives based on the incoming ordersthat the requesting company can choose from. Companies are rating each other's performance after each interaction based on delivery accuracy;choosing between resource offers is made based on the cumulated rating about the offeror and the price of the offer. Within this paper, the aim is to investigate the resource sharing mechanism from the economic point of view based on an approach to the responsiveness of a supply chain structure to turbulence, to support decision-makers trying to cope with unexpected changes. For this purpose, here the mechanism is briefly introduced, and basic concepts about turbulences in supply chains are also presented. Cost types related to resource sharing manufacturing companies are distinguished, and the model is validated with agent-based simulation. A simulation experiment is performed to investigate the use-case of outsourced jobs having different price levels. Based on the experiment, it can be concluded that there is a price level limit in such a resource sharing federation, under which it is worth it to collaborate with partners by outsourcing certain jobs to them. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.

OLDER ADULT PERSPECTIVES ON AGEISM DURING COVID-19: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there has been a reported surge of ageism toward older adults. Research demonstrates that events perpetuating negative attitudes towards older adults can increase ageism and associated negative outcomes. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore how older adults navigated experiences of ageism and their social relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews with adults ages 60 and older were conducted between February and April of 2021 over Zoom. Data were coded using an iterative, inductive approach and thematic analysis was performed to draw themes from the data. A total of 24 participants ages 61-80 (mean = 70.6) were interviewed. Most participants identified as white (n = 19) female (n = 14), retired (n = 21) and had at least a bachelor's degree (n = 22). Findings showed that participants experienced ongoing ageism but did not report ageist experiences associated specifically with COVID-19. Ageist experiences, unrelated to COVID-19, as shared by participants included assumptions about older adults' (in)ability to use technology, ageism in professional settings, and feelings that ageism is an inevitable part of growing older. Future research should examine the impact of intersectionality on this topic within more diverse populations and explore potential differences that may have occurred throughout different stages of the pandemic.