Publications by 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