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PurposeThis paper aims to identify purchasing-related costs through the prism of transaction costs and costs of purchasing management activity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a survey among 150 medium and large manufacturing companies in the chemical, automotive and electromechanical industries operating in Central and Eastern European countries. The collected data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis.FindingsThe studied companies carry out an integrated purchasing-related cost system. The authors found a statistical significance of the covariances between the pretransaction, transaction and post-transaction costs. In addition, costs that are of particular importance in long-term purchasing transactions were identified. Moreover, the authors identified the costs of quality and support actions as the most significant.Practical implicationsThis research details the discussion of costs with consideration for the insights of managers of medium-sized and large companies.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the knowledge of purchasing-related costs through the lens of the total cost of ownership that influences the purchasing management and the decisions within the buyer-supplier relationship.

Purpose The paper concerns supply chains. It aims to identify the essential improvement actions that manufacturing companies expect their suppliers to take in the future rather than selection requirements already used in the assessment process. Within those improvement actions, the goal is to determine whether the size and management methods used in assessing companies affect these future expectations. Design/methodology/approach: Hypotheses were developed regarding the expectations of manufacturing companies and the factors influencing these expectations. Data collected from 118 companies from the Polish automotive, metal and chemical sectors were used to verify them. For this purpose, the U-Mann Whitney test was applied. Findings Manufacturing companies expect their suppliers to improve: (1) products, (2) processes, (3) organization management, (4) communication and (5) relationship, with the most important thing for them is the improvement of products and processes. It was found that the expectations regarding the contributors are influenced by whether the manufacturing company is a large or small enterprise or it uses or not the Toyota Production System. Lean Management and the ISO 14,001 Environmental Management System do not translate into these expectations. Originality/value : The article gives a new look at shaping relations between suppliers and customers in supply chains. Unlike most of the research to date, it does not concern the requirements that suppliers should meet at a given moment but focuses on the improvement actions they should undertake in the future. This paper adds important detail to understanding cooperation in B2B relations.

The subject of the research conducted was to define the expectations of production companies towards their suppliers regarding the implementation of the requirements of quality, environmental, health and safety management systems (QEOH&SMS). The results of the research show that the surveyed business entities, as the most important expectations towards suppliers related to systemic quality management, environment and occupational health and safety, indicated: the status of product quality control, identification of the causes of complaints, ensuring the health and safety at work, raising the awareness and knowledge of personnel, documenting corrective actions. The expectations regarding: identification of products at various stages of its production, management of environmental aspects, evidence of validation of new products, identification of risks related to operational processes, supervision of equipment for measurement and monitoring of products and processes, the use of measures for processes, planning of operational processes (e.g. designing products, production, purchasing, sales).

Unit packaging of dietary supplements - an inherent element of their manufacturing, without which they would be impossible to market — has numerous interlocking functions to fulfil, including the protective, transport, information, functional, ecological and marketing functions. The information function, however, is one of the priority functions of dietary supplement packaging. In the era of the continual development of online and self-service stores (including pharmacies), such packaging has become one of the key sources of information about dietary supplements’ features and properties, while also serving as a brand image creator and a carrier of promotional information. This raises the questions of whether and to what extent the unit packaging of dietary supplements influences the purchasing decisions of consumers, what features and elements of such packaging are crucial for consumers in the purchasing process, and what significance supplement packaging has in the purchasing process against the background of other purchasing determinants. Seeking to address these questions, herein we present selected results of an original study conducted in 2019 with a purposely selected sample of 468 dietary supplement consumers in Poland, whose main purpose was to identify the role and significance of packaging as a determinant of purchase in relation to three selected categories of dietary supplements..

The article aims to present the role of supplier evaluation criteria in reducing purchasing risk. Before a purchasing enterprise starts cooperating with suppliers, it set specific requirements and expectations. The fulfilment of these requirements and expectations is verified through the evaluation of suppliers. Evaluation results should indicate potential risks that may arise in the development of partnership cooperation. The article includes the results of empirical research conducted using the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technique in medium and large manufacturing companies operating in Poland. The results of the conducted empirical research indicate that companies wishing to partner with suppliers try to limit the level of risk associated with purchases. When evaluating suppliers, manufacturers focus mainly on reducing the risk associated with the defective technical quality of products, timely deliveries, delivery flexibility, time to restore continuity of deliveries, completeness of order fulfilment and delivery documentation, as well as price competitiveness. Also, in the evaluation of suppliers, companies operating in Poland are beginning to pay attention to the reduction of negative environmental impact.

Recent results showed that the ferrimagnetic compensation point and other characteristic features of Tb/Co ferrimagnetic multilayers can be tailored by He+ ion bombardment. With appropriate choices of the He+ ion dose, we prepared two types of lattices composed of squares with either Tb or Co domination. The magnetization reversal of the first lattice is similar to that seen in ferromagnetic heterostructures consisting of areas with different switching fields. However, in the second lattice, the creation of domains without accompanying domain walls is possible. These domain patterns are particularly stable because they simultaneously lower the demagnetizing energy and the energy associated with the presence of domain walls (exchange and anisotropy). For both lattices, studies of magnetization reversal show that this process takes place by the propagation of the domain walls. If they are not present at the onset, the reversal starts from the nucleation of reversed domains and it is followed by domain wall propagation. The magnetization reversal process does not depend significantly on the relative sign of the effective magnetization in areas separated by domain walls.

Single and double paramagnetic colloidal particles are placed above a magnetic square pattern and are driven with an external magnetic field processing around a high symmetry direction of the pattern. The external magnetic field and that of the pattern confine the colloids into lanes parallel to a lattice vector of the pattern. The precession of the external field causes traveling minima of the magnetic potential along the direction of the lanes. At sufficiently high frequencies of modulation, only the doublets respond to the external field and move in direction of the traveling minima along the lanes, while the single colloids cannot follow and remain static. We show how the doublets can induce a coordinated motion of the single colloids building colloidal trains made of a chain of several single colloids transported by doublets.

The purpose of this research paper is to present the role of process improvements tools in building relationships between clients and suppliers on the industrial goods market. Their identification was based on an analysis of the literature, as well as on the results of empirical research conducted by the CATI technique and covered 300 producers that were suppliers for enterprises from the chemical, metal and automotive industry sectors operating in Poland. The results of the conducted research indicate that the main supplier requirements relating to technical quality of products, shortening cycles of process implementation and willingness of the supplier to reduce costs. One could also observe that for many industrial clients, their relationships with suppliers are not just confined to fulfilling rigorous requirements. Increasingly, they recognize that building their competitive advantage also requires building partnerships with suppliers that are manifested in joint projects in the field of effective application of the requirements of tool (like quality, environmental and safety management systems, Toyota Production System or Lean Management concept), which have an impact on the improvement of the products and processes in the supply chain.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article was to identify the sources of information regarding suppliers most often used by manufacturing companies and to define their importance., DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The considerations based on the analysis of the literature and the results of empirical research indicate that enterprises use both direct forms (such as sales representatives, recommendations of other clients, fairs and exhibitions) and on-line forms (such as suppliers' websites). Specialized industry as sources of information about suppliers. portals as a source of information about suppliers. The thesis is confirmed by the results of empirical research conducted with the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technique in medium and large manufacturing companies operating in Poland., FINDINGS: The results of the conducted research indicate that the sources of information concerning new suppliers most frequently indicated by the surveyed companies are visits of sales representatives of suppliers sending the offer by suppliers, suppliers' websites, direct contacts of the management/specialists employed in the enterprise with suppliers, recommendations of other companies and fairs and exhibitions. The results of the conducted research also indicate that for manufacturers the most important sources of information about suppliers were: suppliers' websites, sending the offer by suppliers, direct contacts of the management / specialists employed in the enterprise with suppliers and the visits of sales representatives of suppliers., PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The considerations based on the analysis of the literature and the results of empirical research indicate that both direct forms (such as sales representatives, recommendations of other clients, fairs and exhibitions) and electronic on-line forms of contact (such as suppliers' websites, specialized industry portals) play an important role in the B2B market as sources of information about suppliers., ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Research on sources of information about suppliers used in purchasing processes on the B2B market is undertaken very rarely. Therefore, the results of studies presented in this article fill the research gap., peer-reviewed

The problem of energy poverty exists in practically every European country. Its size and scope are determined by a variety of factors, ranging from economic development to the direction of energy and climate policy implementation to cultural factors. Our aim in this paper was to carry out a comparative analysis of indicators related to energy poverty and sustainable development to identify correlations and links between the two issues and determine how they are related. The fact that the analysis was performed for most European countries is new and represents a broad spectrum of research; we were not limited to studies of countries bound by formal political-economic arrangements or by consideration of the degree of economic development. This approach enabled explication of how diverse the situation is in Europe. The research methods used included a critical analysis of the literature and the use of descriptive and mathematical-statistical tools. The main conclusions and findings of the analysis were that in some countries in economically developed Europe, energy poverty is a major problem, and that, in this respect, there are large differences between “old European Union” and “new European Union” countries, and in the countries that do not belong to political-economic structures in Europe. It is clear, from the research, which countries are rapidly and effectively reducing their energy poverty problems and which factors are the determinants of this. These results are linked to the new direction of energy policy and the shift towards more environmentally friendly energy use. In conclusion, it has been possible to identify the causes of energy poverty and how the energy poverty situation in Europe is changing.

It can be observed that manufacturing companies (especially Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)), by promoting the implementation of the sustainability concept among their suppliers, refer to the requirements included in international standards which constitute guidelines for the implementation of quality, environmental and safety management systems. The effective implementation of these guidelines of the standards are often subject to initial and periodic evaluation as well as self-evaluation by suppliers. It can be seen that OEMs not only require effective implementation of quality, environmental and security management systems, but also offer a supplier a development program to improve their processes and products. The aim of the article was to try to define the expectations of production companies towards their suppliers regarding the implementation of the sustainability concept. The study presents the results of empirical research conducted with the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technique in medium and large manufacturing companies operating in Poland. The results of these studies indicate the important role of the requirements included in international management standards as the expectations of manufacturing companies towards suppliers. The surveyed manufacturing companies focus in particular on reducing the risk of noncompliance and limiting the negative environmental impact by suppliers on the processes and products.

Edge currents of paramagnetic colloidal particles propagate at the edge between two topologically equivalent magnetic lattices of different lattice constant when the system is driven with periodic modulation loops of an external magnetic field. The number of topologically protected particle edge transport modes is not determined by a bulk-boundary correspondence. Instead, we find a rich variety of edge transport modes that depend on the symmetry of both the edge and the modulation loop. The edge transport can be ratchet-like or adiabatic, time or non-time reversal symmetric. The topological nature of the edge transport is classified by a set of winding numbers around bulk fence points extended by winding numbers around edge specific bifurcation points that cannot be deduced from the two bulk lattices.

Paramagnetic colloidal spheres assemble to colloidal bipeds of various length in an external magnetic field. When the bipeds reside above a magnetic pattern and we modulate the direction of the external magnetic field, the rods perform topologically distinct classes of protected motion above the pattern. The topological protection allows each class to be robust against small continuous deformations of the driving loop of the external field. We observe motion of the rod from a passive central sliding and rolling motion for short bipeds toward a walking motion with both ends of the rod alternately touching down on the pattern for long bipeds. The change of character of the motion occurs in form of discrete topological transitions. The topological protection makes walking a form of motion robust against the breaking of the non symmorphic symmetry. In patterns with non symmorphic symmetry walking is reversible. In symmorphic patterns lacking a glide plane the walking can be irreversible or reversible involving or not involving ratchet jumps. Using different gauges allows us to unravel the active and passive aspects of the topological walks.

We show that it is possible to engineer magnetic multidomain configurations without domain walls in a prototypical rare-earth-transition-metal ferrimagnet using keV He^{+} ion bombardment. We additionally show that these patterns display a particularly stable magnetic configuration due to a deep minimum in the energy of the system caused by flux closure and a corresponding reduction of the magnetostatic energy without an increase in energy by exchange and anisotropy terms across the walls. This occurs because light-ion bombardment affects an element's relative contribution to the properties of the ferrimagnet differently. Therefore, it is possible to control the relative contribution from each magnetic subsystem. The selection of material and the use of light-ion bombardment allow us to engineer domain patterns in continuous magnetic films, which open a way to fabricate them in a much smaller scale than currently possible. Our Letter emphasizes that the right criterion to determine the presence or absence of a domain wall is whether there is a rotation of the spin for each sublattice and that changes of the direction of effective magnetization alone do not constitute an appropriate criterion.

Deposition of alloy films with a well-controlled concentration gradient obtained by co-sputtering from two magnetron sources is studied experimentally and compared with numerical calculations. This method was used together with a linearly moving shutter to fabricate sperimagnetic Co-Tb alloy films with mutually orthogonal concentration and thickness gradients. Using magnetooptical measurements it was demonstrated that, for thicknesses below 10 nm, the compensation concentration (ccomp) shifts towards higher Tb content as the thickness of the Co-Tb film is reduced. Results for Co-Tb alloy films are compared with those for (Tb/Co)RN multilayers with various repetition numbers (RN). For both sample types, the ccomp decreases in a similar way with increasing total film thickness. Thus, the decrease of ccomp with increasing total thickness (either of alloy films or of multilayers) can be considered a universal behavior.

The purpose of this article is to define the role of environmental management in the implementation of the concept of a Green Sustainable Supply Chain. Widespread interest in the implementation of this concept determines the environmental activities which are undertaken by companies. For this reason, more and more organizations are interested in the introduction of an environmental management system (based on the requirements of the ISO 14000 family of standards). The involvement of companies in the implementation of the concept of sustainable development is also reflected in the propagation of this idea among business partners in the supply chain. Undertaking activities mitigating the negative impact on the environment is considered by many organizations an important criterion in the initial and periodic assessment of suppliers. Many companies, while working on developing of a strong and positive brand image among their customers, use environmental labels when promoting their products. In recent years, more and more companies implement the material flow cost accounting concept which takes into consideration the relationships in the supply chain. Celem artykułu jest określenie roli zarządzania środowiskowego w realizacji koncepcji Green Sustainable Supply Chain. Powszechne zainteresowanie jej wdrażaniem powoduje, iż przedsiębiorstwa podejmują działania proekologiczne. Z tego też względu coraz więcej organizacji jest zainteresowanych wprowadzaniem systemowego zarządzania środowiskiem (opartego na wymaganiach standardów ISO serii 14000). Zaangażowanie firm w realizację koncepcji trwałego rozwoju przekłada się także na propagowanie tej idei wobec partnerów gospodarczych w łańcuchu dostaw. Podejmowanie działań związanych z ograniczaniem negatywnego oddziaływania na środowisko jest często brane pod uwagę przez wiele organizacji jako istotne kryterium oceny wstępnej i okresowej dostawców. Można dostrzec, iż wiele przedsiębiorstw stara się kształtować swój pozytywny wizerunek w opinii klientów, stosując etykiety środowiskowe w promocji swoich produktów. W ostatnim okresie podmioty gospodarcze coraz częściej podejmują się prowadzenia rachunkowości kosztów przepływu materiałów z uwzględnieniem powiązań w łańcuchu dostaw.

A magnetic multilayer of substrate/Pt-15 nm/Co-0.8 nm/Pt-wedge 0–7 nm/Co-0.6 nm/Pt-2 nm structure is characterized by a perpendicular anisotropy of the Co layers and by graded interlayer coupling between them. Using magnetooptical Kerr microscopy we observed a distinct influence of magnetic domains in one Co layer on the nucleation field and positions of nucleation sites of reversed domains in the second Co layer. For sufficiently strong interlayer coupling a replication of magnetic domains from the magnetically harder layer to the magnetically softer layer is observed.

We show that it is possible to engineer magnetic multidomain configurations without domain walls in a prototypical rare-earth-transition-metal ferrimagnet using keV He^{+} ion bombardment. We additionally show that these patterns display a particularly stable magnetic configuration due to a deep minimum in the energy of the system caused by flux closure and a corresponding reduction of the magnetostatic energy without an increase in energy by exchange and anisotropy terms across the walls. This occurs because light-ion bombardment affects an element's relative contribution to the properties of the ferrimagnet differently. Therefore, it is possible to control the relative contribution from each magnetic subsystem. The selection of material and the use of light-ion bombardment allow us to engineer domain patterns in continuous magnetic films, which open a way to fabricate them in a much smaller scale than currently possible. Our Letter emphasizes that the right criterion to determine the presence or absence of a domain wall is whether there is a rotation of the spin for each sublattice and that changes of the direction of effective magnetization alone do not constitute an appropriate criterion.

Background: In the recent period, one could notice that more and more international companies implementing their strategies based on the concept of risk management. These companies when they evaluate and qualify their suppliers use the requirements of quality management standards, quality assurance standards (in particular sectors), safety and security management standards for supply chain, as well as business continuity management standards. This article aims to determine the importance of the risk factors affecting relations with suppliers. Methods: The research was carried out between October and November 2017 using the Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) technique. The study covered 300 producers from the automotive, metal and chemical sectors operating in the Polish B2B market. Results: The surveyed enterprises indicated as the most critical sources of threats in relations with suppliers: the possibility of untimely deliveries, quality defects of products, the financial situation of suppliers, communication problems (related to the understanding of the requirements by the supplier), low level of supply flexibility, product assortment errors, limited production capacity. Conclusions: Recapitulating the theoretical considerations and the results of empirical study, it can be stated that the role of the risk management concept in relations with suppliers is significant. Risk management is still essential to ensure the safety of purchased products as well as to ensure the continuity of processes and to avoid disruptions in supply chains.

Magnetophoresis of micrometer sized superparamagnetic beads on sputtered Ir/Co(1.2 nm)/Ir multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy has been investigated. We show that domain walls motion in these layer systems is controlling the motion of the beads in an aqueous environment, where the domain wall motion is induced by varying perpendicular external magnetic fields of several kA/m. The magnetic fields of the Neel type walls, and forces calculated based on micromagnetic simulations of their structure, are consistent with viscous forces observed in the experiment. We show that the cylindrical domains can be used to efficiently gather originally scattered beads in a small area.

The ability to perform wide-range tuning of the magnetic field required to switch the magnetization of ferromagnetic layers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is of great importance for many applications. We show that, for (Au/Co)2(3) multilayers, this field can be changed from minus several kOe to plus several kOe because of changes to the coupling with a ferrimagnetic multilayer [either (Tb/Fe)6 or (Tb/Co)6] across a Au spacer (either homogeneous 1 nm thick or wedge-shaped). The adjustable parameters are the ratio of sublayer thicknesses of the ferrimagnet and the sequence of layers around the Au spacer. The change of the sequence from Co/Au/Co to Tb/Au/Co is accompanied by both the reduction of the interaction energy and the change of the magnetic field sign necessary to switch the magnetization of ferromagnetic multilayers. For a 1 nm thick Au spacer this fields change from positive (negative) to negative (positive) if the ferrimagnet is dominated by the transition metal (rare earth) as a result of its composition. The characteristic oscillatory behavior of RKKY-like coupling is demonstrated using a system with a wedge-shaped Au spacer.

Colloidal magnetophoretic lensing of water suspended micrometer-sized superparamagnetic beads (SPBs) above a topographically patterned magnetic thin film system with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is demonstrated. The magnetic pattern consisting of concentric annuli of micron-sized widths has been superimposed with a rotating external magnetic field, and it is shown that the trajectories of the SPBs above this structure are similar to light rays in an optical focusing lens. SPB trajectories converge towards the central region and have divergent trajectories while passing the center. The experimental findings are corroborated by a quantitative model for the SPB trajectories. The magnetophoretic lensing effect leads to a high SPB concentration in the center of the pattern and may be useful for applications where SPBs have to approach each other in a controlled way.

Topological insulators insulate in the bulk but exhibit robust conducting edge states protected by the topology of the bulk material. Here, we design a colloidal topological insulator and demonstrate experimentally the occurrence of edge states in a classical particle system. Magnetic colloidal particles travel along the edge of two distinct magnetic lattices. We drive the colloids with a uniform external magnetic field that performs a topologically non-trivial modulation loop. The loop induces closed orbits in the bulk of the magnetic lattices. At the edge, where both lattices merge, the colloids perform skipping orbits trajectories and hence edge-transport. We also observe paramagnetic and diamagnetic colloids moving in opposite directions along the edge between two inverted patterns; the analogue of a quantum spin Hall effect in topological insulators. We present a new, robust, and versatile way of transporting colloidal particles, enabling new pathways towards lab on a chip applications.

The topologically protected transport of colloidal particles on top of periodic magnetic patterns is studied experimentally, theoretically, and with computer simulations. To uncover the interplay between topology and symmetry we use patterns of all possible two dimensional magnetic point group symmetries with equal lengths lattice vectors. Transport of colloids is achieved by modulating the potential with external, homogeneous but time dependent magnetic fields. The modulation loops can be classified into topologically distinct classes. All loops falling into the same class cause motion in the same direction, making the transport robust against internal and external perturbations. We show that the lattice symmetry has a profound influence on the transport modes, the accessibility of transport networks, and the individual transport directions of paramagnetic and diamagnetic colloidal particles. We show how the transport of colloidal particles above a two fold symmetric stripe pattern changes from universal adiabatic transport at large elevations via a topologically protected ratchet motion at intermediate elevations toward a non-transport regime at low elevations. Transport above four-fold symmetric patterns is closely related to the two-fold symmetric case. The three-fold symmetric case however consists of a whole family of patterns that continuously vary with a phase variable. We show how this family can be divided into two topologically distinct classes supporting different transport modes and being protected by proper and improper six fold symmetries. We discuss and experimentally demonstrate the topological transition between both classes. All three-fold symmetric patterns support independent transport directions of paramagnetic and diamagnetic particles. The similarities and the differences in the lattice symmetry protected transport of classical over-damped colloidal particles versus the topologically protected transport in quantum mechanical systems are emphasized.

The thermoelectric effects in three-terminal structures with a quantum dot are considered. We propose the experimentally consistent protocol for determination of the transport coefficients in terms of the local and non-local conductances and thermopowers that can be measured in two steps, applying the `four probe technique'. This proposal is compared with other approaches discussed so far in the literature. As an example we study in detail the thermopower induced by the superconducting electrode in a subgap regime which might be useful for analysis of novel hybrid devices.

Here, we systematically investigated the influence of ion bombardment with different fluences on the strength and direction of the exchange bias coupling in Au/Co/NiO systems with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of the Co layer. We found that the direction of the exchange bias coupling can be reversed as a result of ion bombardment performed in an external magnetic field which is in the opposite direction to the magnetic field applied during film deposition. Moreover, the strength of the exchange bias coupling can be tailored by varying the ion fluence. These results show behaviors similar to the results found for systems of ferromagnetic layers with in-plane anisotropy. Our experimental work, supported by a two-energy-level model, demonstrates that exchange bias coupling can be tuned in a layered system with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy using ion bombardment.