Automated Authentication and Authorisation of Consignors and their Consignments within Secure Supply Chains

In cross-border transport, in particular in air-transport, since 2010 there is the notion of a known consignor. This term is used in connection with an airfreight distribution company, which has introduced appropriate safety and security measures into its business process. Hence, its transport units are considered “safe” and can be handled with fewer overheads and more quickly. Due to the ever-increasing airfreight traffic, the notion of efficient security in airfreight is becoming increasingly pressing and requires information technical support to be able to handle shipments in time. In order to sustain security throughout entire supply chains all consignors should adhere to the same security standards – build a secure supply chain. This article presents methods and mechanisms for automated authentication and authorisation of known consignors and their transport units that enables swift identification and secure handover of shipments among known consignors and distribution centres. In their application they are not bound to air-transport and can be used to secure supply chains in general

RFID Enabled Arms and Ammunition Depot Management System with Human Tracking Capacity

In developing nations, arms proliferate on the streets due to intentional and unintentional leakages from depots managed by the armed forces. The somewhat manual system used to manage the inventory of arms stored in depots can be blamed for the leakages. This paper proposes the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to manage ammunition depots in developing nations. The RFID enabled solution has a human tracking capability and provides updates on a regular basis to a database. This gives the implemented RFID ammunition system a real-time monitoring capability

Proactive model to determine information technologies supporting expansion of air cargo network

Shippers and recipients expect transportation companies to provide more than just the movement of a package between points; certain information must be available to them as well, to enable forecasts and plans within the supply chain. The transportation companies also need the information flow that undergirds a transportation grid, to support ad-hoc routing and strategic structural re-alignment of business processes. This research delineates the information needs for an expanding air cargo network, then develops a new model of the information technologies needed to support expansion into a new country. The captured information will be used by shippers, recipients, and the transportation provider to better guide business decisions. This model will provide a method for transportation companies to balance the tradeoffs between the operating efficiencies, capital expenditures, and customer expectations of their IT systems. The output of the model is a list of technologies – optimized by cost – which meet the specific needs of internal and external customers when expanding air cargo networks into a new country

The impact of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology on retail supply chain performance

This research investigates the impact of Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) on supply chain performance within the Australian retail sector. This study examines how the factors associated with RFID influence adoption intentions, taking into account organisational readiness, and consequently, the impact on supply chain performance. RFID is an emerging technology being examined in the retail sector (Sullivan 2004) and a review of literature reveals many benefits associated with adopting RFID (Sarac 2010). Equally, the literature identifies challenges that impact on the capability of RFID (Ngai & Gunasekaran 2009). This research investigates these challenges under the banner of technological, organisational, external environmental and economic context factors. These challenges may be eliminated in the future (Poirier & McCollum 2006) and organisations need to be prepared. Organisational readiness is central to this research and consists of factors such as financial resources, IT knowledge, current IT use, and previous IT implementation (Asif & Mandviwalla 2004; Lekakos 2007). There is a lack of research examining RFID in a retail supply chain setting, and very few include organisational readiness. This research bridges this gap and adopting an exploratory approach, investigates RFID factors using two methods, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Initially, managers known to be aware of RFID and operating within retail supply chain organisations were interviewed to gain an understanding for the RFID environment. Following this, an expanded pilot study using AHP enabled a rigorous approach to assess the importance of RFID factors. Respondents consisted of senior managers within two large retailers, five suppliers and five technology provider organisations. In this study, AHP facilitated the ranking of RFID factors based on their perceived importance. The results indicated that technological factors were most important, followed by economic factors with respect to organisational readiness. Within the technological context, standards were the most important factor, and in the economic category, tag costs were also important. Based on the information obtained from the AHP analysis and the literature review a survey was constructed and data collected from a sample of Global Standards 1 (GS1) members. PLS-SEM, a highly regarded quantitative modelling tool, was used to analyse the data obtained from 116 respondents and ascertain predictive relationships. The results indicated a positive relationship between supply chain performance and intentions to adopt RFID. There was also a positive relationship between organisational readiness and intention to adopt. Three factors were found to be important. These included compatibility, security, and IT investment. These factors collectively explain 60.3 per cent of the variance in organisational readiness. However, investment in information technology was identified as the major factor contributing to organisational readiness. The implications of this research highlight the need for organisations to become aware of the factors and prepare for the likely event of RFID challenges being overcome. Managers need to reflect on these results and concentrate on the important factors including IT investment as part of their strategy

Efectividad de la logística del transporte aéreo de mercancías: Una aproximación multicriterio basada en el Proceso Analítico Sistémico (ANP)

El objetivo principal de la presente Tesis Doctoral es crear y desarrollar un modelo de análisis que permita medir la alineación de los objetivos estratégicos del transporte aéreo de mercancías en la Situación Actual del sistema con dichos objetivos estratégicos en la Situación Ideal. Para ello, dicho modelo de análisis se basa en el apoyo metodológico que se obtiene de la técnica de análisis multicriterio Proceso de Análisis Sistémico (Anlytic Network Porcess, ANP) de T. Saaty (1996). Esta técnica permite valorar la influencia de un conjunto de alternativas (objetivos estratégicos) con respecto a una misión a través de una red de influencias entre criterios (aspectos relevantes del sistema). El trabajo se inicia con la justificación de la elección de ANP, técnica englobada dentro de los métodos multicriterios discretos de la Teoría de la Decisión, por las características del problema que se quiere resolver. A continuación, se lleva a cabo un análisis en profundidad del transporte aéreo de mercancías a través de su concepción como sistema. Para ello, se define el concepto de logística de transporte aéreo de mercancías (LTAM) que considera el transporte aéreo de mercancías como un sistema de agentes que interactúan entre sí en pro de alcanzar una misión en común. A partir de ahí, se ponen de relevancia los aspectos principales del sistema referidos a las áreas económicas, técnicas, sociales y ambientales. Partiendo de esta primera definición de los aspectos relevantes y siguiendo las fases que comprende la metodología de ANP, se lleva a cabo la construcción (para el transporte aéreo de mercancías) y la aplicación (a las situaciones actual e ideal del sistema) del modelo de análisis. Para ello, se construye un grupo de expertos, que representa a los distintos agentes de la LTAM, que hará la función de los dos actores que intervienen en la metodología ANP. Por un lado, el actor decisor que establece el comportamiento de los objetivos estratégicos (alternativas) con respecto a los aspectos relevantes del sistema (criterios) y, por otro lado, el actor evaluador que establece el comportamiento del sistema (criterios) con respecto a la misión. Como resultado, se obtienen los vectores de prioridades de la influencia de los objetivos estratégicos en la Situación Actual y en la Situación Ideal. A partir de estos resultados y basándose en la métrica proyectiva de Hilbert, se define una medida de la efectividad del sistema. Asimismo, utilizando el conocimiento del comportamiento del sistema (criterios) con respecto a la misión se muestra cómo se pueden hacer medidas de la efectividad a agentes independientes del sistema con un conjunto de objetivos estratégicos propios. En este sentido, se utiliza como ejemplo la gestión del aeropuerto de Zaragoza. La principales conclusiones que se obtienen son: (i) el desarrollo de un modelo de análisis y una metodología que permite evaluar la influencia de un conjunto de objetivos estratégicos con respecto a la misión de un sistema de transporte, (ii) la definición de los aspectos relevantes del transporte aéreo de mercancías y (iii) la medida de la efectividad que sirve para comparar distintas situaciones del sistema y a los diferentes agentes que interactúan entre sí