Design Principles for Closed Loop Supply Chains

In this paper we study design principles for closed loop supply chains. Closed loop supply chains aim at closing material flows thereby limiting emission and residual waste, but also providing customer service at low cost. We study 'traditional' and 'new' design principles known in the literature. It appears that setting up closed loop supply chains requires some additional design principles because of sustainability requirements. At the same time however, we see that traditional principles also apply. Subsequently we look at a business situation at Honeywell. Here, only a subset of the relevant design principles is applied. The apparent low status of reverse logistics may provide an explanation for this. To some extent, the same mistakes are made again as were 20 years ago in, for instance, inbound logistics. Thus, obvious improvements can be made by applying traditional principles. Also new principles, which require a life cycle driven approach, need to be applied. This can be supported by advanced management tools such as LCA and LCC.reverse logistics;case-study;closed loop supply chains

Design and Control of Warehouse Order Picking: a literature review

Order picking has long been identified as the most labour-intensive and costly activity for almost every warehouse; the cost of order picking is estimated to be as much as 55% of the total warehouse operating expense. Any underperformance in order picking can lead to unsatisfactory service and high operational cost for its warehouse, and consequently for the whole supply chain. In order to operate efficiently, the orderpicking process needs to be robustly designed and optimally controlled. This paper gives a literature overview on typical decision problems in design and control of manual order-picking processes. We focus on optimal (internal) layout design, storage assignment methods, routing methods, order batching and zoning. The research in this area has grown rapidly recently. Still, combinations of the above areas have hardly been explored. Order-picking system developments in practice lead to promising new research directions.Order picking;Logistics;Warehouse Management

Potential applications of structured commodity financing techniques for banks in developing countries

This paper discusses of a number of innovative financial techniques that can be used by developing country banks to open up new financing possibilities in the commodities sector, for industries servicing the commodity sector, and for financing on the basis of "commoditized" income streams. This includes techniques such as factoring and forfaiting, countertrade, warehouse receipt finance, prepayments, export receivables finance, Islamic finance, structured import finance, and securitization. A number of practical models for developing country banks are described.agricultural finance structured finance repos banks securitization

CONCENTRATION AND MERGERS IN U.S. WHOLESALE GROCERY MARKETS

This report analyzes a large sample of U.S. grocery warehouse operators in 54 well defined grocery marketing areas. Almost all grocer retail chains with more than 40 supermarkets and $500 million in retail sales in 1990 are vertically integrated into wholesaling. More than four-fifths of the market areas display high levels of sales concentration (four-firm concentration greater than 60 percent). The 1992 merger between Super Value and Wetterau violated federal merger enforcement guidelines in at least four market areas, and several more horizontal mergers between merchant grocery wholesalers have been consummated since then.Grocery wholesale trade, food retail trade, market concentration, mergers and acquisitions, vertical integration, antitrust policy, food distribution, geographic market definition.

Globalization and changes as determinants of logistics development (Inaugural lecture during the official opening of the academic year 2021-2022 at the International University of Logistics and Transport in Wrocław)

The article deals with some phenomena of internationalization of economic and social processes, especially in the context of more and more complex supply processes. They got even more complicated during the pandemic. It was emphasized that a very serious situation forces the use of even unconventional solutions or the search for alternative ways to replace what has been strained by the emerging crisis. In a fairly extensive ending, the prospects for a supply chain strategy have been presented

The feasibility of an international tropical plywood futures contract

This paper explores the potential for futures contracts in tropical (hardwood) plywood, one of the few major internationally traded commodities for which there is no yet a futures market. Commodity characteristics and market structures and practices that have an impact on the feasibility of a futures market are examined in detail, and conclusions drawn as to the way forward if one wishes to create such a market.commodity futures market, plywood

Policy options for improving regional fertilizer markets in West Africa:

A primary motivation for this study is to identify a key set of policy options for improving fertilizer markets in West Africa (among Economic Community of West African States member countries) in ways that ultimately will help improve the efficiency of regional markets and lower the transaction costs and fiscal burdens of increasing fertilizer use in the region. Guided by the 2008 fertilizer crisis, many governments are tempted to impose fertilizer subsidies to reduce fertilizer prices. Yet, in an environment riddled with inefficiencies that contribute to the high costs of using fertilizers, the introduction of subsidies only adds more fiscal burden.To carry out the study, we undertook four country case studies to review the key constraints and bottlenecks along the fertilizer supply chain. The countries were Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal, and the research included field visits in 2009 and 2010. The current paper is based on the country case study results, complemented by a literature review and analysis of secondary data sources.common fertilizer market, fertilizer use and supply, harmonization of products and regulations, improved technology, policy environment, regional market integration, structure and performance of markets, supply chain,