Bosnia and Herzegovina market research on the use of autonomous vehicles and drones in postal traffic

New technologies primarily affect the lives of all people, their habits, needs, desires, but also significantly affect the demands placed on various business sectors. Discussions on the increasingly rapid development of technical-technological solutions that can be applied in the postal sector and logistics have a long history. New technologies in all areas bring a constant change in the relationship between companies and their customers, which significantly affect the quality of work and activities. In the years to come, it will be an increasing challenge for postal operators around the world, as well as for other companies, to achieve substantive communication and understanding of their customers through the application of innovative technologies. Understanding and learning about customer issues is key to offering them services that, with their precise targeting of stakeholders, quality, visibility, efficiency, and, perhaps most importantly, flexibility, will be able to meet needs that change so quickly over time. This will be possible with new technologies and innovative solutions. The paper presents a market research on the potential use of autonomous vehicles and drones in the postal sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research is based on a survey questionnaire on the use of drones and autonomous vehicles in the postal sector in the segment of shipment delivery

Do Drones dream of a Resilient and Sustainable Urban Distribution? A Literature Review

Over the last 20 years, the demand for transport services has grown thanks to increasing globalization and e-commerce exponentially. This led to the rise in externalities (e.g., air pollution, climate change, noise pollution, traffic congestion), an issue that is particularly relevant in urban contexts. The improvement of last-mile delivery processes comes as a natural necessity. The considerable pressure on urban systems was further pushed by the outbreak of COVID-19, which highlighted the need for a delivery system able to provide a fast, resilient and safe contactless solution to reach isolated or quarantined areas with ease. To cope with the abovementioned issues, many authors have been looking toward adopting unmanned aerial vehicles (a.k.a. drones) in logistics. Therefore, this work aims to identify how drones can improve last-mile logistics resilience and sustainability and understand the impact of drones on urban distribution. The following research questions will be answered to achieve these objectives: Which applications of drones to urban distribution have been researched? What is the impact of drones on urban distribution in terms of resilience and sustainability? This paper follows a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach. The SLR was conducted on the Scopus database and is based on 159 articles. This literature review provides insights into the current state of drone-enhanced urban distribution scientific literature, finds existing gaps and suggests future research opportunities to develop a resilient and sustainable urban distribution system

Delivering parcels through a metro-based underground network: an economic analysis

This work proposes the introduction of an innovative method to deliver parcels within urban areas through a two- echelon logistic network, exploiting underground public transportation and cargo bikes. A model simulating the delivery of parcels through underground public transportation and cargo bikes is developed and applied to the city of Milan. Different scenarios, characterized by a different number of train stations activated and a number of daily orders, are investigated. Exploiting available capacity at subway trains reduces the impact of routing empty vehicles for the public infrastructure provider. Besides, as small, capacitated vehicles, cargo cycles allow having an average higher saturation, with the possibility of running multiple trips within the same day, lowering the impact of non-value adding returns for long-haul vehicles coming from outlying distribution centers. Alongside this, the usage of light vehicles and underground infrastructures help to significantly reduce transportation impacts. Overall, the solution proposed has the potential to radically innovate and improve urban last mile delivery under both economic and environmental perspectives. The present work proposes an innovative solution to deliver parcels, showing that it is sustainable from the logistics service operators' perspective

Social Sustainability in the Development of Service Robots

We introduce the concept of social sustainability, intertwined with ecological and economic aspects, to the field of service robots and comparable automation technology. It takes a first step towards a comprehensive guideline that operationalizes and applies social sustainability. By applying this guideline to the project MURMEL we offer a concept that collects and rates social key issues to visualize their individual importance. Social sustainability is an important and often overlooked aspect of sustainable technology development which should be considered in the early development phase.EFRE, 1247-B5-O, MURMEL: Mobiler Urbaner Roboter zur MüllEimer LeerungDFG, 398051144, Analyse von Strategien zur vollständigen Dekarbonisierung des urbanen Verkehr

Késztermékek kezeléseinek optimálhatósági vizsgálata

Jelen cikkem a Logisztika 4.0 prosperáló hatására a belső vállalati logisztikai folyamatokkal foglalkozik, hiszen a teljes ellátási lánc eredményes és korszerű fenntartása kiemelt logisztikai feladat. A kutatásom egy fiktív bázisvállalat késztermékeinek kiszerelési tevékenységeit elemzi annak érdekében, hogy a folyamatok intenzifikálhatóak legyenek. Kiemelten foglalkozom a lehetséges egységrakományképzési, csomagolási, tárolási és árukiadási folyamatokkal, valamint ezek kapacitásaival. A cikk célja az, hogy alternatív megoldásokat mutassak be az árukiadás belső folyamatainak áteresztő képességének javítására és az azonosított szűk keresztmetszetek feloldására. A bemutatott matematikai modell segítségével lehetővé válik a meglévő erőforrások optimális allokációja a jelenlegi logisztikai terület hatékony üzemeltetésére

Sustainability in urban logistics : a literature review

Purpose: The importance of urban logistics is on the rise. On the one hand, the population in cities is growing due to urbanization processes. On the other hand, there is a significant increase in the flow of goods (e.g., a boost in online purchases). Such changes are leading cities to face social, economic, and environmental issues, which urge to be addressed. Based on these premises, this study aims to identify, classify and provide an overview of the environmentally sustainable logistics solutions for urban contexts. Methodology: This study performs a systematic literature review. First, it provides a quantitative description of the results, highlighting eventual trends; second, it displays a narrative description of the papers considered to map the current solution and of the related methodology. Findings: The study highlights the maturity and interest in adopting more sustainable delivery options in urban logistics. The selection of suitable transport means, the engagement of stakeholders, as well as the definition of norms and regulations, emerge as the most discussed and promising solutions. Originality: This study is a first attempt to classify the existing body of knowledge related to urban logistics, analysing contributions based on different axes of classification and highlighting cutting-edge solutions to propose possible research directions

Using a Variational Autoencoder to Learn Valid Search Spaces of Safely Monitored Autonomous Robots for Last-Mile Delivery

The use of autonomous robots for delivery of goods to customers is an exciting new way to provide a reliable and sustainable service. However, in the real world, autonomous robots still require human supervision for safety reasons. We tackle the real-world problem of optimizing autonomous robot timings to maximize deliveries, while ensuring that there are never too many robots running simultaneously so that they can be monitored safely. We assess the use of a recent hybrid machine-learning-optimization approach COIL (constrained optimization in learned latent space) and compare it with a baseline genetic algorithm for the purposes of exploring variations of this problem. We also investigate new methods for improving the speed and efficiency of COIL. We show that only COIL can find valid solutions where appropriate numbers of robots run simultaneously for all problem variations tested. We also show that when COIL has learned its latent representation, it can optimize 10% faster than the GA, making it a good choice for daily re-optimization of robots where delivery requests for each day are allocated to robots while maintaining safe numbers of robots running at once

Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Urban Logistics: Optimization of Last Mile Delivery Operations

In an era dominated by ongoing urbanization and rising e-commerce, the efficient delivery of goods within cities becomes a major challenge. As a new element of urban logistics, we discuss the potential of autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (AUGV) regarding the last mile delivery of shipments to customers. We propose an optimization model to minimize the delivery costs of urban shipments using AUGV. Simultaneously, best locations from a set of existing stations are selected for AUGV positioning and optimal route determination. With our developed Location Routing Problem, we provide decision support for parcel service providers, city authorities, and other relevant decision makers. Regarding the Green Information Systems domain, we tackle the lack of solution-oriented research addressing a more sustainable and locally emission free supply of goods within urban areas

Cost and Performance Optimisation in the Technological Phase of Parcel Delivery – A Literature Review

The present review paper provides a systematic insight into the studies published so far when it comes to the research on the cost and performance optimisation in the parcel delivery phase. Globalisation, as well as the new trends, such as selling online, directly influences the demands for the delivery of goods. Demand for the delivery of goods proportionally affects the transport prices. A great majority of deliveries is carried out in densely populated urban areas. In terms of costs, the greatest part in the courier organisations costs is observed in the technological phase of parcel delivery, which is at the same time the least efficient. For that reason, significant improvement of performance and cost optimisation in the very delivery phase is a rather challenging field for the researchers. New algorithm-based technologies, innovations in the logistics and outsourcing of individual technological phases are ways by means of which one strives to enhance the delivery efficiency, to improve performance and quality, but also - to optimise the costs in the last phase of delivery. The aim of the present paper is to offer a systematic review into the most recent research in the field of technology, innovations and outsourcing models with the aim of reducing the cost and enhancing the productivity and quality in parcel delivery

Value Proposition for Sustainable Last-Mile Delivery. A Retailer Perspective

The sustainability of last-mile (LM) freight delivery is crucial to add value to the stakeholders in the distribution chain. However, its achievement is often hindered by a poor consideration of their needs by both literature and practice. The goal of this paper is to address the point of view of local retailers by exploring their needs about innovative LM delivery services and identifying sustainable value propositions (VP). A survey was submitted to retailers operating in the limited traffic zone of Torino (Italy). The survey data were analyzed by a factor analysis using a principal component analysis (PCA) to extract the factors. A correlation analysis was also conducted between the needs and selected contextual variables. The results show that retailers accept higher costs for more reliable deliveries and stock reduction. Retailers also correlate punctuality and flexibility because flexible and on-time deliveries allow for better inventory management, higher control, and, in turn, improved customer service level. This work is one of the first research attempts to quantify local retailers’ LM delivery needs and provides guidelines about how to design value-added logistics services. Moreover, from a practical point of view, the analysis shows the main VP that managers and practitioners should consider in the development of LM initiatives