Modelling Fresh Strawberry Supply "From-Farm-to-Fork" as a Complex Adaptive Network

 The purpose of this study is to model and thereby enable simulation of the complete business entity of fresh food supply. A case narrative of fresh strawberry supply provides basis for this modelling. Lamming et al. (2000) point to the importance of discerning industry-specific product features (or particularities) regarding managing supply networks when discussing elements in "an initial classification of a supply network" while Fisher (1997) and Christopher et al. (2006, 2009) point to the lack of adopting SCM models to variations in products and market types as an important source of SCM failure. In this study we have chosen to move along a research path towards developing an adapted approach to model end-to-end fresh food supply influenced by a combination of SCM, system dynamics and complex adaptive network thinking...

Under which conditions is carrier cooperation possible? A case study in a Seville marketplace

The high volume of traffic originates two well-known problems in many cities: congestion and pollution. In recent years, a social phenomenon is emerging cooperation. This work is aimed at evaluating the circumstances under which transport cooperation is possible between different stakeholders operating in the same geographical area. To this end, a double survey process was conducted in a marketplace situated in the Seville City (Spain) centre. The first survey was designed to know the characteristics of the retailers and their preferences with respect to cooperation and regulations. A relational analysis between retailer features and their willingness to cooperate was carried out. After analysing the motivations for non-cooperation, a mixed proposal was designed and surveyed. Although the research was limited to a marketplace, the relevant data gathered from this double survey process highlights some implications: (a) the importance of personal relations in retailer cooperation; (b) a high volume of freight and the use of vans as on-street warehouses appear as significant motivations for non-cooperation; (c) forcing changes in the statu quo encourages cooperation.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España) TEC2013-47286-C3-3-

Designing sustainable cold chains for long-range food distribution: Energy-effective corridors on the Silk Road Belt

Modern food production-distribution processes represent a critical stressor for the environment and for natural ecosystems. The rising flows of food across growing and consumption areas couple with the higher expectations of consumers for the quality of products and compel the intensive use of refrigerated rooms and transport means throughout the food supply chain. In order to aid the design of sustainable cold chains that incorporate such aspects, this paper proposes a mixed integer linear programming model to minimize the total energy consumption associated with the cold operations experienced by perishable products. This model is intended for food traders, logistics practitioners, retail managers, and importers collaboratively called to design and plan a cost and environmentally effective supply strategy, physical channels, and infrastructures for cold chains. The proposed model is validated with a case study inspired by the distribution of two example food products, namely fresh apples and ice cream, along the New Silk Road connecting Europe and China. The illustrated analysis investigates the effect of alternative routes and transport modes on the sustainability of the cold chain. It is found that the most energy-efficient route for ice cream is via rail over a northern route and, for apples, is via a southern maritime route, and, for these two routes, the ratios of the total energy consumed to the energy content of the food are 760 and 913, respectively. By incorporating the energy lost due to the food quality decay, the model identifies the optimal route to adopt in accordance with the shelf life and the conservation temperature of each product

Sharing services for freight distribution: concepts, stakes and experience comebacks

La mutualisation logistique est un sujet très à la mode mais peu étudié dans la littérature scientifique. Ce document propose les concepts de base de la mutualisation logistique pour la distribution de marchandises, énonçant les principes de base et proposant deux modèles pour la conception et l'analyses de systèmes de distribution de marchandises avec une mutualisation de plusieurs opérations.Mutualisation logistique; supply chain management; aide aux décisions de groupe; logistique urbaine

Simulation and optimization methods for logistics pooling in the outbound supply chain

Logistics pooling and collaborative transportation systems are relatively new concepts in logistics research, but are very popular in practice. This communication proposes a conceptual framework for logistics and transportation pooling systems, as well as a simulation method for strategic planning optimization. This method is based on a twostep constructive heuristic in order to estimate for big instances the transportation and storage costs at a macroscopic level. Four possible scenarios are explored and commented. Finally, a socio-economic analysis based on 20 semi-directive interviews is presented to propose the limitations and obstacles of logistics poolingLogistics pooling, supply chain management, optimization, group reasoning, simulation

Business integration between manufacturing and transport-logistics firms

Purpose - This paper analyses how manufacturers and transport-logistics service providers (TLSPs) work together and integrate their business processes. The information technologies used to support the integration, the processes currently integrated, and the expected future integration, are searched. Design/methodology/approach - Six in-depth case studies were conducted among leading companies in the electrical, electronics, mechanical, food processing, and transport-logistics industries. The data was collected using comprehensive semi-structured interviews. Findings - Most of the firms are coupled electronically through EDI. The current business integration practices are primarily restricted to some sub-processes in three key SC processes: Customer service management, order fulfillment and backwards logistics. In the future the manufacturers want a better integration with the TLSPs, but at the same time, manufacturers would like to have the freedom of breaking the relationship, if the party does not fulfill the requisites and expectations. The future developments associated to the "commoditization" of TLSPs’ services would reinforce this trend. Originality/value - This research has shed light on a relatively unexplored area related to the integration between manufacturers and transport-logistics firms. Our research has highlighted the complexity of the integration between the two echelons, and has helped to the identification of current areas of integration. This research has also contributed to understand how the integration occurs in real contexts, by uncovering with a high degree of detail, what manufactures do to integrate their business with the TLSPsSupply chain management; Business process integration; Information technologies (IT); Standardization; Manufacturers; Transport and Logistics Service Providers (TLSPs)

Digital Twin as a Tool for Supporting Logistics Coordination in Distribution Networks

We all witness changes in supply chains and distribution networks influenced by technological development. One of the trends is Digital Twins and outgoing outsourcing of logistics processes. According to mentioned trends, the following article is aimed to elaborate on the Digital Twin in the wide understanding logistics coordination concept. The research focuses on examining the 4 chosen distribution networks in which logistics service providers collaborate with manufacturers in the area of e-commerce activities. The results from the different simulation models were shown and the perspective of implementation of the Digital Twin was clarified.

A Proposal for Supply Chain Management Research That Matters: Sixteen High Priority Research Projects for the Future

On May 4th, 2016 in Milton, Ontario, the World Class Supply Chain 2016 Summit was held in partnership between CN Rail and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Lazaridis School of Business & Economics to realize an ambitious goal: raise knowledge of contemporary supply chain management (SCM) issues through genuine peer-­‐to-­‐peer dialogue among practitioners and scholars. A principal element of that knowledge is an answer to the question: to gain valid and reliable insights for attaining SCM excellence, what issues must be researched further? This White Paper—which is the second of the summit’s two White Papers—addresses the question by proposing a research agenda comprising 16 research projects. This research agenda covers the following: The current state of research knowledge on issues that are of the highest priority to today’s SCM professionals Important gaps in current research knowledge and, consequently, the major questions that should be answered in sixteen future research projects aimed at addressing those gaps Ways in which the research projects can be incorporated into student training and be supported by Canada’s major research funding agencies That content comes from using the summit’s deliberations to guide systematic reviews of both the SCM research literature and Canadian institutional mechanisms that are geared towards building knowledge through research. The major conclusions from those reviews can be summarized as follows: While the research literature to date has yielded useful insights to inform the pursuit of SCM excellence, several research questions of immense practical importance remain unanswered or, at best, inadequately answered The body of research required to answer those questions will have to focus on what the summit’s first White Paper presented as four highly impactful levers that SCM executives must expertly handle to attain excellence: collaboration; information; technology; and talent The proposed research agenda can be pursued in ways that achieve the two inter-­‐related goals of creating new actionable knowledge and building the capacity of today’s students to become tomorrow’s practitioners and contributors to ongoing knowledge growth in the SCM field This White Paper’s details underlying these conclusions build on the information presented in the summit’s first White Paper. That is, while the first White Paper (White Paper 1) identified general SCM themes for which the research needs are most urgent, this White Paper goes further along the path of industry-academia knowledge co-creation. It does so by examining and articulating those needs against the backdrop of available research findings, translating the needs into specific research projects that should be pursued, and providing guidelines for how those projects can be carried out