Design of sustainable supply chains for the agrifood sector: a holistic research framework

Agrifood sector is one of the most important economic and political areas within the European Union, with key implications for sustainability such as the fulfillment of human needs, the support of employment and economic growth, and its impact on the natural environment.  Growing environmental, social and ethical concerns and increased awareness of the impacts of the agrifood sector have led to increased pressure by all involved supply chain stakeholders, while at the same time the European Union has undertaken a number of relevant regulatory interventions.  This paper aims to present a methodological framework for the design of green supply chains for the agrifood sector.  The framework aims towards the optimization of the agrifood supply chain design, planning and operations through the implementation of appropriate green supply chain management and logistics principles.  More specifically, focus is put on the minimization of the environmental burden and the maximization of supply chain sustainability of the agrifood supply chain.  The application of such a framework could result into substantial reduction of CO2 emissions both by the additional production of other biofuels from waste, as well as the introduction of a novel intelligent logistics network, in order to reduce the harvest and transportation energy input.  Moreover, the expansion of the biomass feedstock available for biofuel production can provide adequate support towards avoidance of food/fuel competition for land use.   Keywords: supply chain management, green supply chains, sustainable development, agrifood secto

Voice-driven fleet management system for agricultural operations

Food consumption is constantly increasing at global scale. In this light, agricultural production also needs to increase in order to satisfy the relevant demand for agricultural products. However, due to by environmental and biological factors (e.g. soil compaction) the weight and size of the machinery cannot be further physically optimized. Thus, only marginal improvements are possible to increase equipment effectiveness. On the contrary, late technological advances in ICT provide the ground for significant improvements in agri-production efficiency. In this work, the V-Agrifleet tool is presented and demonstrated. V-Agrifleet is developed to provide a “hands-free” interface for information exchange and an “Olympic view” to all coordinated users, giving them the ability for decentralized decision-making. The proposed tool can be used by the end-users (e.g. farmers, contractors, farm associations, agri-products storage and processing facilities, etc.) order to optimize task and time management. The visualized documentation of the fleet performance provides valuable information for the evaluation management level giving the opportunity for improvements in the planning of next operations. Its vendor-independent architecture, voice-driven interaction, context awareness functionalities and operation planning support constitute V-Agrifleet application a highly innovative agricultural machinery operational aiding system

Identifying the optimal strategy for suppliers’ involvement in product design: A case study

In order to increase efficiency and improve competitiveness, manufacturers around the globe are focusing on developing their core businesses. On the other hand, standard activities of engineering are optimally accomplished outside the borders of the firm; thus outsourcing of non-core businesses has become lately a common practice. Product design is considered as one of the most important phases in a product’s life cycle, since the majority of most critical decisions in terms of products’ overall performance are considered during the Research & Development (R&D) phase. Involving suppliers in a firm’s R&D offers significant benefits in various directions, such as feasibility, practicability, sustainability, competitiveness and innovativeness. However, selecting the optimal outsourcing strategy is not an easy decision. On the contrary, it is most challenging since it encompasses a number of different and in many cases mutually conflicting criteria. This paper presents a methodological approach for the selection of the optimal outsourcing strategy for a manufacturer’s R&D. The methodology is based on outranking multicriteria methods and more specifically ELECTRE III. The approach is illustrated and validated through a real world case study of a Greek olive oil producer.   Keywords: product design; suppliers; R&D; outsourcing strategy; multicriteria analysis, ELECTRE II

Green Supply Chain Management

Today, one of the top priorities of an organization’s modern corporate strategy is to portray itself as socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. As a focal point of sustainability initiatives, green supply chain management has emerged as a key strategy that can provide competitive advantages with significant parallel gains for company profitability. In designing a green supply chain, the intent is the adoption of comprehensive and cross-business sustainability principles, from the product conception stage to the end-of-life stage. In this context, green initiatives relate to tangible and intangible corporate benefits. Sustainability reports from numerous companies reveal that greening their supply chains has helped reduce operating cost, thus boosting effectiveness and efficiency while increasing sustainability of the business. Green Supply Chain Management provides a strategic overview of sustainable supply chain management, shedding light on the theoretical background and key principles of the topic. Specifically, this book covers various thematic areas including benefits and impact of green supply chain management; enablers and barriers on supply chain operations; inbound and outbound logistics considerations; and production, packaging and reverse logistics under the notion of "greening". The ultimate aim of this textbook is to highlight the challenges in the implementation of green supply chain management in modern companies and to provide a roadmap for decision-making in real-life cases. Combining chapter summaries and discussion questions, this book provides an accessible and student-friendly introduction to green supply change management and will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners in the fields of sustainable business and supply chain management

Informing additive manufacturing technology adoption: total cost and the impact of capacity utilisation

Informing Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology adoption decisions, this paper investigates the relationship between build volume capacity utilisation and efficient technology operation in an inter-process comparison of the costs of manufacturing a complex component used in the packaging industry. Confronting the reported costs of a conventional machining and welding pathway with an estimator of the costs incurred through an AM route utilising Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), we weave together four aspects: optimised capacity utilisation, ancillary process steps, the effect of build failure and design adaptation. Recognising that AM users can fill unused machine capacity with other, potentially unrelated, geometries, we posit a characteristic of ‘fungible’ build capacity. This aspect is integrated in the cost estimation framework through computational build volume packing, drawing on a basket of sample geometries. We show that the unit cost in mixed builds at full capacity is lower than in builds limited to a single type of geometry; in our study, this results in a mean unit cost overstatement of 157%. The estimated manufacturing cost savings from AM adoption range from 36 to 46%. Additionally, we indicate that operating cost savings resulting from design adaptation are likely to far outweigh the manufacturing cost advantage

Catalytic supercritical water gasification of plastics with supported RuO2:a potential solution to hydrocarbons-water pollution problem

Here we report on a potential catalytic process for efficient clean-up of plastic pollution in waters, such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (CPGP). Detailed catalytic mechanisms of RuO2 during supercritical water gasification of common polyolefin plastics including low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PP), have been investigated in a batch reactor at 450 °C, 60 min. All four plastics gave very high carbon gasification efficiencies (CGE) and hydrogen gasification efficiencies (HGE). Methane was the highest gas component, with a yield of up to 37 mol kg−1LDPE using the 20 wt% RuO2 catalyst. Evaluation of the gas yields, CGE and HGE revealed that the conversion of PS involved thermal degradation, steam reforming and methanation; whereas hydrogenolysis was a possible additional mechanism during the conversion of aliphatic plastics. The process has the benefits of producing a clean-pressurized methane-rich fuel gas as well as cleaning up hydrocarbons-polluted waters

Beyond the walls: the design and development of the Petralona Cave virtual museum utilising 3D technologies

The Petralona Cave, which local inhabitants discovered by chance in 1959, is a remarkable natural and cultural landmark close to the village of Petralona, in the Chalkidiki peninsula of Greece. The site has gained global recognition for the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved Palaeolithic human skull, unearthed in 1960; it also holds archaeological and palaeontological significance. In this paper, the researchers introduce the Petralona Cave Virtual Museum: an innovative project whose mission is to increase public awareness and comprehension of the site. Our approach goes beyond mere replication of the physical museum located close to the cave; instead, the objective is to create an independent and comprehensive experience that is accessible to all visitors, irrespective of their ability to visit the site in person. Our methodology involved the documentation of the site and its history, analysis of user requirements, development of use cases to steer the design process, as well as architectural designs creation, itineraries and findings digitisation, and architectural structure finalisation. The Virtual Museum provides a well-organised frame structure that serves as an efficient gateway to the content, making navigation easy for visitors. Thanks to various presentation methods, including videos, high-quality images, interactive maps, animated content, interactive 3D models, plus searchable item libraries, among others, users are empowered to create a highly personalised navigation plan; thus the Virtual Museum experience is comparable to visiting the physical museum or cultural site. Cutting-edge digitisation techniques were employed to create highly detailed 3D models of the site. The Petralona Cave Virtual Museum is expected to offer an immersive experience, engaging diverse audiences; the interactive and educational exploration provides highly innovative access to archaeological knowledge. The visibility of the Petralona site is amplified and there is a significant contribution to knowledge dissemination about this important cultural heritage site

A multi-criteria sustainability assessment framework: development and application in comparing two food waste management options using a UK region as a case study

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2479-