Data envelopment analysis and its key variants utilized in the transport sector

Having reviewed the international literature on data envelopment analysis (DEA), a non-parametric linear programming method used for efficiency evaluation, the aim of the author with the present article was to fill a gap by collecting and summarizing the essence of the main variants of DEA applied in the transport sector. Thus the DEA CCR, BCC and the Simar-Wilson method are presented. DEA CCR enables the efficiency evaluation under constant, DEA BCC under variable returns to scale. The Simar-Wilson method, also referred to as the truncated bootstrap method, is currently seen as the most reliable technique for hypothesis testing and confidence interval estimation under DEA. Some extensions, like the super-efficient DEA, the principal component analysis and the MNDEA are also highlighted. The variants included in the article were selected on the basis of their application in the transport sector, of which examples are also provided

Szállítási láncok globális környezetterhelésének modellezése a környezettudatos városszervezésben

A közutak zsúfoltága egyre növekvő terheket ró az európai gazdaság szereplőire, a közlekedésben közvetlenül részt vevő fuvarozókra, a szállítmányozó vállalkozásokra és a közlekedésben magánszemélyként részt vevő szereplőkre is. A tisztább, hatékonyabb – és ezen belül energiahatékonyabb – városszervezés eléréséhez kulcsfontosságú lehet a szállítási láncok, ezen belül pedig a városi szállítási láncok környezetterhelésének ismerete. A műszaki, környezetvédelmi és informatikai technológiák segítségével biztonságosabb, környezetbarátabb közlekedési struktúrák kialakítására nyílhat lehetőség. Ez egyúttal megteremtheti az áruszállítás más közlekedési módokra való egyenletes elosztásának, átterelésének lehetőségét, a kombinált áruszállítás vonzóvá tételét, továbbá a környezeti terhek csökkentését is, amely alapfeltétele egy környezettudatos, élhető városnak. Cikkünk célja a fenntartható, környezettudatos városszervezés és a városi áruszállítás globális légszennyezési kapcsolatrendszerének vizsgálata. Megvizsgáltuk az Euler-féle megközelítést, melynél a számításokat földrajzi helyre végezhetjük, ezért alkalmazható például teljes szállítási láncok légszennyezésének modellezésére. Előnyösen használható továbbá városok lokális – például közlekedés, szállítás okozta – légszennyezésének leírásakor. Megvizsgáltuk továbbá az Euler-féle megközelítéssel szemben a Lagrange-féle megközelítést, mely a szállítási láncban résztvevő szállítójármű egyedek légszennyezésének modellezésére alkalmas. Továbbá felállítottuk a fenntartható városszervezési ismérvek figyelembevételével a kettő közötti kapcsolatot

Az intelligens áru koncepciójának és relevanciájának bemutatása, különös tekintettel a mobil ágensek alkalmazásának lehetőségére

Az előadás az Európai Unió által is prioritásként kezelt intelligens közlekedési rendszerek témakörébe tartozó e-Freight koncepció, ezen belül pedig az intelligens áru elképzelését mutatja be. Az utóbbi lényege, hogy az RFID – rádiófrekvenciás azonosítási technológia – elterjedésével egyre könnyebbé és kívánatossá is válik, hogy ne csak a szállítójármű vagy a szállítóegység, hanem a paletták vagy az egyes árutételek szintjén is meg lehessen határozni az adott rakomány helyét és állapotát. A tanulmány vázolja az EURIDICE projekt fő aspektusait, valamint részletekbe menően elemzi a mobil ágensek alkalmazási lehetőségét és mikéntjét az intelligens áru koncepció keretén belül

Bank Angle Estimation Using Radar Data

The procedure designer’s toolbox calculating nominal track and protection areas is not entirely appropriate for determining the standard deviation of the trajectories, when designing a new departure procedure. The nominal track provides only a theoretical mean values to be shown on the chart but the aircraft cannot be expected to adhere to this route in a turn. Whereas protection areas are too wide and conservative estimates as they serve the purpose of providing adequate distance from ground obstacles under the worst conditions. This is why a new, radar based solution is needed to tackle this problem. The first step into this direction is to investigate the part of the route which infers the biggest uncertainty, the turn

Applying Activity-based Costing at Logistics Service Providers

Logistics service providers run business under a considerable pressure. They have to provide high quality logistics services at lowest possible prices and at the same time have to ensure a sustainable, profitable operation. This kind of business management requires reliable and true information about service costs. Distortions of costing information shall be minimised and the drivers of costs shall be accurately explored. Activity-based costing with methodological and industry specific adaptations may be used to improve the accuracy of logistics service providers’ costing procedures. Additionally, it can deliver information on cost efficiency as well. Thus this paper aims to analyse the applicability of activity-based costing for the case of logistics service providers. A specialised cost calculation model is elaborated and tested under real-world circumstances. The functionality of the model is illustrated by pilot calculations. This shows that significant differences might exist between the results of activity-based costing and the outcomes of traditional costing. The significance of differences is in line with the complexity and heterogeneity of logistics services

Basic efficiency measurement of Hungarian logistics centres using data envelopment analysis

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a non-parametric linear programming method capable of evaluating the efficiency of decision making units (DMUs) of various kinds. It is widely utilised for the ranking of companies operating in the transport sector. It is, however, not very often applied for the analysis of logistics centres, although its characteristics make it perfectly suitable for this purpose. The present article investigates how DEA can be used for the evaluation of Hungarian logistics centres. The statistic data of 26 DMUs have been collected and the sample has been corrected so as to include only the firms with sufficient data available for an extensive efficiency rating, leaving 12 logistics centres in the pool. Their efficiency was examined as based on the following inputs: surface size of offices, number of employees, surface of available storage space (excluding external storage facilities). The output considered was the volume of total sales revenue and in a second test, the tons of freight hand led. Aggregate, pure technical and scale efficiencies have also been determined

Assessing the logistics efficiency of European countries by using the DEA-PC methodology

Data envelopment analysis is a non-parametric linear programming method widely used for the efficiency evaluation of decision making units active in the transport sector. However, it is seldom applied for the efficiency assessment of logistics efficiency at a macro level. The article presents such an example which is at the same time the very first application of a lately developed methodology where data envelopment analysis is combined with analytic hierarchy process to yield an appropriate tool for efficiency evaluation with full ranking. The logistics efficiency of 29 European countries is tested with the new DEA-PC (pairwise comparison) methodology while it is also compared with the results gained with the original DEA method. Furthermore, the outcomes are also evaluated in light of the ‘Logistics quality and competence’ index of the Logistics Performance Indicator (LPI), a major international survey into the logistics competence of countries. Thus, the results of traditional DEA and DEA-PC are both weighted against survey data which is also a novelty in the logistics sector

Improved Cost Management at Small and Medium Sized Road Transport Companies: Case Hungary

Small and medium sized road freight transport companies located in Hungary are facing strong competition on the logistics market. An advanced cost management system supporting decisions on capacity allocations or pricing may be a competitive advantage for them and indirectly for the whole economy as well. Still, they generally apply simple, traditional cost calculation regimes, potentially sufficient in case of a homogeneous service portfolio. Nevertheless, road haulage companies with heterogeneous service structures may witness information distortions when using traditional costing methods. So it might be recommended for them to introduce better costing principles. To support an improved transport costing, a multi-level full cost allocation model has been set up and tested in this paper. The research results have pointed out that such a methodological development accompanied by the extension of the data collection mechanism can contribute to making the cost management systems of road freight transport companies more effective