Developing a smartphone app to enhance Oxfam's supply chain visibility

This paper reports on the development of a smartphone app designed to give drivers and managers in a charity organisation greater visibility of transport, donation bank and shop stock in time and space. Trials of the app with samples of drivers and shop managers across three counties in the UK showed that users’ understanding of vehicle activity and how time was utilised in the business was enhanced. The app also informed their decision making, aided some collaboration and helped in their understanding of donation bank and shop performance, with one region altering their collection schedules. The quality of 3G signal was an issue in certain areas which impeded performance and the rules by which the messaging platform should be used in such a tool need careful consideratio

Techniques for the inference of mileage rates from MOT data

Mathematical and computational techniques are developed for the processing and analysis of annual MOT (roadworthiness) test data that the UK Department for Transport has placed in the public domain. Firstly, techniques are given that clean erroneous records and a linking procedure is provided that permits the inference of an individual vehicle's mileage between consecutive tests. Methods are then developed that analyse aggregate mileage totals, as a function of vehicle age, class and geography. The inference of aggregate mileage rates as a function of time is then considered

Reverse logistics for sustainable waste management processes

This chapter highlights some of the innovative approaches that have been taken by businesses involved in reverse logistics for the removal of waste from urban areas. The chapter reviews some of these approaches and suggests which could be used more widely, recognising the specific limitations which may restrict their applicability. These innovative approaches include: the use of delivery vehicles to take-back waste/recyclate to out-of-town facilities such as a freight consolidation or recycling centre; combining commercial and household waste collections; deploying public transport vehicles to carry specialist recyclate; using multi-modal transport; ‘smart’ bin technology and pipelines for the removal of waste from buildings

Waste collection

This chapter provides a summary of the practical issues associated with the collection of municipal solid waste and of the challenges faced in trying to develop accurate waste collection models. The chapter highlights the variety of materials that are collected and the many collection options available (e.g. containers, vehicles, collection frequencies and methods). Waste collection problems and methods include: locating facilities (e.g. vehicle depots, waste disposal sites); sub-dividing rounds into districts for ease of operation and of optimisation; specifying the aggregation level for the collection points to be modelled (e.g. postcode, street, block) and then estimating the waste volume to be collected from each collection point; and optimising vehicle routes and schedules. The chapter concludes with four case study examples of modelling research results from around the worl