Sustainability Assessment Framework for Food Supply Chain Logistics: Empirical Findings from Dutch Food Industry

Food companies are increasingly challenged to balance business performance and economic gains with environmental and social performance. Therefore, in 2012, we started a collaborative project on this topic named SCALE (Step Change in Agri-food Logistics Ecosystems). SCALE aims to improve the sustainability of food and drink supply chain logistics in the context of rising food demands, increasing energy prices and the need to reduce environmentally damaging emissions. More in particular, SCALE aims to deliver a number of tools and frameworks valuable for the agri-food sector to secure a step change in operational practices, which will improve the efficiency and sustainability of supply chain logistics. In the paper we will present first results of this project. Aim of this paper is (1) to present a sustainability research framework for food supply chains logistics including drivers, strategies, performance indicators, metrics and improvement opportunities to measure and potentially enhance sustainability performances; and (2) to analyse and diagnose the current status of Dutch food & drinks companies and logistics service providers using this framework. Results are found via a literature review, web-based research and structured interviews with Dutch food industry and logistics service industry

Algemene Leden Vergadering

Een donker achterkamertje ergens in Leiden. Kaarslicht. Zenuwachtige blikken verraden op handen zijnde veranderingen. Onheilspellend gefluister. Plots een luide slag: "Hierbij open ik de jaarlijkse Algemene Leden Vergadering van de Bestuurskundige Interfacultaire vereniging Leiden.&quot

Innovative Logistics Concepts in the Floriculture Sector

Today most flowers physically pass through the auction houses on their fixed routes from (inter)national growers to (inter)national customers. Physical presence is necessary to allow for physical inspection, quality control and break-bulk activities. Several developments, such as new markets in Eastern Europe and increased virtualization, stimulate the chain to become an efficient florticultural hub-network, in which cut flowers, plants and other products are delivered to customers taking different (direct) routes and using different logistics concepts. The Dutch sector aims to (continue to) be the (virtual) florticultural trading hub of Europe, and has therefore started a 4-year new project called DAVINC3I. The project’s objective is to strengthen the international leading competitive position of the Dutch floriculture sector in a global, virtualized trade network by researching (1) the opportunities for new logistics coordination, consolidation and collaboration concepts in extended international tradeparc networks, and (2) the possibilities for making chain information directly and real-time available and usable to support decision making of all partners in the horticultural network. The aim of this paper is to discuss current floriculture sector developments in supply and demand and identify the main logistics bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement. Based on literature reviews and expert knowledge the research (logistics) challenges that arise from the market developments are revealed

A Review on Quantitative Models for Sustainable Food Logistics Management

The last two decades food logistics systems have seen the transition from a focus on traditional supply chain management to food supply chain management, and successively, to sustainable food supply chain management. The main aim of this study is to identify key logistical aims in these three phases and analyse currently available quantitative models to point out modelling challenges in sustainable food logistics management (SFLM). A literature review on quantitative studies is conducted and also qualitative studies are consulted to understand the key logistical aims more clearly and to identify relevant system scope issues. Results show that research on SFLM has been progressively developing according to the needs of the food industry. However, the intrinsic characteristics of food products and processes have not yet been handled properly in the identified studies. The majority of the works reviewed have not contemplated on sustainability problems, apart from a few recent studies. Therefore, the study concludes that new and advanced quantitative models are needed that take specific SFLM requirements from practice into consideration to support business decisions and capture food supply chain dynamics

The role of alcohol specific socialization in adolescents’ drinking behavior.

ABSTRACT Aims To determine which alcohol-specific socialization practices are related to adolescents' alcohol use, and to investigate whether parents differ in their alcohol-specific socialization towards their children. Design In a sample of 428 families, both parents and two adolescents (aged 13-16 years) completed a questionnaire at home about alcohol-specific parenting and their own alcohol use. Based on the reports of each family member, three different models of alcohol-specific socialization were formulated: from the perspective of the siblings, the mother and the father. Findings Results of structural equation modelling generally showed the same associations between alcohol-specific socialization and drinking of younger and older adolescents. The strongest association was found for providing alcoholspecific rules. Applying strict rules about alcohol use was negatively related to adolescents' alcohol use; this was also the case for having confidence in the effectiveness of alcohol-specific socialization. Unexpectedly, frequency of communication about alcohol issues was positively associated with alcohol consumption of adolescents. Conclusions This study is one of the first to examine associations between alcohol-specific socialization and adolescents' drinking using a between-and a within-family design. Results showed strong associations between alcoholspecific socialization (particularly of enforcing rules) and adolescent alcohol use. Although parents strongly differentiated their socialization practices between children, no differences in associations between alcohol-specific socialization and drinking were found between older and younger adolescents

Large-scale electronic structure theory for simulating nanostructure process

Fundamental theories and practical methods for large-scale electronic structure calculations are given, in which the computational cost is proportional to the system size. Accuracy controlling methods for microscopic freedoms are focused on two practical solver methods, Krylov-subspace method and generalized-Wannier-state method. A general theory called the 'multi-solver' scheme is also formulated, as a hybrid between different solver methods. Practical examples are carried out in several insulating and metallic systems with 10^3-10^5 atoms. All the theories provide general guiding principles of constructing an optimal calculation for simulating nanostructure processes, since a nanostructured system consists of several competitive regions, such as bulk and surface regions, and the simulation is designed to reproduce the competition with an optimal computational cost.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. To appear in J. Phys. Cond. Matt. A preprint PDF file in better graphics is available at http://fujimac.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/lses/index_e.htm

A review of quantitative models for sustainable food logistics management : challenges and issues

The need to further improve food quality and reduce food waste leads to increased attention for the development of Food Supply Chain Management (FSCM), which considers intrinsic characteristics of food supply chains besides traditional supply chain management (SCM) objectives such as cost and responsiveness. Growing consciousness of society towards sustainable development brings additional objectives to the food supply chains and the fast evolution of sustainable development results in the development of a new fast-growing concept: Sustainable Food Supply Chain Management (SFSCM). In response to these developments, researchers have developed various decision support tools that can be used for handling progressively increasing complexity along the alteration process from SCM to FSCM and now to SFSCM. In this study, we have reviewed literature on sustainable food logistics management to identify logistical key issues and relevant quantitative modelling challenges. The evaluation of the reviewed papers shows that towards obtaining sustainability together with considering intrinsic characteristics of food supply chains, there is a gap between the needs of the practice and the current available methods. In this study, we have also presented improvement opportunities for future developed models by revealing the aforementioned missing points