Research Trends of Inland Terminals: A Literature Review

Inland terminals are becoming an increasingly important factor for disburdening port storage capacities and the expansion of the port gravitational areas. The above defines inland terminals as facilities with prolonged activities of seaports, or an integral part of the port. Due to increased interest in the development of inland terminals, the literature in the field of inland terminals since the beginning of its research (1980) to the latest research in 2015 has been analysedand revised. The review will summarize the literature related to development, classification, technological processes and location of inland terminals. In the end, the paper identifies a new proposition for further research based on the current trends and developments in inland terminals as an important factor of intermodal transport.</p

PROCESSING REVERSE LOGISTICS INVENTORIES

Developed logistics systems have organized reverse logistics flows and are continuously analyzing product returns, tending to detect patterns in oscillations of returning products in certain time periods. Inventory management in reverse logistics systems depends on different criteria, regarding goods categories, formed contracts between subjects of supply chains, uncertainty in manufacturer’s quantities of DOA (dead on arrival) products, etc. The developing logistics systems, such as the Croatian system, find reverse logistics issues overall, also regarding returned products inventory management, significantly complex, and do not provide systematic analysis. The paper discusses the problem of reverse logistics flow processing, detects current return quantities locked in inventories and suggests systematic application of analysis as the first step to organize inventories in unorganized reverse logistics systems

A Warehouse Social and Environmental Performance Metrics Framework

To improve the supply chain performance in all three aspects of sustainability (social, economic, and environmental), a comprehensive sustainable performance measurement system that captures all the supply chain partners’ efforts and commitments is required. Warehouse, as the second largest logistics source of environmental pollution in the supply chain has been almost completely overlooked and ignored in the past studies. To fill this gap, a warehouse performance metrics framework for environmental and social performance measures was proposed using a novel Fuzzy Delphi and Best-worst methodological approach. The method is less time-consuming than the Analytic Hierarchy Process or Analytic Network Process, it does not address whether criteria are dependent or independent, requires fewer comparisons of criteria, but still produces reliable and credible results. The presented framework consists of 32 equally formulated environmental and social performance indicators, including formulas and measurement units. The 14 most important indicators are ranked according to the requirements of different stakeholders.</p

Order Picking Process in Warehouse: Case Study of Dairy Industry in Croatia

The proper functioning of warehouse processes is fundamental for operational improvement and overall logistic supply chain improvement. Order picking is considered one of the most important from the group. Throughout picking orders in warehouses, the presence of human work is highly reflected, with the main goal to reduce the process time as much as possible, that is, to the very minimum. There are several different order picking methods, and nowadays, the most common ones are being developed and are significantly dependent on the type of goods, the warehouse equipment, etc., and those that stand out are scanning and picking by voice. This paper will provide information regarding the dairy industry in the Republic of Croatia with the analysis of order picking process in the observed company. Overall research highlighted the problem and resulted in proposals of solutions

Process decomposition as a basis for logistics performance measuring

Promatranje tehničko-tehnoloških karakteristika opskrbnog lanca i svih njegovih strukturnih elemenata kroz prizmu procesa i aktivnosti iznimno je važno za potrebe kvalitativne i kvantitativne evaluacije. Kada je koncept mjerenja individualno koncipiran i dobro postavljen, detaljna dekompozicija poslovanja do razine aktivnosti rezultira potpunim, detaljnim i točnim podacima o osobitostima procesa i involviranim resursima. Spomenuti koncept u službi je podrške cjelokupnom poslovanju unutar opskrbnog lanca i prije svega se koristi u svrhu postavljanja i dostizanja strateških ciljeva poslovanja. Implementacija istog ostvaruje se uspostavom direktne veze između objekata mjerenja, performanci procesa i vezanih informacija. U radu je prikazana problematika definiranja logističkih pokazatelja uspješnosti te je predložen koncept dekompozicije procesa kao dijela metodologije upravljanja poslovnim procesima, s pozicije mjerenja njihove učinkovitosti u cilju jednostavnije identifikacije ključnih pokazatelja uspješnosti.Observation of the supply chain elements and its technical and technological structure in the form of processes and activities that an element includes, it is extremely important when it is implemented in the form of qualitative and qualitative evaluation. When the concept of measurement is individually designed and well appointed, detailed decomposition of the business structure up to activities results in accurate and detailed data. The concept is formed for the purpose of achieving strategic business objectives, and can be done by establishing a direct link between the performance of the process, object measurement and information related to them. In this paper, the problems in defining logistics performance indicators are described. The concept of process decomposition as part of business process management is proposed, from the point of their efficiency and effectiveness measurement in order to better identify key performance indicators

Warehouse Processes Improvement by Pick by Voice Technology

Research related to performance evaluation implicates defining work efficiency as result of substituting classic RF by pick by voice technology in warehouse infrastructure. The research outlined the benefits and effect of implementation in comparison with RF order picking. The comparison has been made from the aspect of workers productivity in the warehouse, the accuracy of goods collection and time required for workers training. Based on recent research on the Croatian logistics market, RF technology is mostly used as a given, manual picking is solution for majority of companies. Pick by voice technology is rarely used, by few manufacturer’s warehouses and retailers with the highest share on the Croatian market, although companies are announcing its implementation. Although it results in certain benefits, the implementation of a pick by voice system generates large initial costs

Model for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Cargo Operation Strategy in an Inland Container Terminal

The paper discusses the issue of unproductivity during the implementation of operations in inland container terminals. The authors hypothesize that the two main factors influencing the number of unproductive manipulations are the adopted operating strategy and the occupancy level of the storage yard. The presented model classifies the operation time and the waiting time for container handling separately, and also compares the impact of the terminal storage occupancy and selected strategies on the handling time. Based on the collected data, the impact of the number of occupied storage places and the frequency of repetition of operations on the average time of handling a freight unit are simulated. It is noticed that increasing the occupancy of the terminal area above 35% results in a significant increase in the frequency of repetition of operations. In the case of terminal area occupancy of about 50%, the average waiting time for service and the service of a freight unit itself may vary significantly, depending on the adopted strategies for the implementation of operations

Technology Transfer and Logistics-distribution Centres

The capital and technology transfer into a certain region leads also to increased demands for logistic services. The transition to the logistic delivery organisation is very important under the conditions of accelerated technological development, in particular in the field of telecommunications and informatics, which enabled the advent of successful companies having a single employee. Owing to the mentioned technologies these companies get networked with similar companies, thus being able to solve all their needs by outsourcing the services or products of other networked companies. Higher speed and greater flexibility of operation of such companies has brought the following challenge: larger number of small companies has created a larger number of small orders that have to be delivered within the same unit of time. The logistics and distribution centres can represent a solution which maintains the speed and efficiency, and avoids costs of congestions and delays. KEY WORDS: capital transfer, technology transfer, logistics and distribution centres, optimisatio