How do you evaluate logistics and supply chain performance? A review of the main methods and indicators

Despite of its origins, logistics concept is today strictly related to commercial activities. In particular, transport and logistics activities are more and more responsible for the success of a company, because their performance strongly influence customer loyalty. An efficient and updated supply chain performance assessment system is so essential for the financial wellness of a business. However, no many studies have been made on SC performance assessment and they have been all carried out lately. Starting from the definitions of logistics and supply chain, this paper presents a review of the main methods and tools used to evaluate supply chain performance. In particular, it focuses on the analysis of the main indicators used to assess logistics performance

Shaping urban freight systems via a participatory approach to inform policy-making

© 2020 by the authors. In the upcoming era of new technologies, a transport system is expected to be 'more sustainable,' 'safer,' and 'more efficient.' However, to what extent is this true? Based on the results of a series of stakeholder engagement workshops, the paper explores the vision of different stakeholders about urban freight of the future. A Participatory Approach was used to allow stakeholders to identify the problem and co-design a set of solutions. Potential impacts of innovative urban deliveries on economy, environment, and society were analysed. Methodology and results were then compared with those of a city stakeholder engagement workshop delivered in Newcastle upon-Tyne in 2014. Stakeholders considered that an "engaging" and "easy to use" process was needed to facilitate the process and it encouraged participants to find solutions for a 'common good.' The participatory approach proposed in this process would support transport planners and policy-makers to design and implement a consistent policy framework for future sustainable urban freight systems

Investigating last food mile deliveries: A case study approach to identify needs of food delivery demand

© 2017 Drawing on the results of a survey carried out in Cagliari (Italy), the paper provides an analysis of the characteristics of food deliveries in urban areas aimed at understanding the needs and expectations of receivers of last mile deliveries of fresh products. In fact, exploring the needs of potential users - who are directly responsible for the success of the scheme - and the characteristics of logistics flows they generate/attract in the city centre is a necessary prerequisite for implementing city logistics measures. The study considers independent retailers within the hotel, restaurants and catering (Ho.Re.Ca.) sector. Based on the delivery characteristics, a classification of commercial activities related to the food chain is provided. The analysis has been developed by means of Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Cluster analysis. The suitability of city logistics measures to the last food mile is also discussed

Foresight through developing shared mental models: The case of Triple Access Planning

Planning for the future involves making sense of the present and examining possible changes in key factors that can influence the future. Actors rely upon mental models of the system that planning addresses: their simplified interpretations of the makeup of system elements and element interactions that together determine how the system works. It follows that a helpful foundation for strong planning is to develop a shared mental model among actors of the system of interest in the present and use this in turn to create mental models of possible futures for the system (scenarios). This paper presents a methodology for doing this that incorporates co-creation of causal loop diagrams that in turn inform development of scenarios. The paper then applies the methodology to offer more insight to the approach, using the case of the Triple Access System and in turn Triple Access Planning. Triple access refers to the transport, land-use and telecommunications systems which each provide different and inter-related means for being able to reach people, employment, goods, services and opportunities which underpins economic prosperity and social wellbeing. The paper highlights how thinking is an important and integral part of planning, especially when dealing with uncertainty in a complex system

New Technology and Automation in Freight Transport and Handling Systems

This is an evidence review that examines the trends in manufacturing and global supply chains, looking at the international trade, technology and users, and how these may change between now and 2040. The review has been commissioned by the Government Office for Science within the Foresight project. The Foresight Future of Mobility project is run from within the UK Government Office for Science (GO-Science). The Foresight project was launched to try to understand the broad question "What benefits/ opportunities could the transport system of the future provide and what are the implications for Government and society?

CoDe ZERO: development of a Co-Designed ZERO-carbon urban freight system

This report presents the results of CoDe ZERO, a six-month project funded by the Decarbon8 network through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The aim of the project was to understand challenges and opportunities of freight decarbonisation in urban areas in the North of England, considering the perspective of key freight stakeholders based in the North. The project was led by Dr Daniela Paddeu (Centre for Transport and Society at the University of the West of England, Bristol), who designed and ran the project in collaboration with Transport for the North (TfN) and Dr Paulus Aditjandra (University of Newcastle upon Tyne). The main output of the project is a co-designed roadmap with a series of solutions to achieve urban freight decarbonisation by 2040. Findings show that stakeholders understand the importance of decarbonising urban freight to achieve the net zero target by 2050 (or even sooner) but believe there are a series of challenges, mainly related to the development of efficient cleaner technological solutions and to behaviour/organisational change

Multi-stakeholder collaboration in urban freight consolidation schemes: Drivers and barriers to implementation

© 2018 The Author(s). Published by VGTU Press. Due to the motivations of climate change, the health impacts of poor air quality, and the importance of cities for economic growth, transport policy at all levels of governance places emphasis on reducing and managing urban traffic and congestion. Whilst the majority of urban traffic is created by personal travel, freight vehicles make a relatively large contribution per vehicle to congestion, pollution and severe accidents. The European Commission (EC 2011) estimates that 6% of all EU transport carbon emissions are from urban freight. For these reasons, a well-structured portfolio of measures and policies oriented towards more sustainable and efficient management of supply chain activities carried out in urban areas is needed, in order to reduce negative externalities related to urban mobility and improve economic performance. In recent years, there has been enthusiasm amongst commentators that shared-resource economic models can both create new commercial opportunities and address policy problems, including in the transport sector. Within the city logistics subsector, this new model is exemplified by the emergence of Urban freight Consolidation Centres (UCCs). UCCs replace multiple ‘last-mile’ delivery movements, many of which involving small consignments, by a common receiving point (the consolidation centre), normally on the periphery of a city, with the final part of the delivery being shared by the consignments in a small freight vehicle. Such arrangements can represent a good compromise between the needs of city centre businesses and their customers on the one hand (i.e. high availability of a range of goods) and local and global sustainability objectives on the other. At the same time, by sharing logistics facilities and delivery vehicles, UCCs offer added-value services to both urban economic actors, such as retailers, and network logistics providers. However, UCCs add to the complexity of logistics chains, requiring additional contracts, communications and movement stages. These arrangements also introduce additional actors within the supply of delivery services, notably local authorities present as promoters and funders, rather than simply as regulators, companies specialised in the UCC operation, and companies, which provide specialist technologies, such as electric delivery vehicles. UCCs therefore also represent an example of multi-stakeholder collaboration. Drawing on the results of a 2013 survey in Bristol (United Kingdom) and a further survey carried out in 2015 in Cagliari (Italy), the present paper will provide an in-depth comparison of the differences in the perceptions of urban freight users and stakeholders towards UCCs. Retailers involved in the survey carried out in Bristol showed high satisfaction with the delivery service provided by the UCC. Different topic areas (e.g. timeliness, reliability, safety) are examined through analyses of both qualitative and quantitative data. The survey carried out in Cagliari investigated the inclination of potential users to join a UCC scheme. The comparison between the two cities considers factors such as the nature of business holding (e.g. SME versus multiple retailers), operational practices (e.g. pattern of deliveries) and operating subsector (e.g. food versus no food). An analysis on the barriers to the implementation of UCCs in Bristol and in Cagliari is provided at the end of the paper

Decarbonising road freight: Is truck automation and platooning an opportunity?

Governments, industry and academia are paying high attention to autonomous vehicles and platooning, due to their high potential to transform public and private transport and reduce carbon emissions generated by road transport. The road freight sector is expected to be an early adopter of the autonomous technology due to the potential cost reduction for logistics companies. However, despite the expected fuel savings and polluting emission reductions due to truck platooning, actual benefits would strongly depend on the adopted technology and the operational conditions of the system. This paper investigates the potential for truck platooning to reduce carbon emissions from road freight, presenting a series of scenarios that vary by adoption rates, operational models and platoon size. Scenarios were co-designed with freight stakeholders to build a Truck Platooning Roadmap (2025–2050), considering a specific case study: the UK. Polluting emissions and related external costs are calculated across the different scenarios. Results show that there is high uncertainty for the adoption of truck platooning, with a potential first phase involving a small pool of low-automated trucks, and a second phase with a larger pool of high-automated trucks, reflecting higher economic and environmental benefits. A series of other technological and policy considerations are presented to support policymakers to draw a zero-carbon road freight strategy

The social perspective on policy towards local shared autonomous vehicle services (LSAVS)

The transport policy discourse posits Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAVs) as a more sustainable solution for the implementation of road automation technology. A successful implementation of SAV services strongly depends on being able to meet user's needs, as well as responding to their expectations. For this reason, the public has a central role in the definition of appropriate and realistic policies for the design, regulation and adoption of new automated mobility services. However, whilst there has been considerable attention to individuals' attitudes towards road transport automation, few have applied participatory or co-design methods to help define new SAV services. Moreover, most of the existing studies have also been hypothetical rather than examining vehicles in real service settings. This paper addresses these imbalances through reporting a two-stage research initiative. Initially a local shared automated vehicle service (LSAVS) concept was examined in a co-design workshop (Stage 1), leading to the development of a conceptual framework for social acceptance. This was then applied (Stage 2) in qualitative empirical research into the experiences of participants who rode in two different live prototype LSAVS. It was found that social considerations such as equity in access to mobility services, social inclusion, environmental protection, and concerns about control over interpersonal interactions emerged as strong acceptance factors within participants' construction of the conceptual services and responses to exposure to actual services. However, broad socio-political aspirations beyond transport policy were also important. It is concluded that achieving high levels of social acceptance where these utopian expectations meet commercial realities and public-sector constraints will be a major policy challenge facing any attempt to introduce an LSAVS with strong sustainable mobility credentials

Autonomous vehicles: Who will use them, and will they share?

The advent of road transport automation is suggested to be one of four key technological transitions that could amount to a major transformation in mobility practices. Specifically, fully Automated Vehicles (AVs) might replace the current private car owner user model with fleets of on-demand synchronously-shared automated taxis. However, significant barriers to this vision becoming the norm remain. This paper examines two critical user-acceptance aspects of the transition: willingness to adopt AVs, and willingness to share an AV with others, particularly strangers. Our novel survey (n = 899) included a choice experiment featuring four future full automation transport services (private, synchronously/ asynchronously shared, and public). Cluster analysis examined respondents’ preferences and their demographic and psychosocial characteristics. We uncover significant uncertainty about willingness to adopt automation and sharing, and important differences between clusters within our sample. For example, under 50% of participants report willingness to use an AV over their normal mode, or would prefer an automated option to a current human-driven option. Our findings raise critical questions for policymakers and transport authorities. Not least, how can AV technologies help realise the environmental and social benefits of widespread vehicle sharing in a context of a travelling public that still prefers its privacy on-the-move