Effective sourcing strategies for perishable product supply chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess whether an existing sourcing strategy can effectively supply products of appropriate quality with acceptable levels of product waste if applied to an international perishable product supply chain. The authors also analyse whether the effectiveness of this sourcing strategy can be improved by including costs for expected shelf life losses while generating order policies. Design/methodology/approach – The performance of sourcing strategies is examined in a prototype international strawberry supply chain. Appropriate order policies were determined using parameters both with and without costs for expected shelf life losses. Shelf life losses during transport and storage were predicted using microbiological growth models. The performance of the resulting policies was assessed using a hybrid discrete event chain simulation model that includes continuous quality decay. Findings – The study's findings reveal that the order policies obtained with standard cost parameters result in poor product quality and large amounts of product waste. Also, including costs for expected shelf life losses in sourcing strategies significantly reduces product waste and improves product quality, although transportation costs rise. Practical implications – The study shows that in perishable product supply chain design a trade-off should be made between transportation costs, shortage costs, inventory costs, product waste, and expected shelf life losses. Originality/value – By presenting a generically applicable methodology for perishable product supply chain design, the authors contribute to research and practice efforts to reduce food waste. Furthermore, product quality information is included in supply chain network design, a research area that is still in its infancy

Process redesign for effective use of product quality information in meat chains

To fulfil segmented consumer demand and add value, meat processors seek to exploit quality differences in meat products. Availability of product quality information is of key importance for this. We present a case study where an innovative sensor technology that provides estimates of an important meat quality feature is considered. Process design scenarios that differ with respect to sorting complexity, available product quality information, and use of temporary buffers are assessed using a discrete event simulation model. Results indicate that increasing sorting complexity by use of advanced product quality information results in a reduction of processing efficiency. Use of production buffers was found to increase processing flexibility and mitigate negative effects of high sorting complexity. This research illustrates how the use of advanced product quality information in logistics’ decision-making affects sorting performance, processing efficiency, and the optimal processing design, an area that has so far received little attention in literature

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

Towards a Diagnostic Instrument to Identify Improvement Opportunities for Quality Controlled Logistics in Agrifood Supply Chain Networks

 Western-European consumers have become not only more demanding on product availability in retail outlets but also on other food attributes such as quality, integrity, and safety. When (re)designing food supply-chain networks, from a logistics point of view, one has to consider these demands next to traditional efficiency and responsiveness requirements. The concept ‘quality controlled logistics’ (QCL) hypothesizes that if product quality in each step of the supply chain can be predicted in advance, goods flows can be controlled in a pro-active manner and better chain designs can be established resulting in higher product availability, constant quality, and less product losses. The paper discusses opportunities of using real-time product quality information for improvement of the design and management of ‘AgriFood Supply Chain Networks’, and presents a preliminary diagnostic instrument for assessment of ‘critical quality’ and ‘logistics control’ points in the supply chain network. Results of a tomato-chain case illustrate the added value of the QCL concept for identifying improvement opportunities in the supply chain as to increase both product availability and quality. Future research aims for the further development of the diagnostic instrument and the quantification of costs and benefits of QCL scenarios

A framework for the design and analysis of incentive systems for food safety control in supply chains

Since 2005 the EU food industry has primary legal responsibility for food safety control. This requires new responsibilities and relationships between government and industry, and between companies. This research presents a framework for incentive systems for food safety control in supply chains. It emphasizes key elements of food safety control from multiple perspectives and provides insights for the design and analysis of incentive systems for food safety control. An incentive system combines inter-company incentive mechanisms with intra-company decision making processes to control a hazard within the legal environment. Incentive mechanisms, which consist of a performance measure and a performance reward, induce companies to use control measures. The framework can be used to analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of alternative incentive systems in which companies have to cooperate with partners from other stages of the supply chain.Incentive mechanism, food safety, supply chain control., Agricultural and Food Policy,

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 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

ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: USING LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT TO STRUCTURE SUPPLY CHAINS

In recent years increasing attention has been given to environmental supply chain management (ESCM). One of the supporting instruments of ESCM is life cycle assessment (LCA). The idea of integrating LCA into supply chains is gaining more support among research institutes and companies. However, we conclude that there are no guidelines for this integration. In this paper we argue that inline with a differentiation between environmental care chain strategies and environmental chain performances, a differentiation between types of LCAs should be made; i.e., between compliance-, process- and market-oriented LCAs. To execute these different types of LCAs, the chain structure should be attuned to meet the specific requirements of these types. By discussing case studies, we show that the integration of the different types of LCAs in a chain bring about different chain structures