Abstract
One of the basic problems of sustainability in modern society is the reduction of waste, particularly when it comes to food. Food waste has negative impacts on different dimensions of sustainability: social (hunger), economic (resource costs), and environmental (resource consumption and waste generation). This paper focuses on waste reduction through improving the inventory management system in the dairy distribution chain by the application of modern information and communication technologies (ICT). The approach is tested and verified in a case study by application of simulation modelling. Two inventory management models are created, and their impact on waste in the distribution part of the supply chain is examined. Model 1 represents the current dairy inventory management system in the supply of retail stores. Model 2 is based on a higher level of information connectivity between participants (RFID product labelling and the appropriate level of information technology), enabling automatic product ordering and changes in inventory management policy. The obtained results confirm that coordinated inventory management, supported by the application of modern ICT, can significantly contribute to the improvement of the sustainability of the food supply chain, and provide an exact quantification of the given contribution in the case of the dairy industry.
Highlights
In the 21st century, companies and society are facing major changes and numerous challenges
Waste reduction is one of the primary goals, and when it comes to food the implications are even broader. This is confirmed by the fact that the UN has defined goal 12.3 as one of the development goals of sustainability: by 2030, it seeks to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses [21]
The application of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in retail supply chains contributes to reduced costs and increased operational efficiency of logistics processes through automated entry, commissioning and exit of goods, as well as better utilization of employees, as concluded in [47,48]
Summary
In the 21st century, companies and society are facing major changes and numerous challenges. It confirms the positive impact of modern technological trends on inventory management, supported by concrete values in a real case study This is performed by combining the relevant literature on logistics and supply chain management along with ICT as enabling and disruptive technologies with real problems in dairy distribution in the Western Balkans. It enables the generalization and extrapolation of the results to the other countries in the region.
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