Logistics Perspective Research Articles

Calculation Method of Logistics Energy Consumption in Agricultural Product Supply Chain Based on Structural Equation Model

The ecological value chain agricultural products in China are mainly produced by scattered farmers. Due to the lack of modern planting and breeding techniques for small-scale scattered farmers, it is difficult to obtain scale effects, and the benefit-cost ratio is generally low. Their own production, supply, and marketing integration organization can only enter the market separately, which is difficult to adapt to market needs, and often bear great market risks. In the circulation link, the agricultural product logistics management level in China is low and logistics losses are huge. This research attempts to conduct a theoretical analysis and discussion on the integration of the ecological agricultural product supply chain in China based on the enterprise theory. At the same time, we conduct an empirical analysis of the relationship between supply chain integration and performance from the perspective of logistics and build agricultural product supply chain integration with the company’s logistics capabilities as the center. We perform hypothesis model, collect data through survey methods, use quantitative analysis and path analysis methods to test the hypothesis model, explore the relationship between supply chain management and agricultural product logistics capabilities, and corporate competitiveness, to provide the empirical support for the introduction of supply chain management in the agriculture in China.

Patient-Centered Framework for Rehabilitation Research in Outpatient Settings

Conducting high-quality clinical research is dependent on merging scientific rigor with the clinical environment. This is often a complex endeavor that may include numerous barriers and competing interests. Overcoming these challenges and successfully integrating clinical research programs into clinical practice settings serving rehabilitation outpatients is beneficial from both a logistical perspective (eg, supports efficient and successful research procedures) and the establishment of a truly patient-centered research approach. Leveraging our experience with navigating this research-clinical care relationship, this article (1) proposes the Patient-Centered Framework for Rehabilitation Research, a model for integrating patient-centered research in an outpatient clinical setting that incorporates a collaborative, team-based model encompassing patient-centered values, as well as strategies for recruitment and retention, with a focus on populations living with disabilities or chronic diseases; (2) describes application of this framework in a comprehensive specialty multiple sclerosis center with both general strategies and specific examples to guide adaptation and implementation in other settings; and (3) discusses the effect of the framework as a model in 1 center, as well as the need for additional investigation and adaptation for other populations. The 5 interconnected principles incorporated in the Framework and which prioritize patient-centeredness include identifying shared values, partnering with the clinical setting, engaging with the population, building relationships with individuals, and designing accessible procedures. The Patient-Centered Framework for Rehabilitation Research is a model presented as an adaptable roadmap to guide researchers in hopes of not only improving individual patients’ experiences but also the quality and relevance of rehabilitation research as a whole. Future investigation is needed to test the Framework in other settings.

Implementing E-Commerce from Logistic Perspective: Literature Review and Methodological Framework

E-commerce is always more diffused as a selling channel around the whole world market, and its importance has increased and continues to increase with the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. It provides enterprises a lot of opportunities, as the importance of physical stores to sell goods is bypassed. However, it has also changed the role of logistics in the supply chain. For this reason, this work aims to identify the main logistics research areas related to e-commerce implementation and the factors and key performance indicators, which should be taken into account for each logistics research area, with particular attention to sustainable aspects. For doing this, a structured and comprehensive literature analysis is carried out. Keywords associated with e-commerce and logistics areas are matched to identify the most interesting works related to its implementation. From the analysis, five main research areas are identified: Supply Chain Network Design (SCND); Outbound Logistics (OL); Reverse Logistics (RL); Warehousing (WR); and IT and data management (E-IT). For each area, key factors, strategies and performance indicators have been identified. Finally, a methodological framework that summarizes the results of the analysis is presented; this is a useful tool for managers to implement or expand their e-commerce business. Many works are focused on one research area, carrying out critical factors, models, and methods to implement that topic. Instead, the methodological framework presented here summarizes multiple research areas from a logistic point of view, identifying for each one input and output variables and how they influence each other.

An exploratory study of retailers’ operational performancewithin UAE market: a case study

This study investigates supply chain management methods linked to flexibility, value chain, and capacities. Itdescribes an exploratory study to investigate the interconnected aspects and come up with a research framework.The business drivers and response effects of a flexible supply chain were investigated in a case study on amanufacturing organization in the furniture sector. To be responsive to clients and generate concrete benefits,all the companies improved their production flexibility components with supply and logistic networks. The valuechain’s fundamental flexibility may be characterized by operational, supply, and logistical perspectives, with varyinglevels of integration and implementation methodologies, providing varied degrees of availability in responsivenessto volume and product mix.

Digital monitoring and modeling of construction supply chain management scheme with BIM and GIS: An overview

For a decade the construction industry has been on its all-time low in productivity due to its lack of adaptability to the digitization of society. In comparison, the manufacturing and production industries have been able to successfully integrate computer applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT) into their processes. As a result, their economic progression has received a significant uplift. Digitization and automation in the construction industry is a relatively young sector with a lot of opportunities for research and innovation. An excellent instrument for surveying resources and operations is a digital environment for monitoring the construction supply chain management framework (CSCM). For infrastructure projects, building information modeling and geographic information systems are strongly encouraged for improved productivity and better coordination. The convergence of BIM and GIS creates a complete digital representation of the physical environment. BIM may be used to produce, manage, and exchange operational data of building structures, whereas GIS could be used to handle the logistic aspect of the construction project and store, organize, and analyze data representing the horizontally spread urban environment. As a result, the unified utilization of BIM and GIS is crucial in Urban Sustainability applications that require data from both facilities and the urban environment. Because BIM has only been around for around ten years, and combined BIM and GIS applications have only been around for an even shorter time, there is no solid framework on the latter for individuals who are just getting started with BIM and GIS in Civil Engineering. Review and analysis of previous works are required to have a better grasp of the current condition and future direction of the budding discipline. This article reviews the visual flow of a model prepared in which BIM is used for initial construction operations, In addition, GIS is incorporated in the present model to allow for a wide spectrum of geographical analysis in the CSCM's logistics perspective (storage of goods and transit).

An Exploratory Study of Retailers’ Operational Performance within UAE Market: A Case Study

This study investigates supply chain management methods linked to flexibility, value chain, and capacities. It describes an exploratory study to investigate the interconnected aspects and come up with a research framework. The business drivers and response effects of a flexible supply chain were investigated in a case study on a manufacturing organization in the furniture sector. To be responsive to clients and generate concrete benefits, all the companies improved their production flexibility components with supply and logistic networks. The value chain’s fundamental flexibility may be characterized by operational, supply, and logistical perspectives, with varying levels of integration and implementation methodologies, providing varied degrees of availability in responsiveness to volume and product mix.

An integrated framework for blockchain-enabled supply chain trust management towards smart manufacturing

With the development of a new generation of information technology, smart manufacturing has put forward higher requirements for supply chain. It is necessary to ensure the synchronization of the supply chain operation and maintain the reliability of the supply chain management, therefore the trust evaluation for the supply chain becomes extremely important. Traditional supply chain management has problems such as information flow is easy to be tampered with, logistics is difficult to trace, and capital flow is not true, which leads to increased opportunity costs due to the lack of trust among transaction entities in the supply chain. The emergence of blockchain technology provides an opportunity to improve the supply chain ecosystem. In this paper, an integrated framework for blockchain-enabled supply chain trust management towards smart manufacturing is proposed to explain how to enhance trust management with the help of blockchain from the perspectives of information flow, logistics, and capital flow. An optimized trust management model is designed for better entities evaluation in supply chain. A coal mine equipment manufacturing industry scenario is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Contracts design for serial delivery with connecting time spot: From a perspective of fourth party logistics

For a serial delivery system, the latter 3PL needs to be prepared at the transshipment node in advance to reduce the total delivery time. In this paper, we propose the concept of Connecting Time Spot (CTS) to help 4PL schedule the latter 3PL when to wait at the transshipment node. We study a serial delivery system with a 4PL and two 3PLs, where 4PL designs optimal contracts with two types of CTS (GCTS is derived by system parameter and DCTS is determined by 4PL’s optimization) to induce 3PLs to exert the optimal effort levels. We analyze the effects of CTS on the system profit in the centralized system. For the decentralized system, we particularly investigate the optimal contracts in three penalty modes which are according to the occupancy of the warehouses. The results show that CTS can avoid 3PLs’ idle resources and enhance the system profit for serial delivery both in the centralized system and the decentralized system. Compared with GCTS, DCTS has a better performance in enhancing the system profits. Also, the optimal incentive contracts achieve Pareto improvement for system profits. Interestingly, one 3PL’s delivery penalty mode will not affect the other 3PL’s optimal contracts.

An assessing framework for the proper allocation of collection and delivery points from the residents' perspective

Along with the advancement of information technology, the prevalence of e-commerce has promoted the rapid development of the express delivery industry. In relation to this, collection and delivery points (CDPs) have become important places to facilitate convenience for residents. Thus far, the majority of studies focused on the logistic transportation perspective without considering residents' convenience. Therefore, this study proposes an assessing framework of four CDP features from the perspective of residents' convenience, with a focus on Wuhan City. In particular, descriptive statistics and spatial analysis were conducted to analyze patterns of service target, adjacency, accessibility, and agglomeration. In addition, regression analysis was conducted on the indicators of adjacency and accessibility, combined with policy and socioeconomic factors. Through this framework, the overserved and underserved areas in Wuhan City were identified on a community level based on CDP location. Several results were obtained as follows. 1) CDPs mainly serve residents in residential and commercial land and that attended CDPs are farther from the urban area than unattended CDPs. 2) The levels of delivery comfort and delivery efficiency of suburban residents are generally lower than those of downtown residents, while the level of delivery efficiency near colleges and universities is higher. 3) Overserved areas are found in urban locations, while underserved areas are located in suburban locations. Moreover, residents near the edge of city centers enjoy higher CDP accessibility than those located in the center. In terms of age, the accessibility inequity is pronounced in the over 60 age group. 4) The spatial distribution of CDPs is in aggregation, and unattended CDPs are more compact than attended CDPs. 5) Finally, policies and socioeconomic factors have different effects on CDPs' adjacency and accessibility. Overall, these findings may provide a realistic estimation of residents' situation to help private firms design better CDP layouts and create efficient delivery systems as well as to help public authorities develop equal and effective planning policies and strategies related to CDPs.

The economic globalization for sustainable management of overseas trade enterprise logistics

AbstractThe study expects to explore the sustainable logistics management of foreign trade enterprises, help to further adapt to the development mode of economic globalization at this stage, reduce the international trade cost of enterprises and promote the overall trade development of enterprises. Logistics service providers of foreign trade enterprises are set as the research object to analyzes the problems existing in internal logistics management from the perspective of enterprise logistics. According to the relevant principles of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the corresponding solutions are proposed. Through the actual investigation and analysis, first, the main problems of modern logistics enterprises are underdeveloped logistics management technology, low degree of information, low work efficiency and high logistics risk. Second, the enterprise logistics management index is divided into five indicators, namely, enterprise service level, enterprise operation qualification, logistics management ability, risk control ability and transportation location advantage. Among the five indicators, service level accounts for the largest proportion, for 30.23%. Four different service providers are scored, and the highest score is 7.5717, which proves the practicability of AHP. Finally, the optimization management strategy is proposed for similar logistics enterprises. The accomplishment of the study can help enterprises reduce costs, continuously improve the level of logistics management, and provide a theoretical basis for the sustainable development of enterprises, which has certain practical significance and can provide scientific and effective reference for subsequent research.

A puzzle of proportions: Two popular Bayesian tests can yield dramatically different conclusions

Testing the equality of two proportions is a common procedure in science, especially in medicine and public health. In these domains, it is crucial to be able to quantify evidence for the absence of a treatment effect. Bayesian hypothesis testing by means of the Bayes factor provides one avenue to do so, requiring the specification of prior distributions for parameters. The most popular analysis approach views the comparison of proportions from a contingency table perspective, assigning prior distributions directly to the two proportions. Another, less popular approach views the problem from a logistic regression perspective, assigning prior distributions to logit‐transformed parameters. Reanalyzing 39 null results from the New England Journal of Medicine with both approaches, we find that they can lead to markedly different conclusions, especially when the observed proportions are at the extremes (ie, very low or very high). We explain these stark differences and provide recommendations for researchers interested in testing the equality of two proportions and users of Bayes factors more generally. The test that assigns prior distributions to logit‐transformed parameters creates prior dependence between the two proportions and yields weaker evidence when the observations are at the extremes. When comparing two proportions, we argue that this test should become the new default.

Evolution of Freight Villages and Dry Ports from the Macro Logistics Perspective Based on European Benchmarking 2020

Being the initiator of the German and European Freight Village ranking, Deutsche GVZ-Gesellschaft (DGG) has the methodical know how to create the benchmarking studies. In this ranking approximately 100 Freight Village locations were analysed and evaluated. The research was based on the generation of an uniform understanding, which was focused on intermodality and the significant distinctive management structures. This data led to a qualitative and detailed overview. Because of the positive response, we were motivated to start the second ranking in 2015, as well as the update in 2019/2020. The results of the ranking show important basics and facts, which demonstrate the importance of the Freight Villages and strengthened their role as central, intermodal logistics nodes. Moreover, the responsible decision makers in the Freight Villages benefit from the results of the benchmarking. Many management companies use their placement in the ranking for public relations activities. Good placements or improvements are important instruments in marketing strategies.

Combinatorial optimization of construction waste collection and transportation: A case study of Hong Kong

Although construction waste consistently contributes the highest proportion of all solid waste landfilled, its collection and transportation has received little attention. This research conducts a case study of Hong Kong with the aim of unraveling the causes of ineffective construction waste management from a logistics perspective and developing strategies to improve efficiency of waste collection and transportation. We analyze 112,892 individual trips undertaken by 2,563 construction waste hauling trucks and find three critical issues, namely irrational facility choice, disorganized trip chains, and serious underloading. We design an order-to-order distance matrix, based on which we develop a combinatorial approach to optimizing construction waste collection and transportation through (1) optimal facility choice, (2) proper order sequencing, and (3) increased loading ratio. Simulation results indicate that optimal facility choice is most effective of the three strategies, reducing travel distance by 15.2% (15,256 km) and saving 15.3% (21,467 kg) in CO2-eq emissions. Combining the three strategies creates the best optimization effects, saving 20.3% of travel distance (20,346 km) and 18.2% of CO2-eq emissions (25,544 kg). Our findings provide valuable insights for construction waste management and suggest strategies (e.g., developing a work dispatch system like Uber or proper vehicle routing algorithms) for improving waste collection efficiency and reducing carbon emissions.

Warehousing asylum seekers: The logistification of reception

This article employs the analytical perspective of logistics to explore a key, yet quite overlooked, aspect of the functioning of the EU border regime: the reception and associated territorial distribution of newly arrived asylum seekers. Drawing on qualitative data collected at the height of the ‘refugee reception crisis’ in multiple contexts in Italy and Sweden, the article shows how reception is undergoing a process of ‘logistification’ . In this process, organisational and logistical concerns prevail over the care for those who are assisted, and reception is turned into a logistical matter of moving and accommodating asylum seekers. Crucial to this process of ‘logistification’ is the warehousing of asylum seekers – an art of government that seeks to objectify asylum seekers through their depersonalisation, victimisation and (im)mobilisation. The article argues that the ‘logistification’ of reception not only has dehumanising effects on asylum seekers, but also exposes the attempt to make profit out their management and transfer. This creates the conditions for the development of a reception industry in which the very presence of asylum seekers is valorised for the profit of a whole range of actors who ensure the reproduction, transfer, knowledge and control of those hosted in reception facilities.

A Conceptual Framework to Establish and Operate a Global Logistics Energy Hub

Energy-consuming countries are affected by obstructions in supplies or conflicts that may occur along the energy transit path. Hence, the presence of a global logistics hub for energy acting as a connecting bridge between energy-supplying and energy-consuming countries can overcome such troubles, support the sustainable flow of energy, and achieve the overall operational efficiency of the energy supply chain. However, establishing a global energy hub is a complicated issue, especially in the absence of a clear approach for this. Through conducting a systematic literature review on 36 papers over the past two decades, we identified the key determinants for each player in the energy supply chain and proposed a leading and integrated conceptual framework for establishing and operating a global logistics energy hub, with a particular focus on oil and gas. This article contributes to knowledge by providing a comprehensive review targeting energy hubs from a logistics perspective, as previous studies have addressed energy hubs from other perspectives such as political, legal, and security perspectives, while the logistics perspective has not been tackled comprehensively. Moreover, the suggested framework can be then used by further researchers to develop the performance of energy hubs. Practically, this framework can be employed to identify the requirements for a country to become a global energy hub.

A Multi-Objective Anti-Predatory NIA for E-Commerce Logistics Optimization Problem

Nature-inspired algorithms (NIAs) have established their promising performance to solve both single-objective optimization problems (SOOPs) and multi-objective optimization problems (MOOPs). Anti-predatory NIA (APNIA) is one of the recently introduced single-objective algorithm based on the self-defense behavior of frogs. This paper extends APNIA as multi-objective algorithm and presents the first proposal of APNIA to solve MOOPs. The proposed algorithm is a posteriori version of APNIA, which is named as multi-objective anti-predatory NIA (MO-APNIA). It uses the concept of Pareto dominance to determine the non-dominated solutions. The performance of the MO-APNIA is established through the experimental evaluation and statistically verified using the Friedman rank test and Holm-Sidak test. MO-APNIA is also employed to solve a multi-objective variant of hub location problem (HLP) from the perspective of the e-commerce logistics. Results indicate that the MO-APNIA is also capable to finds the non-dominated solutions of HLP. This finds immense use in logistics industry.

A review on initiatives for the management of daily medical emergencies prior to the arrival of emergency medical services

Emergency services worldwide face increasing cost pressure that potentially limits their existing resources. In many countries, emergency services also face the issues of staff shortage–creating extra challenges and constraints, especially during crisis times such as the COVID-19 pandemic–as well as long distances to sparsely populated areas resulting in longer response times. To overcome these issues and potentially reduce consequences of daily (medical) emergencies, several countries, such as Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands, have started initiatives using new types of human resources as well as equipment, which have not been part of the existing emergency systems before. These resources are employed in response to medical emergency cases if they can arrive earlier than emergency medical services (EMS). A good number of studies have investigated the use of these new types of resources in EMS systems, from medical, technical, and logistical perspectives as their study domains. Several review papers in the literature exist that focus on one or several of these new types of resources. However, to the best of our knowledge, no review paper that comprehensively considers all new types of resources in emergency medical response systems exists. We try to fill this gap by presenting a broad literature review of the studies focused on the different new types of resources, which are used prior to the arrival of EMS. Our objective is to present an application-based and methodological overview of these papers, to provide insights to this important field and to bring it to the attention of researchers as well as emergency managers and administrators.

Operational benefits of autonomous vessels in logistics—A case of autonomous water-taxis in Bergen

Although the technology of autonomous vessels has developed rapidly in the past decade, the literature on the effects of this new technology on logistics and transportation is limited. Particularly, the potential operational changes brought by the autonomy of vessels are not discussed. Besides savings on crew, other benefits of autonomy, especially from an operational perspective, remain unclear. On the other hand, countries like Norway are facing significant challenges in their urban and rural logistics. The land-based public transportation system cannot efficiently serve the demands, especially for areas isolated or separated by fjords or rivers. Water-based transportation systems are thus very attractive, and autonomy makes such systems economically more viable. In this paper we focus on a potential case of autonomous water-taxis in Bergen, Norway. First, we identify the major operational differences, from a logistics perspective, between conventional manned water-taxis and autonomous ones. Then a mixed integer linear programming model is developed to tackle the facility location, fleet allocation and routing decisions in the daily operations of a water-taxi business. The model in this paper is used to analyse the problem, rather than designed for direct use during implementation. In the computational study, different cases with either conventional or autonomous water-taxis are tested. The results show that autonomy can lead to substantial savings on travelled distance due to number and locations of parking terminals being feasible only for autonomous systems.

Hub-and-Spoke Logistics Network Considering Pricing and Co-Opetition

With the rapid development of the logistics market, the construction of an efficient “channel + hub + network” logistics system, that is, a hub-and-spoke logistics network, is of great importance to enterprises. In particular, how to reduce costs and increase efficiency in both the construction of network facilities and actual operations, and to formulate reasonable prices for the logistics service needs in the entire market are crucial strategies and decisions for enterprises. Under such a background, this article starts from the perspective of duopoly logistics enterprises that jointly build networks and allow the transfer of surplus capacity and carbon credits, and studies the hub-and-spoke logistics network design that also considers the relationship between service pricing and co-opetition. Considering the corporate profit and difficulty of implementation as a whole, the co-opetition is a better choice than the complete competition and perfect cooperation. In addition, the remaining capacity of the company, the transfer of carbon credits, the joint construction and sharing of hubs, and strategic cooperation in the area of corporate common pricing under the price framework agreement are conducive to the realization of an increase in corporate operating profits, a better market share and more favorable pricing.

A beam search for the equality generalized symmetric traveling salesman problem

This paper studies the equality generalized symmetric traveling salesman problem (EGSTSP). A salesman has to visit a predefined set of countries. S/he must determine exactly one city (of a subset of cities) to visit in each country and the sequence of the countries such that s/he minimizes the overall travel cost. From an academic perspective, EGSTSP is very important. It is NP-hard. Its relaxed version TSP is itself NP-hard, and no exact technique solves large difficult instances. From a logistic perspective, EGSTSP has a broad range of applications that vary from sea, air, and train shipping to emergency relief to elections and polling to airlines’ scheduling to urban transportation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the roll-out of vaccines further emphasizes the importance of this problem. Pharmaceutical firms are challenged not only by a viable production schedule but also by a flawless distribution plan especially that some of these vaccines must be stored at extremely low temperatures. This paper proposes an approximate tree-based search technique for EGSTSP . It uses a beam search with low and high level hybridization. The low-level hybridization applies a swap based local search to each partial solution of a node of a tree whereas the high-level hybridization applies 2-Opt, 3-Opt or Lin-Kernighan to the incumbent. Empirical results provide computational evidence that the proposed approach solves large instances with 89 countries and 442 cities in few seconds while matching the best known cost of 8 out of 36 instances and being less than 1.78% away from the best known solution for 27 instances.