Regional Supply Chains Research Articles

Private Food Safety and Quality Standards in International Trade

Trade liberalisation is a factor that induced a change in policy and development strategy, the substitution of imports by export in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. This transition has led to the involvement of a large number of producers in export activities and in global or regional supply chains. Many food supply chains span across countries or regions and involve a variety of different operators. Ensuring food safety and production quality, processing and trading practices all along these global chains is a real challenge.

Geography and Mining in Carajás/Pará (Northern Region of Brazil)

This essay examines the actions of Major Mining Projects in the region of Carajas, the state of Para, Northern Brazil, which concentrates the projects of one of the largest mining companies of the Planet, the Vale Group, and the relations of power and authority in land use in the corresponding area to the former city of Maraba. The territories exploited by major mining projects, also increase land use that has not been translated into socio-economic development, and add little value to labor and the product. Another issue is lack of a National Mining Policy that truly establishes the regional supply chains, and conducts the multiplier effects to produce new territorial jurisdictions. Mining contributes to socio-economic development of the Amazon region, especially in the Carajas region and promotes the economic organization of the territories for the consolidation of municipalities in which society in its favor uses natural resources. The main objective of this paper is to present the main impacts caused by mining activities in Para municipalities. Textual elaboration was necessary documentary and bibliographical analysis, in addition to field research in the study area. We can observe, that mining is an important productive activity, but has caused significant changes in Para territory, both in economy and in the environment, and the way of life of local populations.

Environmental impact of Italian canned tomato logistics: national vs. regional supply chains

The environmental impact of food transportation is site and product specific and depends on the direct relation between origin-to-destination distance and logistic efficiency, as pointed out by the relevant literature. This paper analyses a very specific case, comparing the impacts of transportation generated by the logistics of two brands of Italian canned tomato purchased in Sassari (Sardinia, Italy), one extending over the whole continental Italian territory, the other mainly located in the island of Sardinia. Different sale (supermarket chain vs. independent retailers) and shopping (foot vs. car) modalities are also considered. The contributions to global warming, local pollution and traffic congestion are considered.The case study shows that the logistics of the national brand is much more polluting than the regional, not only because of the longer distance between origin and destination, but also because the additional distance that is needed to reach logistic hubs is not compensated by higher load factors. Instead, the logistics of the regional brand is based on a very efficient point-to-point organization. This result is generalizable to all regional supply chains featuring high volumes of product. Results of the case study also depend on: a) the high impact of packaging transportation, because of the very low weight/volume ratio of empty cans; b) the high CO2 emission coefficient of lorries and trailers transportation by ferry (Ro–Ro). The case study also stresses the very high impact of shopping by car.

Objective dimensionality reduction method within multi-objective optimisation considering total footprints

Abstract This contribution presents a simplified and more practical version of an objective dimensionality reduction method within multi-objective optimisation – a Representative Objectives Method. This method is based on similarities between several objectives in order to reduce the number of objectives to a minimum number of representative objectives. This method can be applied to different direct and total objectives. In this contribution the selected objectives are annual profit and total footprints. Total footprints are the sum of direct and indirect footprints where the direct footprints only consider the burdening of the environment, whilst the total footprints consider both the burdening and unburdening of the environment. This dimensionality reduction method is applied during a demonstration case study of regional supply chains regarding the evaluations of different total environmental footprints. This case study indicates that this simplified version of the Representative Objectives Method is easy to apply and enables the user to more easily understand multi-objective optimisation solutions. It represents a practical tool for performing the dimensionality reduction of criteria during the economic and environmental optimisation of different problems when considering total environmental footprints.

Financing the SME Value Chains

Asia’s economic miracle is often associated with large, multi-national companies. While these organizations have been important drivers of the region’s growth, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) accounting for more than 98% of the enterprises have played a key role. These SMEs contribute around 40% to their country’s GDP in the ASEAN region. In developed nations such as the USA, UK, France and Singapore, SMEs contribute more than half of their country’s GDP.Addressing SMEs’ needs for finance, it is assessed that formal financial lending organizations represent a weak link in the financial supply chain for SMEs in the region. The problem also hinders the physical supply chain in that SME’s are key drivers of business growth in the region. This paper proposes a framework for financial lending to allow formal lending organizations to compete with the alternate sources of finance SMEs seek.This research work is built upon case studies from Malaysia and India, and surveys conducted on the supply and demand of SME finance in Malaysia. A lack of collateral and limited access to venture and growth capital are some of the obstacles that SME owners face when seeking finance for their businesses. Cash flow shortages caused by long or delayed payment cycles exacerbate the problem. On the supply side, a number of issues including high transactions costs, inadequate information about borrowers and weak governance, deter large banks from developing SME lending portfolios. In the absence of bank lending options many SMEs turn to other sources of finance such as unregistered money lenders that charge high interest rates. It is realized that the local money lenders are accessible and understand the SME business model better. They are also able to keep a tight rein on costs and have developed ways to make sure that investment funds are used by borrowers for profit-making purposes.This work identifies nine areas of demand for capital, including funds to pay for fixed assets and raw materials, to pay for seasonal periods of low demand, and to ramp up operations ahead of product launches. In addition to money lenders, SME’s typically use eight types of financing options including family and friends, micro finance institutions and owner’s equity. There are also various government schemes to help SMEs find the financing they need, but the research finds that that penetration is a key challenge to these interventions. These programs only reach a relatively small fraction of the total population of businesses.The lack of affordable financing options stymies the growth of SMEs in Asia. This work suggests that banks in the region need to redesign their lending portfolios so that they are better able to evaluate and manage the SME’s needs for finance. To help clarify the risks, this paper includes a grid showing how the different sources of SME financing are weighed in terms of the so-called 5Cs: capacity, capital, character, collateral and condition. It is recommended that banks should adopt more innovative ways to analyze SME loans, and gain a deeper understanding of how these enterprises fund their supply chains.This does not necessarily require a complete overhaul of current practices; financial institutions can tap into the SME market by learning to work within current financing systems. To this end, MISI describes 11 key devices that can be leveraged to catalyze the lending process. For example, Joint Liability Groups comprise farmers with compatible businesses who come together to borrow from financial institutions. Group members can borrow individually or collectively by offering mutual guarantees for each other. Technological advances such as the growth of internet banking and electronic funds transfers can also be harnessed to facilitate SME lending. New standards such as the Bank Payment Obligation (BPO) rolled out by SWIFT and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) are helping to unlock IT-related advances in banking.With mass customization and fragmentation of manufacturing, creating a viable market for SME financing benefits both the financial institutions and the enterprises involved. Regional and global supply chains also benefit in that there is an increasing need for sustainable and financially viable SMEs in Asia. This work thus addresses the factors responsible for widening the supply - demand gap for SME finance by studying the flow of finance through SME supply chains.

Reducing the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in the ASEAN Region: A Review of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products

In November 2012, the fifth session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) adopted the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco. This paper examines the Protocol in the context of the illicit trade in tobacco products across South East Asia and highlights those areas of the Protocol which can be effective in reducing that illicit trade, and how the region could approach a coordinated implementation of those key provisions. Details of the current extent of illicit trade in the region, and of the main modus operandi of those active in that trade, are provided by the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (RILO AP). This sets the context from which the key elements of the Protocol are analysed for their potential value as mechanisms to directly address regional risks. The paper then examines the question of implementation and discusses those Articles of the Protocol which will require a degree of regional coordination to be fully effective. This regional examination also includes the need for some degree of standardised or consistent approach to implementation of the key Articles to eliminate ‘weak points’ in the regional supply chains for tobacco.

Nationwide, Regional, and Statewide Energy Supply Chain Optimization for Natural Gas to Liquid Transportation Fuel (GTL) Systems

An optimization-based supply chain framework is proposed for the nationwide, regional, and statewide analyses of natural gas to liquids (GTL) systems for the United States. With optimized GTL refineries of differing capacities (i.e., 1, 5, 10, 50, and 200 thousand barrels per day) and fuel product ratios (i.e., unrestricted, maximization of diesel, maximization of kerosene, and commensurate with the United States demand), the optimal nationwide, regional, and statewide supply chains are obtained by solving a large-scale mixed-integer linear optimization (MILP) model that minimizes the total cost of fuel production. The mathematical formulation includes the locations of natural gas in the United States discretized by county, the delivery locations of fuel products, the transportation costs of every input and output of the refinery, the material balances of each GTL refinery, water resources, electricity requirements/production of the supply chain, and the CO2 sequestration capacities in the United States. ...

Comparing environmental impacts of regional and national-scale food supply chains: A case study of processed tomatoes

This study uses life cycle assessment methodology to quantify the energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and water use of processed tomato products grown, processed, and consumed within the Great Lakes region of the United States, and tomato products produced in California and then shipped to the Great Lakes region for consumption. The purpose is to assess the potential for regional food systems to reduce selected environmental impacts, particularly the energy and GHG footprints, of consumer-ready, processed food products, when compared to national-scale food systems in which consumer products are shipped long distances. The study also examines the role of different types of food processing in influencing life cycle energy use, water use, and emissions.Our results indicate that California-produced conventional and organic tomato paste and canned diced tomatoes are almost equivalent in energy use and GHG emissions to regionally produced and consumed products, but use of developed water resources is significantly higher for California-grown products. California tomato production benefits from higher per hectare yields and soil amendments with lower carbon dioxide emissions. These efficiencies substantially offset the added energy use and GHG emissions associated with long-distance shipment of products to the Great Lakes region, as long as shipments are made by rail rather than by truck. Paste, the more processed and concentrated product evaluated, amplifies any environmental advantages or disadvantages accrued in the field production stage, due to its raw tomato to finished product ratio of 6:1, suggesting that comparative regional advantage can play a role in lowering life cycle environmental impacts of highly condensed foods shipped long distances.

Precarious work: Economic, sociological and political perspectives

This article brings together labour relations, sociological and political perspectives on precarious employment in Australia, identifying local contexts of insecurity and setting them within the economics of regional supply chains involving the use of migrant labour. In developing the concept of precarious work-societies, it argues that precarity is a source of individual and social vulnerability and distress, affecting family, housing and communal security. The concept of depoliticisation is used to describe the processes of displacement, whereby the social consequences of precarious work come to be seen as beyond the reach of agency. Using evidence from social attitudes surveys, we explore links between the resulting sense of political marginalisation and hostility to immigrants. Re-politicisation strategies will need to lay bare the common basis of shared experiences of insecurity and explore ways of integrating precarious workers into new community and global alliances.

Developing a service offering for a logistical service provider—Case of local food supply chain

This study introduces a process of building potential business models for a logistic service provider operating in a local food supply chain. As a starting point, the logistical service needs of different participants in regional food supply chains are analyzed. Based on the analysis, two potential service offerings for a logistical service provider or an integrating entrepreneur of a local food supply chain are formed. Business models for the two service offerings are developed and analyzed using the Business Model Canvas. The study shows that this approach builds a logical connection between the services offered and the fundaments of the business of a logistic service provider.

Industrial closure, regional development and local planning: Multiple narratives of change from the experience of Longbridge, Birmingham

This article provides a critique of the policy response to the closure, in 2005, of the MG Rover factory in Longbridge, Birmingham. To date, the Longbridge ‘narrative’ has been dominated by the work of the Labour Government’s MG Rover Task Force to secure the regional supply chain and support redundant workers. However, this represents a selective interpretation of the Longbridge experience. Important alternative narratives have been neglected, including the local impacts of closure, the role of front-line officials and voluntary and community groups in mitigating these, and future regeneration. The article considers these important issues and, thus, seeks to contribute to a more inclusive narrative of the Longbridge closure, the policy response to it and the lessons arising in light of the present crisis engulfing the European automotive industry. The article concludes that the nature and scope of the public policy response to industrial closure must be multi-level and multi-thematic in outlook and ensure investment in the resilience of local economy and society.

Robust models for the synthesis of flexible palm oil-based regional bioenergy supply chain

EFB (Empty fruit bunch) is among the palm oil biomass residues that have been identified as the most abundant bioenergy resources in Southeast Asia. EFB has a good potential to meet the targeted share of renewable energy in this region. This work presents robust LP (linear programming) model to allow for the synthesis of EFB allocation networks that exhibit operational flexibility under multiple biomass supply scenarios. Such multiple scenarios may arise due to many uncertain factors, such as anticipated closure or expansion of mills. A MILP (mixed integer linear programming) extension of the model is then developed. Real life-based case studies of an industrial application are presented to illustrate the use of both variants of the model.

Total footprints-based multi-criteria optimisation of regional biomass energy supply chains

This paper presents a MCO (multi-criteria optimisation) of regional biomass supply chains for the conversion of biomass to energy through the simultaneous maximisation of economic performance and minimisation of the environmental and social FPs (footprints). The energy supply-chain model contains agricultural, pre-processing, processing, and distribution layers. An integrated model, previously developed by the authors, for regional biomass energy network optimisation is used as a basis, and now extended for simultaneous assessment of the supply-chain performance based on LCA (Life cycle assessment). Several total FPs are introduced for “cradle” to “grave” evaluation, which, besides direct, comprises also indirect effects caused by products’ substitutions. In the MCO approach, the annual profit is maximised against each FP generating different sets of Pareto optimal solutions, one for each FP. With this approach the aggregation of different environmental and/or social pressures is thus avoided. The results indicate that total FPs enable the obtaining of more realistic solutions, than in those cases when only direct FPs are considered. More profitable and less environmentally harmful solutions can be gained with significant reduction in total carbon and total energy FPs.

Design of regional and sustainable bio-based networks for electricity generation using a multi-objective MILP approach

Biomass energy systems can be employed to meet the requirements of distributed energy systems in rural as well as urban contexts, whether this is an electrification or a microgeneration project. This work is focused on a mathematical programming approach applied to bio-based supply chains that use locally available biomass at or near the point of use in order to produce electricity or other bioproduct. The problem of designing and planning a regional biomass supply chain is formulated as a MO-MILP (multi-objective mixed integer linear program), which takes into account three main objectives: economic, environmental and social criteria. The model supports decision-making about location and capacity of technologies, connectivity between the supply entities, biomass storage periods, matter transportation and biomass utilisation. The advantages of this approach are highlighted by solving a case study of a specific district in Ghana. The aim is to determine the most suitable biomass and electricity network among the different communities. The technology considered to transform the biomass into electricity is gasification combined with a gas engine.

Investment-Led Growth in China: Global Spillovers

Over the past decade, China’s growth model has become more reliant on investment and its footprint in global imports has widened substantially. Several economies within China’s supply chain are increasingly exposed to its investment-led growth and face growing risks from a deceleration in investment in China. This note quantifies potential global spillovers from an investment slowdown in China. It finds that a one percentage point slowdown in investment in China is associated with a reduction of global growth of just under one-tenth of a percentage point. The impact is about five times larger than in 2002. Regional supply chain economies and commodity exporters with relatively less diversified economies are most vulnerable to an investment slowdown in China. The spillover effects also register strongly across a range of macroeconomic, trade, and financial variables among G20 trading partners.

Investment-Led Growth in China: Global Spillovers

Over the past decade, China’s growth model has become more reliant on investment and its footprint in global imports has widened substantially. Several economies within China’s supply chain are increasingly exposed to its investment-led growth and face growing risks from a deceleration in investment in China. This note quantifies potential global spillovers from an investment slowdown in China. It finds that a one percentage point slowdown in investment in China is associated with a reduction of global growth of just under one-tenth of a percentage point. The impact is about five times larger than in 2002. Regional supply chain economies and commodity exporters with relatively less diversified economies are most vulnerable to an investment slowdown in China. The spillover effects also register strongly across a range of macroeconomic, trade, and financial variables among G20 trading partners.

Urban freight consultations in the Paris region

This article describes recent freight consultations in the Paris region (called the Ile de France) and assesses their usefulness to the urban freight policy. The Ile de France is one of 22 French regions, and is one of the largest and most developed metropolitan areas in Europe. It is currently confronting major economic, environmental, and institutional challenges. In this changing context, freight and logistics activities have been acknowledged as major contributors to the region’s economic well being that nonetheless have negative environmental effects such as noise, air pollution, and CO2 emissions. To manage freight transport in a more sustainable manner, the City of Paris and, more recently, the Ile-de-France Region,have engaged in consultations with freight transport firms, carriers’ organizations, and shippers’ associations. Our method is based on personal knowledge and experience, on a quantitative analysis of meeting records, and on interviews with local practitioners and elected officials. We examine consultations at three levels in the Ile de France Region’s institutional framework: the local level, represented by the “neighbourhood councils” in the city of Paris’s individual districts; the municipal level, with the Paris Delivery Charter experience (2006–2009); and the regional level, through the Ile-de-France Regional Council’s recent experiences with freight consultation. We analyse the difficulties encountered when conducting negotiations with the freight and logistics sectors in a complex urban environment. We describe the relationships between local and regional processes, showing how they have benefited from and sometimes overlapped with one another. Conditions for success are suggested, and a few guidelines are proposed.The Paris case leads to three conclusions. First of all, with regard to freight issues, specific consultations need to be implemented, because regular consultationsneglect freight transport issues. Secondly, freight consultations are of little use at the local and municipal levels. They need to be combined with metropolitan or region-wide consultation, because freight movement in urban areas is logistically connected to regional and national supply chains. Finally, it is important that consultation outcomes translate into effective changes in policies and behaviours. If not, well-intentioned freight companies willing to improve their urban operations will be discouraged from doing so and the very purpose of freight consultations, which is to promote more efficient and sustainable urban supply chains based on voluntary commitments, will be lost.

Applying Collaborative Contracting To The Supply Chain Department Of A Regional Health Care Provider

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">With health care costs continuing to increase, a southern California health care system struggled to balance its budget. A <span style="color: black;">lack of hospital department participation in development of the supply contracts has lead to fractured relationships between the hospital departments and the Regional Supply Chain Department as well as fiscal deficits. Poor communication between supply chain partners can lead to differences in perceptions, misinterpretations, and misunderstandings. This paper examines the results of efforts by one organization to </span>close the “gaps” within a supply chain through the creation of a Value Analysis Team (VAT). The results demonstrate a marked improvement in the bottom line, but more importantly, a significant improvement in the relationship between supply chain partners within this health care system.</span></span></p>

Free and Secure Trade Commercial Vehicle Crossing Times at the Pacific Highway Port of Entry

At the Pacific Highway port of entry between the United States and Canada, typical delays are known to regional carriers and internalized into schedules. Due to their relative infrequency, the largest crossing times are not internalized into schedules and cause significant disruptions to regional supply chains. This technical note describes the recent patterns of very long crossing times (defined as more than 2 h or the largest 1% of crossing times) and explores the relationship between arrival volume and crossing time. To do so, this study uses commercial vehicle crossing time data from GPS technology and volume data from the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation. Results show a weak correlation between border crossing time and arrival volume when considering individual observations, but a stronger correlation when data are aggregated. Results show a high percentage of crossing time can be attributed to sources other than primary booth delay, particularly for the most disruptive, very long crossing times.

Synthesis of regional energy supply chain based on palm oil biomass

Synthesis of regional energy supply chain based on palm oil biomass