A study of reverse logistics flow management in vehicle battery industries in the midwest of the state of São Paulo (Brazil)

Having the objective of minimizing costs and improving their image in the consumer and export market, car battery industries began to seek environmental alternatives geared towards sustainable development. Reverse logistics flow represents an unprecedented tool for the economic and operational development of company activities, as well as a differential in the search for competitive advantages through environmentally correct practices. The aim of this paper is to describe the reverse logistics chain adopted by automotive battery industries in the midwest of the state of São Paulo, proposing a reverse logistics framework for small manufacturers that creates actions aimed at not harming the environment. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perfil logístico de Colombia una visión hacia el mejoramiento estratégico de las operaciones nacionales e internacionales

El propósito de este texto, es realizar un informe investigativo que genere conocimientos claros en temas referentes a la logística del sector agrícola, buscando determinar la mayor producción de ciertos bienes en áreas específicas, la clasificación de productos para consumo interno y externo, las rutas, el tiempo, los costos, los flujos logísticos y demás factores relevantes para el análisis del perfil agrícola, con el fin de facilitar los procesos de distribución, almacenamiento y producción, que generen competitividad dentro de un marco global en el mismo, desafortunadamente, a pesar que es un sector que podría aportar bastante a la economía y desarrollo del país, únicamente aporta el 9% al PIB nacional, evidenciando la importancia de este estudio para reconocer las falencias del sector.

Perfil logístico de Colombia sector minero

El proyecto “Perfil logístico de Colombia” tiene como objetivo poder suplir las falencias de información que existen actualmente en Colombia a la hora de proyectar el proceso logístico de un bien o servicio. Las empresas colombianas cuentan con pocos recursos para llevar la materia prima de forma eficaz a su fin o punto de consumo. Dentro de este proyecto se analizará el sector Minero en Colombia, donde este presenta un alto reconocimiento a nivel mundial. Posee metales preciosos y metales básicos, su principal producción es el carbón térmico, ferroníquel, oro y esmeraldas. De esta manera, la minería en mediana y pequeña escala presenta un alto potencial, el cual si es aprovechado de una manera adecuada puede llegar a convertirse en una fuente muy importante y representativa para el país en cuanto a ingresos y empleos. De acuerdo a los últimos años Colombia se ha convertido en un país atractivo en cuanto a la inversión de explotación minera, gracias al incremento de precios internacionales de los minerales y el desarrollo de la seguridad en Colombia. Se realizará un análisis global en el cual se mostrará la posición de Colombia frente a la situación internacional, esto se investigará de acuerdo a los diferentes indicadores como el PIB, índice global de competitividad, productividad, y balanza comercial. Así mismo, se examinará el nivel de infraestructura logística que promueve la planeación de los flujos logísticos teniendo variables de costo, tiempo, y transporte. Además se tendrán en cuenta factores como cadena de suministro, problemática del sector minero con el gobierno, caracterización mundial, panorama nacional, VSM (proveedores, productores, almacenamiento, distribución y logística inversa) y gremios.

Perfil logístico de Colombia una visión hacia el mejoramiento estratégico de las operaciones nacionales e internacionales; sector floricultor.

La floricultura en Colombia ha sido uno de los rubros más destacados dentro del sector agropecuario, silvicultura, caza y pesca, afirmación que se ve reflejada en la participación de la floricultura con un 7% dentro del sector agropecuario, el cual tuvo un crecimiento del 5,2% en lo correspondiente del 2012 al 2013 del PIB Nacional, según el informe anual que realizó el DANE en marzo del 2014. Es uno de los sectores comerciales más importantes y dinámicos de la economía colombiana. De ahí que, el propósito de este texto, es realizar un informe investigativo que genere conocimientos claros en temas referentes a la logística del sector floricultor, buscando determinar la mayor producción de ciertos tipos de flores mayor demandados, la clasificación de las mismas para el consumo interno y externo, las rutas, el tiempo, los costos, los flujos logísticos y demás factores relevantes para el análisis del perfil floricultor, con el fin de facilitar los procesos de producción, almacenamiento y distribución, que generen competitividad dentro de un marco global en el mismo.

Waste Not, Want Not: Managing Perishables in Small and Medium Retail Enterprises

Purpose of this paper:
Recent literature indicates that around one third of perishable products finish as waste (Mena et al., 2014): 60% of this waste can be classified as avoidable (EC, 2010) suggesting logistics and operational inefficiencies along the supply chain. In developed countries perishable products are predominantly wasted in wholesale and retail (Gustavsson et al., 2011) due to customer demand uncertainty the errors and delays in the supply chain (Fernie and Sparks, 2014). While research on logistics of large retail supply chains is well documented, research on retail small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) capabilities to prevent and manage waste of perishable products is in its infancy (c.f. Ellegaard, 2008) and needs further exploration. In our study, we investigate the retail logistics practice of small food retailers, the factors that contribute to perishable products waste and the barriers and opportunities of SMEs in retail logistics to preserve product quality and participate in reverse logistics flows.

Design/methodology/approach:
As research on waste of perishable products for SMEs is scattered, we focus on identifying key variables that contribute to the creation of avoidable waste. Secondly we identify patterns of waste creation at the retail level and its possibilities for value added recovery. We use explorative case studies (Eisenhardt, 1989) and compare four SMEs and one large retailer that operate in a developed market. To get insights into specificities of SMEs that affect retail logistics practice, we select two types of food retailers: specialised (e.g. greengrocers and bakers) and general (e.g. convenience store that sells perishable products as a part of the assortment)

Findings:
Our preliminary findings indicate that there is a difference between large retailers and SME retailers in factors that contribute to the waste creation, as well as opportunities for value added recovery of products. While more factors appear to affect waste creation and management at large retailers, a small number of specific factors appears to affect SMEs. Similarly, large retailers utilise a range of practices to reduce risks of product perishability and short shelf life, manage demand, and manage reverse logistics practices. Retail SMEs on the other hand have limited options to address waste creation and value added recovery. However, our findings show that specialist SMEs could successfully minimize waste and even create possibilities for value added recovery of perishable products. Data indicates that business orientation of the SME, the buyersupplier relationship, and an extent of adoption of lean principles in retail coupled with SME resources, product specific regulations and support from local authorities for waste management or partnerships with other organizations determine extent of successful preservation of a product quality and value added recovery.

Value:
Our contribution to the SCM academic literature is threefold: first, we identify major factors that contribute to the generation waste of perishable products in retail environment; second, we identify possibilities for value added recovery for perishable products and third, we present opportunities and challenges for SME retailers to manage or participate in activities of value added recovery. Our findings contribute to theory by filling a gap in the literature that considers product quality preservation and value added recovery in the context of retail logistics and SMEs.

Research limitations/implications:
Our findings are limited to insights from five case studies of retail companies that operate within a developed market. To improve on generalisability, we intend to increase the number of cases and include data obtained from the suppliers and organizations involved in reverse logistics flows (e.g. local authorities, charities, etc.).

Practical implications:
With this paper, we contribute to the improvement of retail logistics and operations in SMEs which constitute over 99% of business activities in UK (Rhodes, 2015). Our findings will help retail managers and owners to better understand the possibilities for value added recovery, investigate a range of logistics and retail strategies suitable for the specificities of SME environment and, ultimately, improve their profitability and sustainability.

RESTRUCTURING of SYSTEMS and LOGISTICS of MOVEMENT and ITS IMPACT on URBAN and REGIONAL PLANNING PAULISTA

Report some of the changes in production and consumption occurring in the state of São Paulo. through the restructuring in motion systems, logistics and standards and taxation, as well as the impacts on urban spaces through new economic dynamics, imposed by the demands of corporate, is the purpose of this article. The decentralization of production and consumption towards the interior was made possible by the combination of hierarchical and ordered some basic elements such as technological innovations (ways and means of transport) and organizational (logistics, standards and taxation) which optimized the flow territorial state São Paulo. It is noteworthy, therefore: 1) the improvement of logistics as a strategy, planning and management of transport, storage and communications (including the granting of public services to private), 2) the technological improvement and expansion of motion systems (infrastructure, means of transport) and 3) the systems of rules and regulations through taxation and deregulation affect the circulatory system of a given space. Thus, both systems aims to disentangle the economic flows (goods, services, information, capital and people) and provide a more fluid territorial. The impacts on the State of São Paulo, mainly through its economic dynamics, revert positively and negatively, by changing the way one thinks and performs planning.

Computerization of maritime ports, e-commerce platforms and logistics communities

In the past few years there has been a clear trend of attaching increasing importance to "inforstructures", or the capacity of ports to process the information that accompanies foreign trade flows, so that the processing becomes a facilitating factor for trade, rather than an obstacle.This led to development of the concept of a port community system, which is a computerized system that interconnects all the members of a logistics community, making the exchange of documentation as effective as possible, reducing the volume of data to be re-entered in different systems and ultimately improving the whole process of monitoring an operation until its completion. Computerization of communications between all the actors at the ports facilitates integration of the community, while it also assists interaction between ports, thus forming logistics corridors.

Models and Algorihtm for the Optimization of Real-World Routing and Logistics Problems

Logistics involves planning, managing, and organizing the flows of goods from the point of origin to the point of destination in order to meet some requirements. Logistics and transportation aspects are very important and represent a relevant costs for producing and shipping companies, but also for public administration and private citizens. The optimization of resources and the improvement in the organization of operations is crucial for all branches of logistics, from the operation management to the transportation. As we will have the chance to see in this work, optimization techniques, models, and algorithms represent important methods to solve the always new and more complex problems arising in different segments of logistics. Many operation management and transportation problems are related to the optimization class of problems called Vehicle Routing Problems (VRPs). In this work, we consider several real-world deterministic and stochastic problems that are included in the wide class of the VRPs, and we solve them by means of exact and heuristic methods. We treat three classes of real-world routing and logistics problems. We deal with one of the most important tactical problems that arises in the managing of the bike sharing systems, that is the Bike sharing Rebalancing Problem (BRP). We propose models and algorithms for real-world earthwork optimization problems. We describe the 3DP process and we highlight several optimization issues in 3DP. Among those, we define the problem related to the tool path definition in the 3DP process, the 3D Routing Problem (3DRP), which is a generalization of the arc routing problem. We present an ILP model and several heuristic algorithms to solve the 3DRP.

RFID Transponders : Link between information and material flows. How reliable are identification procedures?

Along with the growing complexity of logistic chains the demand for transparency of informations has increased. The use of intelligent RFID-Technology offers the possibility to optimize and control all capacities in use, since it enables the identification and tracking of goods alongside the entire supply chain. Every single product can be located at any given time and a multitude of current and historical data can be transferred. The interaction of the flow of material and the flow of information between the various process steps can be optimized by using RFID-Technology since it guarantees that all required data is available at the right time and at the right place. The local accessibility and convertibility of data allows a flexible, decentralised control of logistic systems. As additional advantages of RFID-Components can be considered that they are individually writable and that their identification can be achieved over considerable distances even if there is no intervisibility between tag and reader. The use of RFID-Transponder opens up new potentials regarding process security, reduction of logistic costs or availability of products. These advantages depend on reliability of the identification processes. The undisputed potentials that are made accessible by the use of RFID-Elements can only be beneficial when the informations that are decentralised and attached to goods and loading equipment can be reliably retrieved at the required points. The communication between tag and reader can be influenced by different materials such as metal, that can disturbed or complicate the radio contact. The communications reliability is subject of various tests and experiments that analyse the effects of different filling materials as well as different alignments of tags on the loading equipment.

Strategic knowledge serendipity and arbitrage & intellectual venture capitalists: An emerging breed of knowledge entrepreneurs; and Part II: Global and Local (GloCal) knowledge logistics for innovation and competitiveness. ACES Working Papers, August 2009

Strategic Knowledge: While entrepreneurship may occur as a natural result of personal drive, it occurs most often, most robustly and is most sustainable in an environment designed to encourage it. Potential entrepreneurs become active entrepreneurs when the conditions are most supportive of their commercial opportunities and their business thus helping channel the two key qualities they exhibit as individuals obsessed maniacs and clairvoyant oracles (Carayannis, GWU Lectures, 2000-2005) and (Carayannis et at, 2003a) towards the generation of sustainable wealth. So far, entrepreneurial scholars who turn into intellectual venture capitalists by founding knowledge-driven companies remain one of the least explored specie in the territory of entrepreneurship. GloCal: The increasing engagement of firms within global knowledge and production networks and their ability to source knowledge globally as well as locally (GloCally), for the development of innovation capacities will shape the future of UK's knowledge resources and its role in the global economy. Practices such as off-shoring R&D activities are widely adopted, creating challenging, and not very well understood, issues related to cross-country and inter-firm knowledge and technology flows. We seek to address the internationalisation and networking of research and innovation activities, including the roles and strategies of enterprises, universities, research centres, governments in a cross-country and inter-sectoral way, to assess the impact and the implications for sustaining and enhancing the competitiveness of UK firms and other British knowledge producers and users.

Global and local (GloCal) knowledge logistics for innovation and competitiveness. ACES Working Papers, August 2010

The increasing engagement of firms within global knowledge and production networks and their ability to source knowledge globally as well as locally (GloCally), for the development of innovation capacities will shape the future of UK's knowledge resources and its role in the global economy. Practices such as off-shoring R&D activities are widely adopted, creating challenging, and not very well understood, issues related to cross-country and inter-firm knowledge and technology flows. We seek to address the internationalisation and networking of research and innovation activities, including the roles and strategies of enterprises, universities, research centres, governments in a cross-country and inter-sectoral way, to assess the impact and the implications for sustaining and enhancing the competitiveness of UK firms and other British knowledge producers and users.

A solution for information management in logistics operations of modern manufacturing chains

One dominant feature of the modern manufacturing chains is the movement of goods. Manufacturing companies would remain an unprofitable investment if the supplies/logistics of raw materials, semi-finished products or final goods are not handled in an effective way. Both levels of a modern manufacturing chain-actual production and logistics-are characterized by continuous data creation at a much faster rate than they can be meaningfully analyzed and acted upon manually. Often, instant and reliable decisions need to be taken based on huge, previously inconceivable amounts of heterogeneous, contradictory or incomplete data. The paper will highlight aspects of information flows related to business process data visibility and observability in modern manufacturing networks. An information management platform developed in the framework of the EU FP7 project ADVANCE will be presented.