1,721,085 research outputs found
Three essays on urban freight transport: models and tools for effective city logistics projects
Full text linkThe main purpose of these three years of research, summarized in this thesis, was to investigate the obstacles to the development of the city logistics initiatives by seeking solutions to overcome them through model and framework coming from management and transportation engineering. In particular, following a first analysis of a collection of European projects and a systematic analysis of scientific literature, three main gaps in city logistics have been identified: the lack of the stakeholders’ involvement, the need for data sharing platforms to overcome the current lack of data and the need to define city logistics solutions within the urban ecosystem, making consistent design choices coherently with what is already existing in terms of infrastructures, rules and stakeholders in the context. From these three gaps, three main research questions have arisen:
(RQ1) Is it possible to support stakeholders in analysing CL solutions fitting their necessities applying some already existing and consolidate decision-making methods?
(RQ2) Is it possible to define a database platform in which it is possible to collect, consult and update as many existing data as possible regarding urban freight transport?
(RQ3) How is it possible to optimize city logistics infrastructures in a harmonious and coherent way with respect to the entire city logistics ecosystem?
To answers to the research questions, a collection of articles is illustrated in this thesis work. From time to time different methodologies are used and illustrated, derived from the field of management and transport engineering, these different methodologies, such as the Systematic Literature Review, the House of Quality, a framework for building a data sharing platform, the city logistics Ecosystem and a decision-making support model (based on both a covering model and a Monte Carlo simulation) are described in detail in the various chapters of the thesis.
In this dissertation work for the first time, the main obstacles to the development of city logistics initiatives, that are the lack of involvement of stakeholders, the lack of data, and the lack of an ecosystem vision of urban transport, have been identified and addressed at the same time.
Even if literature sometimes offers some possible solutions to these gaps, few are simple to understand for those who work in the urban freight transport industry, easy to apply and replicable. Both in identifying the gap and in seeking solutions, the solutions showed in this thesis sought to address to those who work in the industry, mainly carriers, retailers, shop owners and public administration representatives, trying to combine scientific research with the search for solutions that can be implemented in practice as requested by such a practical research topic. For this reason, each proposed solution and methodology in this thesis has been implemented and experimented using as a case study the city of Bergamo (and testing its replicability in other European cities such as Saint-Etienne, Luxemburg and Amsterdam). In particular, the initial experience in the “Bergamo Logistica” project, part of the Bergamo 2.035 smart city research program, gave me the opportunity to understand the main critical issues found by the main actors who work in this field (i.e., carriers, couriers, retailers and institutions), to confirm some evidences that I found in the theory (i.e., main research gaps which originates the research questions) and to search for solutions that could both solve research gaps and optimize the daily logistics activities of the operators.The main purpose of these three years of research, summarized in this thesis, was to investigate the obstacles to the development of the city logistics initiatives by seeking solutions to overcome them through model and framework coming from management and transportation engineering. In particular, following a first analysis of a collection of European projects and a systematic analysis of scientific literature, three main gaps in city logistics have been identified: the lack of the stakeholders’ involvement, the need for data sharing platforms to overcome the current lack of data and the need to define city logistics solutions within the urban ecosystem, making consistent design choices coherently with what is already existing in terms of infrastructures, rules and stakeholders in the context. From these three gaps, three main research questions have arisen:
(RQ1) Is it possible to support stakeholders in analysing CL solutions fitting their necessities applying some already existing and consolidate decision-making methods?
(RQ2) Is it possible to define a database platform in which it is possible to collect, consult and update as many existing data as possible regarding urban freight transport?
(RQ3) How is it possible to optimize city logistics infrastructures in a harmonious and coherent way with respect to the entire city logistics ecosystem?
To answers to the research questions, a collection of articles is illustrated in this thesis work. From time to time different methodologies are used and illustrated, derived from the field of management and transport engineering, these different methodologies, such as the Systematic Literature Review, the House of Quality, a framework for building a data sharing platform, the city logistics Ecosystem and a decision-making support model (based on both a covering model and a Monte Carlo simulation) are described in detail in the various chapters of the thesis.
In this dissertation work for the first time, the main obstacles to the development of city logistics initiatives, that are the lack of involvement of stakeholders, the lack of data, and the lack of an ecosystem vision of urban transport, have been identified and addressed at the same time.
Even if literature sometimes offers some possible solutions to these gaps, few are simple to understand for those who work in the urban freight transport industry, easy to apply and replicable. Both in identifying the gap and in seeking solutions, the solutions showed in this thesis sought to address to those who work in the industry, mainly carriers, retailers, shop owners and public administration representatives, trying to combine scientific research with the search for solutions that can be implemented in practice as requested by such a practical research topic. For this reason, each proposed solution and methodology in this thesis has been implemented and experimented using as a case study the city of Bergamo (and testing its replicability in other European cities such as Saint-Etienne, Luxemburg and Amsterdam). In particular, the initial experience in the “Bergamo Logistica” project, part of the Bergamo 2.035 smart city research program, gave me the opportunity to understand the main critical issues found by the main actors who work in this field (i.e., carriers, couriers, retailers and institutions), to confirm some evidences that I found in the theory (i.e., main research gaps which originates the research questions) and to search for solutions that could both solve research gaps and optimize the daily logistics activities of the operators
Measuring the Effects of an Anti-Food-Waste Digital Application from the Operators’ Perspective in Urban Contexts
Full text linkThis paper presents an empirical study focused on the use of TooGoodToGo smartphone applications by urban food retailers and HoReCa sector owners, evaluating their satisfaction levels with using this app and identifying the most relevant business levers that might convince other operators to adopt anti-waste programs and more sustainable behaviors. To this end, a survey questionnaire is administered to a sample of respondents. Data are statistically analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis test to consider the different perspectives of the identified subsamples. The results reveal that business operators claim to have a high level of satisfaction with exploiting the service provided by the app and that it is a lever for increasing the number of customers served, even if there is not a high positive effect on revenue. However, retailers with more years of operations, who can be considered more experienced, can better exploit the opportunities of the TGTG business. This study contributes to a better understanding of the benefits of using web application services to decrease waste from urban food retailers. Consequently, levers for convincing new operators to adopt the service and their role in increasing customer awareness are identified and discussed
Logistics in the food and grocery retail market: an overview on main issues and future research directions
No full text•Purpose: Logistics issues related to the food and grocery sectors today are on the entrepreneurial, social and technological agenda of many actors. Due to the extent of the covered areas and the continuous technological innovations, the resulting body of research appears quite fragmented. From an engineering management perspective, this paper presents a systematic literature review that aims to consolidate the knowledge, analyse the development, clarify better the trends, the main topics and the possible gaps linked to the role of supply chain and logistics in the food and grocery sector.
• Research Approach: this paper applied an exploratory approach, in particular, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR)is performed to achieve the research goal.
• Findings and Originality: Through the analysis of a corpus of 52 articles, the most critical research contributions on food and grocery logistics and supply chain that represent the structural backbone in the development of the research over time in the field are detected. Based on these findings, this working paper presents an SLR related to a research area in which the literature is hugely fragmented. The results provide insights into the current trends, the main investigated topics and the research gaps.
• Research Impact: throughout the analysis of the scientific literature is possible to understand which are the most explored topics and which are the main research gaps, that could constitute useful information for researchers and the first attempt of future guidelines for the research about logistics in the food and grocery sector.
• Practical Impact: Some gaps emerged from the literature, in particular, those related to the lack of data concerning the demand could enable the possibility to find new consumers niches and new business opportunities
The parcel locker location issues: An overview of factors affecting their location
No full textWith the spread of e-commerce, there has been an upsurge in the number of B2C deliveries. The limits of home delivery such as the difficulty in finding the exact addresses and the missing deliveries, exhacerbate the negative impacts of last mile logistics (i.e., congestion and pollution) To overcome these problems, solutions such as delivery to supervised or automated points have become more and more widespread. For this reason, there are several case studies aimed at understanding which are the best locations for these type of solutions. The objective of this paper is to identify the main factors affecting parcel lockers
Il Futuro della Consegna dell’Ultimo Miglio
No full textLa digitalizzazione e le tecnologie 4.0 nella logistica urbana hanno portato all’adozione
del Physical Internet: un nuovo paradigma in cui le tecnologie ICT applicate alla logistica
puntano a sviluppare un sistema logistico globale, efficiente, sostenibile e flessibile basato
sull’interconnessione fisica, digitale e operativa
Il ruolo della logistica nella filiera agroalimentare
No full textOgni volta che prendiamo in mano un’arancia è difficile che ci domandiamo i chilometri che ha percorso, i mezzi di trasporto sui cui ha viaggiato e i giorni necessari per arrivare a trovarsi lì, sullo scaffale del reparto ortofrutta del supermercato. Non ce lo chiediamo perché la logistica agroalimentare, come la logistica in generale, se funziona non si vede. In realtà, però, sono molti gli aspetti che rendono la logistica nel settore agroalimentare una sfida che è fondamentale presidiare
Point-to-point drone-based delivery network design with intermediate charging stations
No full textDrone-based delivery represents a possible way of performing last-mile logistics activities with potential benefits on process efficiency, traffic congestion, and pollution emissions. However, many technological and legislative challenges still have to be overcome. From the technology perspective, the operating range of drones represents a critical aspect. This paper addresses the problem of extending the drones operating range from a network design perspective, in which there is the possibility (already technically feasible) to recharge drones on their journey to their final destinations using suitably located charging stations. This paper proposes a mathematical model and a heuristic method for a network design problem that combines two objectives regarding infrastructural investments (i.e., the number of charging stations to be deployed) and service aspects (i.e., minimizing the travelled distances). The proposed model and the developed heuristic delineate a strategic-level approach to the delivery process using drones
Supporting the decision making process in the urban freight fleet composition problem
No full textThe Urban Freight Fleet Composition (UFFC) problem addresses the need of a logistics service provider to define the optimal fleet mix in terms of types and number of vehicles to serve the demand for goods delivery in an urban area. Urban areas can be subject to access restrictions (e.g. based upon the time of the day or vehicles’ characteristics) that could affect the performance of transport assets. In this paper, we consider time-window access restrictions based upon the characteristics of the vehicles, and we propose a human-in-the-loop decision support system (HIL-DSS) architecture using optimisation and simulation models to address the trade-off between vehicles characteristics, revenues, costs, and performance. We formulate both a deterministic and a stochastic optimisation decision model addressing the problem in the context of the HIL-DSS. In doing this, we emphasise the role of the human decision maker in tackling a complex problem affected by variability and uncertainty, and to overcome the rigidity of optimisation models thanks to the possibility to include qualitative information into the process
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