Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the diffusion dynamics of electric and hybrid commercial vans and its enabling factors in the city logistics (CL) contexts. The case of parcel delivery in Torino, Italy, is considered. Attention is paid to the influence on the choice of low impact vehicles of not only public strategies but also operational aspects characterizing urban freight distribution systems. Design/methodology/approach A System Dynamics model based on the Bass diffusion theory computes the number of adopters of low-emission vehicles together with the quantity of vans required and the associated economic savings. The model includes variables about freight demand, delivery frequency, van carrying capacity, routes, stops, distances traveled, and vehicle charging stations. A sensitivity analysis has been completed to identify the main diffusion levers. The focus is on advertising and other drivers, such as public contributions, taxes traditional polluting vehicles are subjected to, as well as on routing optimization strategies. Findings Advertising programs, green image, and word-of-mouth drive market saturation, although in a long time period. In fact, low-impact vehicles do not offer any economic advantage over traditional ones requiring higher investment and operating costs. Public incentives to purchase both green vehicles and charging stations, together with carbon taxes and a congestion charge affecting polluting vehicles, are able to shorten the adoption time. In particular, public intervention reveals to be effective only when it unfolds through a number of measures that both facilitate the use of environmentally friendly vehicles and discourage the adoption of traditional commercial vans. Route optimization also hastens the complete market saturation. Research limitations/implications This work fosters research about the mutual relationships between the diffusion of low-emission commercial vehicles and the operational and contextual CL factors. It provides a structured approach for investigating the feasibility of innovative good vehicles that might be part of assessments of CL measures and requirements. Finally, the model supports studies about the cooperation among stakeholders to identify effective commercial vehicle fleets. Practical implications This study fosters collaboration among CL players by providing a roadmap to identify the key factors for the diffusion of environmentally friendly freight vehicles. It also enables freight carriers to assess the operational and economic feasibility of adopting low-impact vehicles. Finally, it might assist public authorities in capturing the effects of new urban transportation policies prior to their implementation. Originality/value Most of the current CL literature defines policies and analyzes their effects. Also, there are several contributions on the diffusion of low emission cars. The present study is one of the first works on the diffusion of low-impact commercial vehicles in urban areas by considering the associated key operational factors. A further value is that the proposed model combines operational variables with economic and environmental issues.
Despite the great number of complex systems existing in the real world, complexity is currently a poorly explored topic. In organizational settings, managers regularly apply to complex contexts classical approaches developed for simple systems, just because they do not know how to take into account companies' internal and external complexity. Nevertheless, before developing new managerial models, a deep knowledge about drivers and effects of complexity is needed. After defining the characteristics making supply chains complex systems, this paper discusses performance measurement as a methodology to analyze the effects of complexity on supply chain behavior. The results of a survey highlight that manufacturing companies usually evaluate isolated aspects of their supply chains, without considering the relationships between different performance indicators or dimensions. This work suggests System Dynamics as a valuable approach to understand the cause and effect connections among metrics and system elements affecting their values, thus clarifying the structure leading to a complex behavior. This research is the first step of a larger project aimed at providing companies with innovative tools to understand and manage supply chain complexity.
Purpose This paper aims to evaluate different logistics configuration to deliver batteries from the supplier to the production lines of a European carmaker who is implementing new propulsions for its models. Design/methodology/approach Several scenarios about the supply chain for traction batteries have been identified based on the company’s requirements and constraints. Then, the variables used for the assessment of each scenario have been selected to calculate the unit battery supply chain cost. Findings The results underline that a direct transport without intermediate nodes is the cheapest one. On the contrary, an additional warehouse makes the organization of the network more complex. However, with this configuration, it is possible to cover the risk of supply since that a certain level of inventory is always guaranteed. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to the analysis of only one model car, and just manual operations have been taken into account for computing the human resource time and cost. The present study is one of the first works exploring the organization of the supply chain for the batteries integrated in electric and hybrid vehicles together with the choice of the location of the related warehouses. Originality/value This paper is one of the first work on the assessment of batteries’ supply chain that are going to be integrated in low impact vehicles, focusing on location of the associated warehouse. The evaluation is carried out by taking into account all the sources of cost.
A multidisciplinary concept for a factory of the future is presented, based on the integration of different needs: logistics of internal spaces (interaction between directional and production areas, modularity of spaces to allow future expansions/contractions), use of a prefabricated steel structure, environmental quality for occupants and energy sustainability. Great importance was attributed to daylighting and view out to enhance the comfort and reduce the energy use. A toplighting system was developed: this relies on a variable transparency roof with alveolar polycarbonate panels with five different light transmission properties. A luminous atrium was positioned at the core of the factory. The roof panels, the building layout and the daylighting analyses were optimized through a reiteration process carried out with a purpose-tool in Grasshopper. DIVAfor-Rhino and Daysim were used to calculate the daylight factor DF and climate based daylight metrics in building spaces, as well as the corresponding energy demand for lighting ED l . Results of the optimized solution were: DF m =4.75%; sDA 300/50% =100%; UDI 100-3000 >80%; ED l =8.1 kWh/m 2 yr for an illuminance E=300 lx (16.3 kWh/m 2 yr for E= 500 lx).
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