Assessment of the Economic and Environmental Sustainability of a Food Cold Supply Chains

Eleonora Bottani1, Giorgia Casella2, Majcol Nobili3, Letizia Tebaldi2

  • 1University of Parma, Department of Engineering and Architecture
  • 2University of Parma
  • 3VERCOS FRIGO srl., Via Kennedy 82/A, 42035 Loc. Felina – Casteln

Details

11:22 - 11:44 | Wed 28 Aug | 110 | WeAT18.2

Session: Sustainable Operations & Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Based on environmental and economic factors, reverse logistics (RL) issues have attracted attention among both academia and practitioners. This study investigates the issue of economic and environmental sustainability evaluation in a food cold supply chain (FCSC), which carries out four main different processes, i.e. product collection, backroom storage, products delivery and RL. For the RL process, which is taken as an example, we have detailed the equations implemented in an analytic model to carry out the computation of the economic and environmental sustainability, while for the remaining processes, we present and discuss only the main results obtained. The model was developed under Microsoft Excel™ and is intended to assess the total cost and CO2 emissions of an important company operating as a cold chain logistics service provider. Results of the model show that the highest total cost and environmental impact are due to the product delivery process. Moreover, the results proposed indicate quite clearly the specific activity component where the FCSC managers should intervene to remove or decrease possible inefficiencies and optimize or increase the sustainability of a FCSC.