Browsing by Author "Palmer, Andrew"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Assessing the impact of cost optimization based on infrastructure modelling on CO2 emissions
    (Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2010-05-01T00:00:00Z) Harris, Irina; Naim, Mohamed; Palmer, Andrew; Potter, Andrew; Mumford, Christine
    Traditionally, logistics design is driven by a need to reduce costs and improve customer service. Recently, the environmental concerns from transport have been increasingly discussed. The traffic levels and associated energy consumption are influenced by supply chain structure, modal split and vehicle utilization. This paper aims to assess the impact of the traditional costoptimization approach to strategic modelling on overall logistics costs and CO2emissions by taking into account the supply chain structure (number of depots) and different freight vehicle utilization ratios (90%, 75% and 60%). The simulation model, based on a European case study from the automotive industry, considers strategic and operational level decisions simultaneously. The analysis shows that the optimum design based on costs does not necessary equate to an optimum solution for CO2emissions, therefore there is a need to address economical and environmental objectives explicitly as part of the logistics design.
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    Carbon Brainprint Case Study: improved delivery vehicle logistics
    (2011-07-31T00:00:00Z) Parsons, David J.; Chatterton, Julia C.; Bernon, Mike; Palmer, Andrew
    Road transport accounts for about 20% of the total GHG emissions of the UK, and HGVs andLGVs are responsible for about one-third of these. The total direct GHG emissions from HGVsand LGVs in 2008 were about 40 Mt CO2e. Dr Andrew Palmer, a Cranfield University visiting fellow and former PhD student contributed tothe transport recommendations for the food distribution industry following publication of TheFood Industry Sustainability Strategy. These recommendations were taken up by IGD as part ofthe Efficient Consumer Response (ECR - UK) initiative and implemented with 40 leading UKbrands. They reported that this initiative had taken off 124 million road miles (equivalent to 60million litres of diesel fuel) from UK roads over three years (2007-2009) and 163 million roadmiles up to 2010, with a target of 200 million road miles by the end of 2011. The quoted reduction in vehicle use up to 2010 is equivalent to 250 kt CO2e, but this cannot allbe attributed to Cranfield University's carbon brainprint, because Dr Palmer was only one of theauthors of the report and he was not an employee of the university at the time. We estimate theattributable brainprint to be 56 kt CO2e with a 95% confidence range of 32-87. Assuming that this is maintained until 2020, and assuming a 1%/year increase in efficiency independent of thiswork, which will reduce the future brainprint, gives an estimate of 187 kt CO2e (102-295) for theperiod 2007-2020.
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    Carbon brainprint – An estimate of the intellectual contribution of research institutions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions
    (Elsevier, 2015-05-07) Chatteron, Julia C.; Parsons, David J.; Nicholls, John R.; Longhurst, Philip J.; Bernon, Mike; Palmer, Andrew; Brennan, Feargal P.; Kolios, Athanasios; Wilson, Ian; Ishiyama, Edward; Clements-Croome, Derek; Elmualim, Abbas; Darby, Howard; Yearly, Tom; Davies, Gareth J.
    Research and innovation have considerable, currently unquantified potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by, for example, increasing energy efficiency. Furthermore, the process of knowledge transfer in itself can have a significant impact on reducing emissions, by promoting awareness and behavioural change. The concept of the ‘carbon brainprint’ was proposed to convey the intellectual contribution of higher education institutions to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by other parties through research and teaching/training activities. This paper describes an investigation of the feasibility of quantifying the carbon brainprint, through six case studies. The potential brainprint of higher education institutes is shown to be significant: up to 500 kt CO2e/year for one project. The most difficult aspect is attributing the brainprint among multiple participants in joint projects.
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    The development of an integrated routing and carbon dioxide emissions model for goods vehicles
    (Cranfield University, 2007-11) Palmer, Andrew; Towriss, John
    The issues of global warming and climate change are a worldwide concern and the UK government has committed itself to major reductions in CO2 emissions, the most significant of the six greenhouse gases. Road transport currently accounts for about 22% of total UK emissions of CO2, and has been steadily rising. Therefore, initiatives are required to try and reduce the gas emissions in this sector. The aim of this research has been to develop a computer based vehicle routing model that calculates the overall amount of CO2 emitted from road journeys, as well as time and distance. The model has been used to examine a number of delivery strategies to assess how CO2 emissions vary. The aim has not been to produce new mathematical theories, but to produce an innovative basis for routing which will provide new information and knowledge about how CO2 emissions vary for different minimisation and congestion criteria. The approach used in this research brings together elements from transportation planning and environmental modelling combined with logistics based vehicle routing techniques. The model uses a digitised road network containing predicted traffic volumes, to which speed flow formulae are applied so that a good representation of speed can be generated on each of the roads. This means that the model is uniquely able to address the issue of congestion in the context of freight vehicle routing. It uses driving cycle data to apply variability to the generated speeds to reflect acceleration and deceleration so that fuel consumption, and therefore CO2, can be estimated. Integrated within the model are vehicle routing heuristics to enable routes to be produced which minimise the specified criterion of time, distance or CO2. The results produced by the model show that there is a potential to reduce CO2 emissions by about 5%. However, when other transport externalities are considered overall benefits are dependent on road traffic volumes.
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    A Hybrid Approach for The Design of Facility Location and Supply Chain Network Under Supply and Demand Uncertainty: A Systematic Review
    (Cranfield University, 2009) Meeyai, Sutthipong; Skipworth, Heather; Palmer, Andrew
    In today’s extremely competitive marketplace, firms are facing the need to meet or exceed increasing customer expectations while cutting costs to stay competitive in a global market. To develop competitive advantage in this business climate, companies must make informed decisions regarding their supply chain. In recent years, supply chain networks have received increasing attention among companies. The decision makers confront the network design problem in different situations. In order to make decisions, especially in strategic supply chain management, decision makers must have a holistic view of all the components. Supply chain network design, particular facility location problems, is one of the most complex strategic decision problems in supply chain management The aim of this dissertation is to make an inquiry about the facility location problems and related issues in supply chain and logistics management, and the use of modelling approaches to solve these problems. The methodology is to construct a review protocol by forming a review panel, and developing a detailed search strategy with clear inclusion and exclusion criteria. In addition, the measurement for evaluating the quality of studies is presented with a strategy for extracting data and synthesising the methodologies. The search results show the background of the facility location problems, the importance and the basic questions of these problems. The taxonomy of facility location problems with eighteen factors is presented. The basic static and deterministic problems in facility location including the covering, centre, median and fixed charge problems are discussed. Also, the extension of facility location problems comprises of location-allocation, multi-objective, hierarchical, hub, undesirable and competitive problems. In terms of uncertainty, dynamic, stochastic and robust facility location problems are presented. Finally, strengths and weaknesses of different modelling approaches are discussed; importantly, gaps from the review process are indentified. Recommendations of future research are described; and the facility location problem to be addressed by the proposed research is shown. In addition, contributions of the proposed facility location problem are illustrated.