A Returnable Transport Item to Integrate Logistics 4.0 and Circular Economy in Pharma Supply Chains

Schneikart, Gerald; Mayrhofer, Walter; Frysak, Josef; Löffler, Clemens

doi:10.31803/tg-20230504144856

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The EU directive on packaging and packaging waste already addresses this issue and promotes "standard sizes", which were proposed as a requirement by some interviewees. Standardization of RTI systems is seen as a prerequisite because all stakeholders directly participating in the circular process need to agree on a single solution [7,27]. If a CEP player is a part of different circular logistic systems, the management of different RTI solutions is expected to raise the effort unproportionally, as is sketched by the PSP #14 as follows: "[I]f we now assume, for example, that we have a customer with a lot of small packages […].…”

Section: Requirements For the Adoption Of Rti-systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Requirements for the Transformation towards Returnable Transport Item-Enabled Circular Economies in the Austrian Parcel Industry

Schneikart,

Löffler,

Brandner

et al. 2024

Teh. glas. (Online)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The European Green Deal sets the ambitious targets of establishing the first climate neutral continent by 2050 and reducing emissions by a minimum of 55% by 2030. In order to move the involved stakeholders to action, the European Commission has formulated proposals for regulations. One such proposal defines a legal framework to force industries to reduce the environmental burden caused by packaging waste. A major waste producer is the parcel service industry (CEP; courier, express, and parcel) and the industries it serves. Once put into place by the EU member states, the new laws will force all players in these sectors to increase business innovations in circular economies, which are based on the principles of recycling and reuse. Circular economies can be achieved by the implementation of returnable transport items (RTI) integrated with Industry 4.0 technologies. The ongoing research project ReKEP, which is largely funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, investigates potential impacts of RTI-based circular economies in the Austrian parcel service industry. The project’s particular interest is to identify the requirements of the most relevant stakeholder groups in the CEP industry for the successful transformation towards RTI-enabled circular economies. For this purpose, we conducted interviews with leaders and decision-makers of 10 stakeholder organizations, including producers, retailers, CEP contractors and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. This paper summarizes the interview results, which indicate that, despite recognizing the high potential of RTIs for reaching ecological sustainability goals, the contemporary awareness of the EU Green Deal and the concomitant responsibility to take action seems too low for successful implementation. The study outcome suggests that research and development in RTI should focus on operational requirements of workers and line managers from CEP industries for successful transformations to circular economies.

show abstract

Section: Requirements For the Adoption Of Rti-systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%