Designing an effective closed loop system for pallet management

Elia, Valerio; Gnoni, Maria Grazia

doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2015.05.030

Cited by 52 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Specifically, the latter were the first to estimate the carbon footprint of a wood pallet life cycle. Elia and Gnoni [18] used discrete-event simulation to aid in the design of a CLN for pallet management in order to meet cost and time efficiency targets. The environmental impact and the cost of pallets were measured by Bilbao et al [11], who supported the selection of pallet management systems and of the materials composing pallets.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Impacts of Reusable Transport Items: A Case Study of Pallet Pooling in a Retailer Supply Chain

et al. 2019

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Manufacturing, storage, and transportation processes are typically facilitated by pallets, containers, and other reusable transport items (RTIs) designed to guarantee many cycles along a lifespan of several years. As a consequence, both supply and reverse transportation of RTIs need to be managed to avoid stockout along the supply chain and the unsustainable production of new tools from virgin materials. This paper focuses on the business of pallet management by analyzing the transport operations of a pallet pooling network serving a large-scale nationwide retailer. The pooler is responsible for supplying, collecting, and refurbishing pallets. The combination of the pooler's management strategies with different retailer network configurations results in different pooling scenarios, which are assessed and compared in this paper through a what-if analysis. The logistical and environmental impacts generated by the pallet distribution activities are quantified per each scenario through a tailored software incorporating Geographic Information System (GIS) and routing functionalities. Findings from this analysis suggest how to reduce vehicle distance traveled (vehicles-km) by 65% and pollutant emissions by 60% by combining network infrastructures and pooling management strategies-identifying an empirical best practice for managers of pallet businesses.Sustainability 2019, 11, 3147 2 of 13 handling, storage, and collection of reusable items [6]. In such networks, the trade-off between the emissions released by transportation and the reduction in the use of virgin materials has to be identified in order to achieve environmental sustainability targets [7][8][9]. This aim requires a deep understanding of the observed network, highlighting the crucial role of the data collection process in order to enhance the accuracy of the obtained result [10].Scholars have already pointed out how alternative pallet management strategies across the CLNs can generate different environmental impacts associated with the whole pallet life cycle, as well as different logistical costs [11]. Among the most diffused strategies, this paper focuses on two, both based on pallet re-circulation. The first is the buy-sell program, in which an equal number of pallets received by a node of the supply chain is shipped back to the previous node through a back-haul trip. The entire pallet supply and collection process is hence assigned to the carriers or the truck fleet owners, who are implicitly responsible for balancing the overall pallet population throughout the supply chain. An improved version of this program consists of consolidating pallets and arranging full-loaded back-trips.A second strategy, namely the pooling program, involves a new actor, the pooler, who is responsible for supplying ready-to-use pallets to vendors, manufacturers, and other logistic nodes; collecting pallets from customers or downstream; refurbishing damaged pallets; and holding inventory within its facilities until new pallet orders are placed. While the pooling program typic...

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Impacts of Reusable Transport Items: A Case Study of Pallet Pooling in a Retailer Supply Chain

et al. 2019

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“…Reverse logistics of pallets exists in some organizations. Elia and Gnoni [18] utilized an observation approach to analyze the reverse supply chains of pallets. The authors studied thirty Italian LSPs.…”

Section: The Reverse Supply Chains Of Plastic Palletsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors studied thirty Italian LSPs. The reverse supply chain models in these thirty companies stipulated that the LSPs could choose to return empty pallets if they wish, but the reverse flows of empty pallets have to be managed from downstream companies to upstream ones [18]. Multiple applications of empty pallets could allow the companies to reduce replenishment costs as well as contribute to the reduction of the overall environmental impacts of pallets logistics systems.…”

Section: The Reverse Supply Chains Of Plastic Palletsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A perspective on the reverse logistics of plastic pallets in Canada

Amin

Karaphillis

2018

Jnl Remanufactur

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“…Gnoni and Rollo [13], Kim and Glock [14], and Ren et al [15] researched how to develop an advanced tracking system using RFID. Elia and Gnoni [16], Xu [17], and Li et al [18] also made the effort to understand how to efficiently manage pallets taking advantage of information technology. Ren et al [19], Doungpattra et al [20], Zhou et al [21], and Kesen and Alim [22] developed some optimization models for empty pallet allocation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An optimization model for fleet sizing and empty pallet allocation considering CO2 emissions

et al. 2020

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Pallets are the most common equipment for transporting and storing goods. More and more companies are willing to rent pallets. Pallet rental companies need to transport pallets from their pallet rental service stations to customers and take these pallets back when they are unloaded. Hence, managers should scientifically configure vehicles for their pallet rental service stations. The fleet size, which indicates the amount and types of vehicles, can significantly affect the efficiency and costs of empty pallet allocation. Therefore, an optimization model for fleet sizing and empty pallet allocation is proposed using the methods of mixedinteger programming and stochastic programming. The objectives of this model are to maximize the profits of pallet rental companies and minimize carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from vehicles. A particle swarm optimization algorithm with inertia weight (IPSO) is developed to solve the proposed model because IPSO can avoid becoming trapped in local optima and is able to find a globally optimal solution within a reasonable number of iterations. A numerical example proves the effectiveness of the proposed model and IPSO. The results of numerical tests show that the amount of CO 2 emissions from vehicles can affect the decision on fleet sizing and empty pallet allocation. However, if the price, rental fees, or idle costs of the vehicles with low CO 2 emissions are too high, managers would not choose them.

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Designing an effective closed loop system for pallet management

Cited by 52 publications

References 56 publications

Environmental Impacts of Reusable Transport Items: A Case Study of Pallet Pooling in a Retailer Supply Chain

Environmental Impacts of Reusable Transport Items: A Case Study of Pallet Pooling in a Retailer Supply Chain

A perspective on the reverse logistics of plastic pallets in Canada

An optimization model for fleet sizing and empty pallet allocation considering CO2 emissions

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