Green logistics in food distribution - a case study

Abstract

Environmental impacts, such as Green House gas emissions, have been introduced to supply chain management as an additional parameter to traditional key performance indicators such as cost, lead-time and on-time delivery. This paper analyses a case example from the food industry on how CO2 emissions are structured in a value chain. The focus of the analysis covers food factory order-picking operations, transportation, warehousing and distribution aspects. The paper aims to demonstrate greening and CO2 saving potential areas of development for thermo-controlled food logistics. The results show the energy-saving potential of several supply chain processes giving examples of distribution logistic online-temperature controlling possibilities. Greening decisions in supply chain design in the food industry are considered.