CAPSLOG: 'Capitalizing on collaboration in sustainable

logistics in food and flower chains’

Prof. dr. Jack G.A.J. van der Vorst

Prof. dr. Wout Dullaert

Dr. Frans Cruijssen

NWO, 21 Januari 2015

Case 1: SuperUnie – 13 retailers

• How can SuperUnie members’ supply chains best benefit from each other?

• What is the ultimate potential of horizontal collaboration of the member

chains, and vertical collaboration with suppliers and LSPs?

• How should costs, investments and benefits be fairly distributed?

• Can we create a consolidated transport flows database of all SuperUnie

members in the Netherlands that facilitates collaboration opportunities?

• What are the hurdles and benefits for members to participate?

Case 2: Flower supply chain

• How to make new collaboration concepts work?

• How to identify key collaboration partners and how to get them involved?

• What type of collaboration model and collaborative logistics concept is most

effective in improving sustainability performance of perishable products?

• What value can collaboration on sustainability bring?

Research questions

1. Performance assessment:

What are the relevant and important key performance indicators for measuring

efficiency, responsiveness, product quality and sustainability in fresh chains and

how can these indicators be assessed in an integral way, to make choices

between various network design structures?

2. Sustainable logistics collaboration concepts:

What are relevant sustainable collaborative logistics concepts for perishable

products, and what are the potential performance improvements in general, and

sustainability effects specifically?

3. Performance improvement via collaboration:

What are bottlenecks and drivers for effective collaboration concepts and how

does an ideal collaboration consortium looks like? How can collaboration and

improved sustainability be translated into value for customers?

Research objectives

Development and assessment of sustainable collaborative logistics

concepts, i.e. the joint logistics distribution network, the collaborative logistics

planning and control system, and the (horizontal and vertical) collaboration

formats.

Instruments are needed to assess these concepts collaboration models and

formats, hence, a toolbox will be developed comprising:

● diagnostic and benchmarking instruments to judge the current

performance on the different performance indicators

● decision support models to determine trade offs between all four

indicators of costs, quality, service and sustainability,

● performance and incentive models that provide guidelines to

practitioners to assess the value of (cross chain) collaboration efforts

and how to organise collaboration in and between chains effectively.

Contribution and impact

Using longitudinal case study approach, dedicated modelling efforts and

possibility to test modelling outputs to real life pilot results, we …

Identify successful collaborative logistics concepts

Improve people-planet-profit indicators for both cases

Unravel performance hierarchy and interaction effects in a network

Identify the value of collaboration and sustainability efforts in specific context

of agri-food sector

Focus on transition towards sustainable logistics concepts using real life pilots –

making it work – and show it works !

Thank you for your attention