Abstract

Food cooperatives are gaining popularity due to consumers’ desire to eat healthy and source locally. Mainly run by private citizens, such groups present an interesting additional income source to regional organic farmers. However, small order quantities and substantial logistics efforts challenge operations. To facilitate efficient and sustainable food transports from farms to food cooperatives, this work investigates impacts of collaborative logistics activities through the development of a simulation and optimization-based decision support system. Results of computational experiments considering fresh food transports in Austria highlight potentials of such joint activities. Particularly, if orders are infrequent and quantities small, collaboration results in a substantial reduction of travel distances and reduces the number of required vehicles. Nevertheless, delivered food quality may deteriorate as consolidating shipments results in longer travel durations as well as additional loading and unloading activities.

摘要

由于消费者渴望健康饮食和当地采购，食品合作社越来越受欢迎。这些团体主要由私人经营，为区域有机农民提供了一个有趣的额外收入来源。然而，小订单量和大量的物流工作对运营构成挑战。为了促进从农场到食品合作社的高效和可持续的食品运输，这项工作通过开发基于模拟和优化的决策支持系统来调查协作物流活动的影响。考虑到奥地利新鲜食品运输的计算实验结果突出了此类联合活动的潜力。特别是，如果订单不频繁且数量较少，则协作会显着缩短行驶距离并减少所需车辆的数量。