Eleftherios Iakovou

Water Footprint Mitigation Strategies for Agrifood Products: The Application of System Dynamics in Green Marketing

Water scarcity (WS), which leads to multiple environmental, social and economic ramifications, has emerged as an indisputable concern for both public and private stakeholders. In this context, the water footprint (WF) concept has been introduced for assessing freshwater consumption and pollution at national, corporate or product level. In the agrifood industry, freshwater is a pivotal constituent since agricultural activities consume 70 % of the global freshwater resources, while food processing operations account for significant freshwater utilization. To that effect, environmentally aware consumers are sensitive to the total product WF generated during agrifood supply chain (SC) operations, as well as to the manner in which the related freshwater exploitation impacts regional WS. Consequently, an increasing number of companies are implementing WF management policies across their agrifood SCs for mitigating freshwater utilization and promoting water-friendly commodities in order to enhance green corporate image and business financial performance. This study proposes a policy-making system dynamics (SD) model for monitoring both the WF of agrifood products and the profitability of the related SCs in terms of net present value (NPV). The model investigates the effect of various market behaviours in the relation between green image factor (GIF) and regional WS, when WF management strategies are implemented. The SD simulation results reveal that WF mitigation policies have a considerable impact on GIF in environmentally sensitive markets, thus increasing the relevant market share and the agrifood SC stakeholders’ profitability. Finally, this research provides managerial insights concerning green marketing interventions in the agrifood sector.

Cost and environmental trade-offs in supply chain network design and planning: the merit of a simulation-based approach

We develop a simulation-based optimization methodology for the joint design and planning of globalized supply chains (SCs) under minimization objectives for cost and CO2 emissions. The assumptions required for the analytical optimization of such SCs include deterministic lead times, no-backorder occurrences at central distribution facilities, and powers-of-two replenishments of inventories at the SC nodes. The paper aims to investigate whether and how will the decisions that stem from the analytical optimization process change when these assumptions are relaxed. The proposed methodology is employed in a realistic SC structure. The results reveal that (i) the optimal order cycles of the nodes of the SC are not necessarily powers of two, (ii) the central distribution facilities have the option to operate at lower service levels, (iii) the network’s cost and CO2 emissions under optimality are reduced by approximately 0.9%, and (iv) the strategic network design decisions align with those of the analytical solution.

A software tool for optimizing intra-logistic activities

Abstract Digital manufacturing promotes the use of innovative technologies in the global market landscape and provides effective and efficient Supply Chain Management Systems. The purpose of this research is to contribute to the automation of an industrial warehouse by elaborating a novel software simulation tool for solving a classical NP-hard optimization problem, the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Multiple Trips (CVRPMT). The software tool promotes the use of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in industrial facility layouts and is based on an existing software framework, developed in the C# programming language. At this study we first formulate the mathematical model for the CVRPMT, we implement a hybrid metaheuristic Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm and develop a friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) for scheduling and monitoring the AGVs’ activities.

Manure and municipal sewage biomass supply chains

The increasing global energy demand coupled with the threat of climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions has generated the vital need to develop sustainable energy resources. Among other renewable energy policies, the integration of waste biomass within the contextual framework of existing energy systems has emerged as a viable strategy. In this chapter, we address the development of manure and municipal sewage biomass supply chains (BSCs). More specifically, the generic system components of such BSCs are described in conjunction with their relevant key attributes. We then recognize the natural hierarchical decision-making process for the design and management of these biomass supply chain networks and provide a critical synthesis of the existing relative state-of-the-art research efforts, focusing especially on sustainability issues. Finally, we present main conclusions, highlight future trends of the research field, and provide valuable sources of further information on the field under study.