Abstract

Food supply chain is the current focus in terms of food safety and environment. The objective of this study was to investigate the local food supply chain characteristics and develop a coordinated distribution system to improve logistics efficiency, reduce environmental impact, increase potential market for local food producers and improve traceability of food origin for consumers. The study was based on data from 90 local food producers and 19 existing large scale food distribution centres (LSFDC) from all over Sweden. Location analysis was done using Geographic Information System (GIS), to map locations of producers and LSFDCs; to build cluster (C) of producers; and to determine optimal product collection centres (CC). The route analysis was carried out using Route LogiX software, firstly for collection of food products from farms to CCs based on two Scenarios: (1) Producers transport their products (no coordination); (2) CCs manage coordinated collection of products; and secondly for product distribution from CCs to potential markets. When compared to scenario1, scenario2 had improved number of routes, driving distance and product delivery time by 68%, 50% and 47% respectively. Totally, 14 clusters of producers were formed and 86% of these clusters could be integrated into the LSFDCs. This network integration could have positive improvements towards potential market, logistics efficiency, environmental issue and traceability of food quality

Keywords

Logistics Network Integration; Local Food; Location Analysis; Route Analysis; Collection Center

Published in

Biosystems Engineering
2011, volume: 108, number: 4, pages: 293-302

Authors' information