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Sustainable Logistics and Services
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Sustainable Logistics and Services

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 24808

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Andres Muñoz-Villamizar

E-Mail Website
Chief Guest Editor
1. International School of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Universidad de La Sabana, 250001 Chia, Colombia
2. Center for Transportation & Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
Interests: operations management; logistics; sustainability; data analytics; high-resolution modeling
Prof. Dr. Jairo Montoya-Torres

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Universidad de La Sabana, Chia 250001, Colombia
Interests: applied mathematics; manufacturing engineering; industrial engineering; supply chain management; sustainable logistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Christopher Mejía Argueta

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Center for Transportation & Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
Interests: food supply chain; operations management; logistics strategies; socioeconomic; food waste and food malnutrition; nanostore supply chain

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Supply chain operations and logistics services, including procurement, manufacturing, transportation, packing, and handling, are critical to the sustainable development of metropolitan areas. Practitioners and researchers have become more aware of the impact of logistics operations in the triple bottom-line (i.e., profits, planet, and people). This triple bottom-line (TBL) perspective is a progressively important requirement for the design and development of today’s urban logistics due to growing urbanization rates, dynamic purchasing patterns, increasing consumer preference for environmentally friendly and healthy products, implementation of cleaner technologies, stricter legislation for last-mile distribution, evolution of technology, and development of zero-waste and social-inclusive strategies, among other trends.

Due to the growing complexity and heterogeneity of logistics operations and services, the development and/or implementation of new methodologies or techniques to solve real problems has become an important challenge in operations management, engineering, economics, and other fields related to supply chain management. The rising fragmentation of retail and e-tail channels, the sophistication of technology, the needs to deliver orders accurately and on time, and a growing awareness of building long-term sustainable operations emphasizing social and environmental goals have created a promising but challenging set of problems to be solved by academics, policymakers, and practitioners. 

Therefore, the aim of this Special Issue is to address the use of new methodologies and innovative approaches for sustainability in logistics operations and services from the TBL perspective by considering the changing nature of supply chain stakeholders, logistics operations, product and consumer features, and city characteristics, among other aspects—that is, a more flexible design or more efficient urban supply chains using robust, strong academic frameworks and solution approaches.

Dr. Andres Muñoz-Villamizar
Prof. Dr. Jairo Montoya-Torres
Dr. Christopher Mejía Argueta
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • supply chain
  • operations management
  • social impact
  • transportation
  • manufacturing
  • procurement
  • closed-loop supply chains
  • circular economy models

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 414 KiB  
Article
The Sustainability Dimensions in Intelligent Urban Transportation: A Paradigm for Smart Cities
by Lorena Reyes-Rubiano, Adrian Serrano-Hernandez, Jairo R. Montoya-Torres and Javier Faulin
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10653; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910653 - 25 Sep 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2683
Abstract
The transportation sector has traditionally been considered essential for commercial activities, although nowadays, it presents clear negative impacts on the environment and can reduce social welfare. Thus, advanced optimization techniques are required to design sustainable routes with low logistic costs. Moreover, these negative [...] Read more.
The transportation sector has traditionally been considered essential for commercial activities, although nowadays, it presents clear negative impacts on the environment and can reduce social welfare. Thus, advanced optimization techniques are required to design sustainable routes with low logistic costs. Moreover, these negative impacts may be significantly increased as a consequence of the lack of synergy between the sustainability objectives. Correspondingly, the concept of transport optimization in smart cities is becoming popular in both the real world and academia when public decision making is lit by operations research models. In this paper, however, we argue that the level of urban smartness depends on its sustainability and on the level of information and communication technologies developed in the city. Therefore, the operations research models seek to achieve a higher threshold in the sustainable transport standards in smart cities. Thus, we present a generic definition of smart city, which includes the triple bottom line of sustainability, with the purpose of analyzing its effects on city performance. Finally, this work provides a consolidate study about urban freight transport problems, which show that sustainability is only one facet of the diamond of characteristics that depict a real smart city. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Services)
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17 pages, 1948 KiB  
Article
The Coexistence of Nanostores within the Retail Landscape: A Spatial Statistical Study for Mexico City
by Camilo Andrés Mora-Quiñones, Leopoldo Eduardo Cárdenas-Barrón, Josué C. Velázquez-Martínez and Karla M. Gámez-Pérez
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10615; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910615 - 24 Sep 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2614
Abstract
This paper aims to improve understanding of the grocery retail landscape in a megacity in the developing world. Over the past ten years (i.e., 2010–2020), retail in the grocery sector in Mexico City has changed significantly. The fast growth of chain convenience stores [...] Read more.
This paper aims to improve understanding of the grocery retail landscape in a megacity in the developing world. Over the past ten years (i.e., 2010–2020), retail in the grocery sector in Mexico City has changed significantly. The fast growth of chain convenience stores (CCS) and the financial stability of modern channel stores (MCS) has provoked speculation about whether nanostores (i.e., mom-and-pop stores) are going to disappear or if they will endure. In developing countries nanostores dominate the grocery retail market, providing a source of income to millions of families. While some studies suggest that nanostores will keep growing in number because they are more likely to be attached to growing middle- and low-income consumers in developing countries, our results show that high- and medium–high-income consumers purchase at nanostores too. Through a comprehensive spatial statistical analysis, we provide evidence that nanostores will endure and, most importantly, coexist with MCS and CCS regardless of the socioeconomic levels that coexist in the urban areas of a developing megacity. To gain a thorough understanding of how the grocery retail market is organized in Mexico City, and provide a richer discussion on the logistics and managerial implications for stakeholders (e.g., customers, practitioners, shopkeepers, suppliers, and policymakers), we also validate hypotheses from the literature related to this context and the three channels studied in this work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Services)
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22 pages, 6852 KiB  
Article
Multi-Objective Fuzzy Tourist Trip Design Problem with Heterogeneous Preferences and Sustainable Itineraries
by José Ruiz-Meza, Julio Brito and Jairo R. Montoya-Torres
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9771; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13179771 - 31 Aug 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1943
Abstract
Tourism has direct and indirect implications for CO2 emissions. Therefore, it is necessary to develop tourism management based on sustainable tourism, mainly in the transport process. Tourist itinerary planning is a complex process that plays a crucial role in tourist management. This [...] Read more.
Tourism has direct and indirect implications for CO2 emissions. Therefore, it is necessary to develop tourism management based on sustainable tourism, mainly in the transport process. Tourist itinerary planning is a complex process that plays a crucial role in tourist management. This type of problem, called the tourist trip design problem, aims to build personalised itineraries. However, planning tends to be biased towards group travel with heterogeneous preferences. Additionally, much of the information needed for planning is vague and imprecise. In this paper, a new model for tourist route planning is developed to minimise CO2 emissions from transportation and generate an equitable profit for tourists. In addition, the model also plans group routes with heterogeneous preferences, selects transport modes, and addresses uncertainty from fuzzy optimisation. A set of numerical tests was carried out with theoretical and real-world instances. The experimentation develops different scenarios to compare the results obtained by the model and analyse the relationship between the objectives. The results demonstrate the influence of the objectives on the solutions, the direct and inverse relationships between objectives, and the fuzzy nature of the problem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Services)
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33 pages, 6909 KiB  
Article
Data-Driven Methodology to Support Long-Lasting Logistics and Decision Making for Urban Last-Mile Operations
by Edgar Gutierrez-Franco, Christopher Mejia-Argueta and Luis Rabelo
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6230; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13116230 - 01 Jun 2021
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 7992
Abstract
Last-mile operations in forward and reverse logistics are responsible for a large part of the costs, emissions, and times in supply chains. These operations have increased due to the growth of electronic commerce and direct-to-consumer strategies. We propose a novel data- and model-driven [...] Read more.
Last-mile operations in forward and reverse logistics are responsible for a large part of the costs, emissions, and times in supply chains. These operations have increased due to the growth of electronic commerce and direct-to-consumer strategies. We propose a novel data- and model-driven framework to support decision making for urban distribution. The methodology is composed of diverse, hybrid, and complementary techniques integrated by a decision support system. This approach focuses on key elements of megacities such as socio-demographic diversity, portfolio mix, logistics fragmentation, high congestion factors, and dense commercial areas. The methodological framework will allow decision makers to create early warning systems and, with the implementation of optimization, machine learning, and simulation models together, make the best utilization of resources. The advantages of the system include flexibility in decision making, social welfare, increased productivity, and reductions in cost and environmental impacts. A real-world illustrative example is presented under conditions in one of the most congested cities: the megacity of Bogota, Colombia. Data come from a retail organization operating in the city. A network of stakeholders is analyzed to understand the complex urban distribution. The execution of the methodology was capable of solving a complex problem reducing the number of vehicles utilized, increasing the resource capacity utilization, and reducing the cost of operations of the fleet, meeting all constraints. These constraints included the window of operations and accomplishing the total number of deliveries. Furthermore, the methodology could accomplish the learning function using deep reinforcement learning in reasonable computational times. This preliminary analysis shows the potential benefits, especially in understudied metropolitan areas from emerging markets, supporting a more effective delivery process, and encouraging proactive, dynamic decision making during the execution stage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Services)
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12 pages, 11746 KiB  
Article
Lean–Green Improvement Opportunities for Sustainable Manufacturing Using Water Telemetry in Agri-Food Industry
by Elisabeth Viles, Javier Santos, Andrés Muñoz-Villamizar, Paloma Grau and Tamara Fernández-Arévalo
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2240; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13042240 - 19 Feb 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3552
Abstract
Water has become a critical resource due to increased manufacturing activities. However, there is a lack of detailed information on water management and consumption by industries. In the recent bibliography, lean–green was established as a good approach for achieving sustainability in manufacturing industries, [...] Read more.
Water has become a critical resource due to increased manufacturing activities. However, there is a lack of detailed information on water management and consumption by industries. In the recent bibliography, lean–green was established as a good approach for achieving sustainability in manufacturing industries, but few studies have aimed to achieve both operational and environmental improvements in water consumption. In this paper, we present a multi-case study in the agri-food industry in which water consumption in company activities is monitored, allowing them to improve their industrial processes based on lean–green practices, leading to a zero-waste strategy for this critical resource. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of having detailed knowledge regarding water consumption in order to discover, in a lean–green context, new improvement opportunities which could remain hidden by the current way of analysing consumption. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Services)
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Review

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26 pages, 2076 KiB  
Review
Integrating Resilience and Sustainability Criteria in the Supply Chain Network Design. A Systematic Literature Review
by Luis Francisco López-Castro and Elyn L. Solano-Charris
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10925; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910925 - 30 Sep 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4354
Abstract
Nowadays, Supply Chain Networks (SCNs) must respond to economic, environmental, social, and uncertain considerations. Thus, sustainable and resilience criteria need to be incorporated as key criteria into the Supply Chain Network Design (SCND). This paper, as part of an emerging subject, reviews the [...] Read more.
Nowadays, Supply Chain Networks (SCNs) must respond to economic, environmental, social, and uncertain considerations. Thus, sustainable and resilience criteria need to be incorporated as key criteria into the Supply Chain Network Design (SCND). This paper, as part of an emerging subject, reviews the literature between 2010 and 2021 that integrates sustainability and resilience on the SCND. The article classifies the literature according to the levels of the SCND, levels of the decision-making (i.e., strategic, tactical, and operational), resilience and sustainability criteria, solving approach, objective criteria, contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and real-world applications. The main findings allow us to conclude that the decisions regarding the supply chain network design with sustainability and resilience criteria are mainly strategic, focusing on the forward flow. Most works address resilience through the evaluation of scenarios (risk assessment perspective), and in terms of the sustainability perspective, authors mainly focus on the economic dimension through the evaluation of income and costs along the chain. Based on the review and the proposed taxonomy, the paper proposes ideas for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Logistics and Services)
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