Logistics Efficiency in Urban Areas: Part 1

摘要

Alan McKinnon began the session by saying that many would say that there is a lot of inefficiency in city logistics, but companies do not like to divulge that their vehicles are underutilized, even though that underutilization may not be their fault. He reiterated the theme of boundaries, saying that if we want to measure efficiency, we have to define the boundary. The boundary could be the trip, the collection-drop point, the delivery network, the logistics system, the supply chain, the urban economy, the national market, or the world as a whole. Drawing the boundary will be critical. If the boundary is just the drop-off point, then efficiency rests with truck driver behavior. But if logistics is the boundary, then efficiency measurement must consider storage space utilization, management of inventory, materials handling, land use, and so forth. A supply chain boundary, in turn, means adding a multiple-company perspective. What metrics, then, should we use? McKinnon named several ratios. The numerator might include terms such as costs (of transportation, logistics, supply chain), time utilization, or ecoefficiency (energy and emissions). The denominator might include terms such as number of delivered cases, consignments, vehicle kilometers, tonne-kilometers, or case kilometers. What are the key performance indicators? The bigger the boundary, the more trade-offs and conflicts among actors. There are many stakeholders, and efficiency must take into account both the public and private perspectives.