Search

Traffic congestion, dominated by private mobility, reveals not only negative impacts on road safety and the environment, but also on community cohesion. With the global COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2COVID-19 (COVID-19) epidemic, there is an urgent need for social isolation and the use of individual private transport as per the approved health guidelines. Urban transport, especially public transportation (PT), is among the primary sectors affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, novel alternatives for competitive PT services still have to be provided to remain meeting the socio-economic and ecological PT challenges. In this respect, sharing PT vehicles carrying passengers (shared freight-PT) could exploit a significant residual capacity as absorptive capacity is actually reduced. However, such use is based on a large-scale mutualization. The idea of integrating freight in passenger transit networks could be efficient within a Physical Internet (PI or π) framework for improving system monitoring, operational performance and, user comfort. This paper explores the major trends in the theory and practice of shared transport systems, in terms of passengers and freight, and suggests a PI conceptual framework to check if we could promote such logistics. In exploring the PI approach, a number of proposals appear providing answers and advance researches towards shared freight-PT.

PurposeThe Physical Internet (PI) provides solutions to improve the current unsustainable economically logistics systems. This paper aims to identify the key themes and point out the gaps to demonstrate the current state of the PI deployment in the industry. Furthermore, this paper attempts to provide possible opportunities for future research to lead research directions of PI deployment in the industry.Design/methodology/approachThis paper follows the methodology of systematic literature review (SLR) including five processes of (1) identifying the search process; (2) selecting publications following the criteria that include and/or exclude a publication; (3) evaluating and analyzing the chosen literature; (4) reporting findings and (5) synthesizing future research opportunities. A total of 88 papers ranging from 2011 to 2021 were selected and coded for analysis.FindingsThis paper has identified 7 themes, including the PI concepts, assessments of the PI, components of the PI, innovative facilities applied in the PI, collaboration in the PI, the PI implementation and literature review. Meanwhile, five key methodologies including experimental, exploratory, review, design science research as well as mixed-methods have been classified. A framework has been proposed to summarize the results incorporating the real-life industries involved in the existing research. The authors also present the research gaps and future research opportunities for the PI deployment in industries.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first research focusing on the PI real-life implementation and thus contributes to the PI literature differing from other literature review papers. The proposed framework is useful to learn about the current core research themes in the PI. The discussion of future research opportunities may inspire interesting research delving into the field.

Transport and Logistics stakeholders utilise Blockchain to interact within their networks in a transparent and secure manner. This creates islands of disconnected communities which prohibits visibility across the entire supply chain. This paper introduces a framework, which aims at unifying multiple proprietary Blockchain systems, offering an opportunity to empower stakeholders across the entire supply chain to collaborate and exchange information seamlessly. The Blockchain Interoperability framework employs smart contracts, which aspire to automate previously cumbersome processes and bring value to the Physical Internet (PI) paradigm. Smart contracts guarantee a trustworthy and distributed process of contract negotiation and execution that significantly reduces time, administrative overheads, and costs which are currently typically spent on manual interorganisational processes.

One of the biggest challenges today is to make traditional systems more sustainable. Physical Internet (PI, π) based logistics systems provide one of the most defining solutions. In our opinion, it is worthwhile to deal with the intralogistics conversion of the Physical Internet because traditional systems can no longer operate with sufficient efficiency to meet growing customer expectations and demands. This research focuses on restructuring a factory from its traditional operating to a PI-based system using our previously defined intralogistics components. The article surveys the possibility of creating PI-hub and virtual PI-hub in a factory process. The warehouses were converted to PI-hubs, and virtual PI-hubs were placed near the two manufacturing to create a more flexible structure. We created a simulation study in AnyLogic where we examine the efficiency achievable by automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in a PI-based system. The results were compared based on the traditional and PI-based systems. Based on the simulation the inefficiency of the PI-based system is lower (by ~18%) at higher control event values. This allows achieving a more efficient, flexible, sustainable, and balanced operation.

Logistics transportation systems are considered regarding development of the Physical Internet. The Physical Internet is widely defined as an open global logistics system founded on physical, digital, and operational interconnectivity, through encapsulation, interfaces, and protocols, similar to the Digital Internet [1; 2]. It is built based on standardisation of both containers for transportation of goods and the equipment intended for their handling and supply. This allows creating a practically new industry since the shipper does not specify the mode of transport, and the system works on the principles of the Digital Internet, routing containers (analogous to packages of the Digital Internet) and collecting them in the right place at the right time. The concept of the Physical Internet is aimed at implementation of full interconnectedness, in terms of data, information, physical and financial flows, of several networks of freight transportation logistics services, as well as at their readiness to be freely used as a single large logistics network. The seamless physical, digital, and financial interconnection of logistics networks will include transportation, storage, and physical handling of cargo units (containers, demountable bodies, pallets, etc) [3]. In other words, these are physical objects, and that justifies the designation of the entire system as of the Physical Internet. Naturally, such a system inevitably raises the issue of standardising such physical objects (by analogy with standardising Digital Internet packages). Hence, the term of so-called ð-containers appears associated with special unified containers for storage, handling, transportation of material objects within the Physical Internet system. Now, the Physical Internet is not a merely theoretical concept. Its implementation is being carried out in many countries. The first Russian companies have already started promoting this concept as well. The objective of the article is to review the current state of this logistics model in Russia and the world based on the analysis of the literature and practical implementations.

Internet of things (IoTs) is an integration of heterogeneous physical devices which are interconnected and communicated over the physical Internet. The design of secure, lightweight and an effective authentication protocol is required, because the information is transmitted among the remote user and numerous sensing devices over the IoT network. Recently, two-factor authentication (TFA) scheme is developed for providing the security among the IoT devices. But, the performances of the IoT network are affected due to the less memory storage and restricted resource of the IoT. In this paper, the integration of data inverting encoding scheme (DIES) and substitution-box-based inverter is proposed for providing the security using the random values of one-time alias identity, challenge, server nonce and device nonce. Here, the linearity of produced random values is decreased for each clock cycle based on the switching characteristics of the selection line in DIES. Moreover, the linear feedback shift register is used in the adaptive physically unclonable function (APUF) for generating the random response value. The APUF–DIES-IoT architecture is analyzed in terms of lookup table, flip flops, slices, frequency and delay. This APUF–DIES-IoT architecture is analyzed for different security and authentication performances. Two existing methods are considered to evaluate the APUF–DIES-IoT architecture such as TFA-PUF-IoT and TFA-APUF-IoT. The APUF–DIES-IoT architecture uses 36 flip flops at Virtex 6; it is less when compared to the TFA-PUF-IoT and TFA-APUF-IoT.

PurposeThis paper, with the tobacco industry as the background, establishes an indicator system for tobacco supply chain performance evaluation using the FAHP method.Design/methodology/approachBased on the relevant data of tobacco enterprises in Guangxi, the paper calculates the performance values of tobacco companies in various cities of Guangxi, and through the analysis of each indicator and the performance values of each city, the authors find that the improvement ability has a major impact on tobacco supply chain performance. Then, the paper establishes a system dynamics model to further demonstrate the impact of information digitalization on the performance of the tobacco supply chain in Guangxi, thus providing theoretical support for building digital tobacco logistics in Guangxi.FindingsThe findings of the study show that the performance of the tobacco supply chains in various cities of Guangxi is generally at the level of “Pass–Good,” which can barely meet the requirements of tobacco supply chain operation, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.Originality/valueThe authors show that digital and IT-based empowerment can maximize the performance of Guangxi's tobacco logistics performance.

Supply chain disruption is characterized by a significant decrease in the production or delivery of a supply chain, including events like fire, system downsizing, natural disasters and quality issues, unexpected surge incapacity, and pandemic disease COVID-19. This will lead to lower productivity, higher prices, increased consumer frustration, etc. Logistics activities are suspended due to COVID-19 by closing the borders between countries. For that reason, we will specify our research on the impact of this disease on the Supply Chain Management and to show up the important issues and how the digital solution like the Physical Internet could solve these disruptions. The Physical Internet is still an emerging phenomenon in which it is intended to replace the current logistics model by encompassing new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, the Internet of things, and others. This article aims to compose conceptual research to describe Supply Chain Management problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and to represent the physical internet as a solution for this disruption based on various journal articles, papers, websites, and managers' experiences. Further, this study helps to increase the understanding of scholars and practitioners on how the novel PI paradigm can be a solution to COVID-19-induced supply chain disruptions. Furthermore, the physical internet and other modern technologies in the business world are absolutely necessary and recommended, as these current issues now require quick decisions and up-to-date knowledge.

The delivery of goods (freight) accounts for the major cost and emissions in logistics systems worldwide. The effective management of the supply chain requires logistical efficiency and sustainabil...

A recent spate of governmental shutdowns of the civilian internet in a broad range of violent contexts, from uprisings in Hong Kong and Iraq to armed conflicts in Ethiopia, Kashmir, Myanmar, and Yemen, suggests civilian internet blackouts are the ‘new normal.’ Given the vital and expanding role of internet connectivity in modern society, and the emergence of artificial intelligence, internet shutdowns raise important questions regarding their legality under intentional law. This article considers whether the existing international humanitarian law provides adequate protection for civilian internet connectivity and infrastructure during armed conflicts. Concluding that current safeguards are insufficient, this article proposes a new legal paradigm with special protections for physical internet infrastructure and the right of civilian access, while advocating the adoption of emblems (such as the Red Cross or Blue Shield) in the digital world to protect vital humanitarian communications.

Physical Internet (PI) is a global and interconnected logistics system that enables freight transportation and material handling akin to transfer of data packets in computer networks and digital Internet. Blockchain is an emerging and disruptive technology that has the potential to bring ground-breaking innovation and major improvements to PI based transportation and material handling systems. In this article, we describe the advantages of integrating blockchain technology with PI and present suitable architectures. We discuss the enabling concepts required to ensure the feasibility of blockchain based PI networks leading to efficiency and trust for the next generation logistic networks and material handling systems. Furthermore, we present two permissioned block-chain architectures using Hyperledger Fabric and Besu that provide decentralization, privacy, trust, immutability, and transparency in PI networks. Finally, we highlight several use case scenarios that demonstrate the practicality of the proposed blockchain architectures for the PI networks.

The Physical Internet (PI, or $\pi $ ) paradigm has been developed for a global logistics system that aims to move, handle, store, and transport logistics products in a sustainable and efficient way. To achieve this goal, the PI requires a higher level of interconnectivity and interoperability in terms of physical, informational, and operational aspects, which, by following the principle of the digital Internet (DI), is enabled by an interconnected network of intermodal hubs, collaborative protocols, and standardized, modular, and smart containers. Meanwhile, digital transformation (DT) has become mainstream in Industry 4.0 to innovate many industries, including logistics and supply chains, through the use of breakthrough digital technologies in the fields of information, communication, connectivity, analytics, and computing, such as the next generation of communication and networking (i.e., 5G), the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data analytics (BDA), and cloud computing (CC). In this context, the introduction of DT in the PI vision has many implications for the development and realization of an efficient and sustainable global logistics system. This study investigated the perspectives of PI under the impact of DT. The major challenges and associated open research regarding the adoption of DT in PI have been thoroughly investigated.

Nowadays, reducing total costs while enhancing customer satisfaction is a major task for many supply chain systems. To deal with this issue, the ‘Physical Internet’ (PI) paradigm can be represented as a potential replacement for the current logistics system. This paper devoted the cost reduction and lead time improvement in a PI-SCN using a hybrid framework based on an artificial neural network (ANN) and an improved slime mould algorithm metaheuristic. To address the performance of the proposed framework, a real-case study in Morocco is considered. The new trainer ISMA’s performance has been investigated regarding five recent metaheuristics. The experimental results highlight the effectiveness of ISMA according to other metaheuristics for training Feed-forward Neural Networks (FNNs) to converge speed and to avoid local minima.

International audience; In the context of supply chain sustainability, Physical Internet (PI or π ) was presented as an innovative concept to create a global sustainable logistics system. One of the main components of the Physical Internet paradigm consists in encapsulating products in modular and standardized PI-containers able to move via PI-nodes (such as PI-hubs) using collaborative routing protocols. This study focuses on optimizing operations occurring in a Rail–Road PI-Hub cross-docking terminal. The problem consists of scheduling outbound trucks at the docks and the routing of PI-containers in the PI-sorter zone of the Rail–Road PI-Hub cross-docking terminal. The first objective is to minimize the energy consumption of the PI-conveyors used to transfer PI-containers from the train to the outbound trucks. The second objective is to minimize the cost of using outbound trucks for different destinations. The problem is formulated as a Multi-Objective Mixed-Integer Programming model (MO-MIP) and solved with CPLEX solver using Lexicographic Goal Programming. Then, two multi-objective hybrid meta-heuristics are proposed to enhance the computational time as CPLEX was time consuming, especially for large size instances: Multi-Objective Variable Neighborhood Search hybridized with Simulated Annealing (MO-VNSSA) and with a Tabu Search (MO-VNSTS). The two meta-heuristics are tested on 32 instances (27 small instances and 5 large instances). CPLEX found the optimal solutions for only 23 instances. Results show that the proposed MO-VNSSA and MO-VNSTS are able to find optimal and near optimal solutions within a reasonable computational time. The two meta-heuristics found optimal solutions for the first objective in all the instances. For the second objective, MO-VNSSA and MO-VNSTS found optimal solutions for 7 instances. In order to evaluate the results for the second objective, a one way analysis of variance ANOVA was performed.

This paper proposes Dynamic Multiple Depots Vehicle Routing (DMDVR) to explore the feasible solution of routing transportation between PI-hubs and retailers in the same cluster. The routing solution in this research is constructed by the daily forecasting demand of a commodity crop, Pineapple, from Thailand’s northern region. Each route is composed of a starting hub, the number of retailers, and an ending hub. The authors propose Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) to construct the routes considering inventory and truck capacity constraints. Besides, another solution method is proposed by using a heuristic method named “Iterated Random Heuristic”. The empirical results are evaluated by using the total distribution cost and computational time. The routing transportation of this research is based on the daily delivery transportation from PI-hubs to retailers. The results show that Iterated Random Heuristic with Nearest Neighbor Search generates near-optimal solutions within a short computational time.

The supply chains that make up the distribution networks are becoming more diverse as companies respond to global markets’ rigorous demands. Today, the immediate need for sustainable growth is to design, manufacture, and deliver the right product to experience drastic improvements in the right place, at the right price, and at the right time. As a massively distributed, integrated logistics infrastructure, a new “Physical Internet” (PI) model has been implemented to make the existing logistics structures more scalable and sustainable. This article discusses resource control in the PI’s modern supply chain and logistics systems while addressing the potential disruptions between the hubs during the transfer of goods. This article attempts to establish how companies will benefit from introducing the PI to optimise their strategic supply chain. This article used ATLAS.ti 9 automated tool to save, classify, and evaluate the data for this analysis to review the literature systematically. For PI, an increasing number of plans, blueprints, and requirements have been established. Still, minimal models are currently developed, explaining how the transformation from the strengthened logistics business models to the PI could occur. There is a lack of awareness of the necessary market structures that can include crucial players and allow the PI model to be embraced. Therefore, this research brings a new viewpoint on logistic operations through the PI idea, guarantees the present situation’s view, and presents a solution to the society–business–technology framework.

International audience; Supply chains are complex, stochastic systems. Nowadays, logistics managers face two main problems: increasingly diverse and variable customer demand that is difficult to predict. Classical forecasting methods implemented in many business units have limitations with the fluctuating demand and the complexity of fully connected supply chains. Machine Learning methods have been proposed to improve prediction. In this paper, a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) is proposed for demand forecasting in a physical internet supply chain network. A hybrid genetic algorithm and scatter search are proposed to automate tuning of the LSTM hyperparameters. To assess the performance of the proposed method, a real-case study on agricultural products in a supply chain in Thailand was considered. Accuracy and coefficient of determination were the key performance indicators used to compare the performance of the proposed method with other supervised learnings: ARIMAX, Support Vector Regression, and Multiple Linear Regression. The results prove the better forecasting efficiency of the LSTM method with continuous fluctuating demand, whereas the others offer greater performance with less varied demand. The performance of hybrid metaheuristics is higher than with trial-and-error. Finally, the results of forecasting model are effective in transportation and holding costs in the distribution process of the Physical Internet.

This article proposes a Physical Internet-enabled customized furniture delivery system (PI-CFDS) with the following contributions. First, a set of PI-enabled smart logistics facilities was adopted ...

Despite the increasing academic interest and financial support for the Physical Internet (PI), surprisingly little is known about its operationalization and implementation. In this paper, we suggest studying the PI on the basis of the Digital Internet (DI), which is a well-established entity. We propose a conceptual framework for the PI network using the DI as a starting point, and find that the PI network not only needs to solve the reachability problem, that is, how to route an item from A to B, but also must confront a more complicated optimality problem, that is, how to dynamically optimize a set of additional logistics-related metrics such as cost, emissions and time for a shipment. These last issues are less critical for the DI and handled using relatively simpler procedures. Based on our conceptual framework, we then propose a simple network model using graph theory to support the operationalization of the PI. The model covers the characteristics of the PI raised in the current literature and suggests future directions for further quantitative analyses.

Logistics sustainability is increasingly becoming a central focus of businesses, when most societies are aware of the influence of industry on both the environment and human health. To address the drawbacks of the way logistics systems have been designed, a new logistics system called Physical Internet has been proposed. This system relies on the creation of hyperconnected logistics systems. It aims to improve in an order of magnitude the way physical objects are transported, handled, stored, supplied, realized, and used to be more sustainable and efficient economically, environmentally, and socially. This paper focuses on the product realization using a hyperconnected mobile production mode in the context of Physical Internet, an open global logistics system. It addresses its dynamic deployment of production modules and resource allocation and sharing. It then proposes a make-to-order bi-objective optimization model which minimizes costs and greenhouse gases (GHGs) related to the product realization of a manufacturer to serve its customers given the availability of the open fabs. Experimental results are presented to identify the computational performance of the established model, as well as the economic and environmental benefits of using the facilities enabled by the PI. Finally, it concludes and provides directions for future research.

Physical Internet based supply chains create open, global logistics systems that enable new types of collaboration among participants. The open system allows the logistical examination of vehicle technology innovations such as the platooning concept. This article explores the multiple platoon collaboration. For the reconfiguration of two platoons a heuristic and a reinforcement learning (RL) based models have been developed. To our knowledge, this work is the first attempt to apply an RL-based decision model to solve the problem of controlling platoon cooperation. Vehicle exchange between platoons is provided by a virtual hub. Depending on the various input parameters, the efficiency of the model was examined through numerical examples in terms of the target function based on the transportation cost. Models using platoon reconfiguration are also compared to the cases where no vehicle exchange is implemented. We have found that a reinforcement learning based model provides a more efficient solution for high incoming vehicle numbers and low dispatch interval, although for low vehicle numbers heuristics model performs better.

PurposeThe physical internet (PI) is an emerging logistics and supply chain management (SCM) concept that draws on different technologies and areas of research, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and key performance indicators, with the purpose of revolutionizing existing logistics and SCM practices. The growing literature on the PI and its noteworthy potential to be a disruptive innovation in the logistics industry call for a systematic literature review (SLR), which we conducted that defines the current state of the literature and outlines future research directions and approaches.Design/methodology/approachThe SLR that was undertaken included journal publications, conference papers and proceedings, book excerpts, industry reports and white papers. We conducted descriptive, citation, thematic and methodological analyses to understand the evolution of PI literature.FindingsBased on the literature review and analyses, we proposed a comprehensive framework that structures the PI domain and outlines future directions for logistics and SCM researchers.Research limitations/implicationsOur research findings are limited by the relatively low number of journal publications, as the PI is a new field of inquiry that is composed primarily of conference papers and proceedings.Originality/valueThe proposed PI-based framework identifies seven PI themes, including the respective facilitators and barriers, which can inform researchers and practitioners on future potentially disruptive SC strategies.

As a way to diversify its non-oil economy, Saudi Arabia launched a prospective initiative called Vision 2030 to boost its ability as the most prominent middle eastern logistics hub. Given its strategic geographic position at the crossroads of important international trade routes, among three continents - Asia, Europe and Africa, Saudi Arabia has predominant logistical access to the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa, as well as the Asia-Europe trade route. Thanks to the existing infrastructure and all mechanisms already in place in Saudi Arabia, we firmly believe that the Physical Internet presents the true empowerment to these mechanisms by offering improvements in delivery time, costs and environmental impacts.

The Physical Internet (PI) concept presents a radical change with the aim to revert the unsustainable practices that are used for transporting goods. It identifies dedicated freight flows and transforms them into transparent open logistics networks which can be accessed by other users, such as shippers and carriers. In this paper, we test the universal network openness in which the users can tap into the PI network and place orders that will be assigned to the nearest available transport service and consequently delivered to the order sender. The objective of our paper is to investigate the impact of inserting extra service points into existing dedicated freight flows of a service‐driven company. We simulate different transparency levels and routings to new pickup locations and evaluate the impact in terms of altered lead times, covered distances, and fill rates. The novel aspects presented herein are (1) deliveries based on decentralized location detection of the nearest order sender, (2) dynamically changing speed parameters of agents within specific geographic clusters based on their geo‐locations in order to account for congestion levels, (3) more realistic routing strategies that consider the urban layout, and (4) transparent querying of nearest agents in space and time that meet specific conditions such as current ongoing processes, available capacity, and position. Finally, we identify the impact from a general/holistic perspective that emerges once extra orders are assigned to the service‐driven company's fleet.

Transportation and distribution (T8D) of fresh food products is a substantial and increasing part of the economic activities throughout the world. Unfortunately, fresh food T8D not only suffers from significant spoilage and waste, but also from dismal efficiency due to tight transit timing constraints between the availability of harvested food until its delivery to the retailer. Fresh food is also easily contaminated, and together with deteriorated fresh food is responsible for much of food-borne illnesses. The logistics operations are undergoing rapid transformation on multiple fronts, including infusion of information technology in the logistics operations, automation in the physical product handling, standardization of labeling, addressing and packaging, and shared logistics operations under 3rd party logistics (3PL) and related models. In this article, we discuss how these developments can be exploited to turn fresh food logistics into an intelligent cyberphysical system driven by online monitoring and associated operational control to enhance food freshness and safety, reduce food waste, and increase T8D efficiency. Some of the issues discussed in this context are fresh food quality deterioration processes, food quality/contamination sensing technologies, communication technologies for transmitting sensed data through the challenging fresh food media, intelligent management of the T8D pipeline, and various other operational issues. The purpose of this article is to stimulate further research in this important emerging area that lies at the intersection of computing and logistics.

One of the obstacles to the expansion of rail-road freight transport is the lack of efficient handling equipment on rail-road intermodal freight transport. The known and widely used solutions (crane, container truck) do not seem to be able to increase the volume of intermodal freight transport. A transshipment device that allows the transfer of intermodal units between the road and rail transport equipment, even under the railway overhead electric line, may serve the professionals’ purpose to increase the rail-road intermodal freight transport. With the technical solution proposed in this article, the physical Internet HUBs known in the literature can get the missing hardware device, which meet Logistics 4.0 requirements.

Measures taken to handle the COVID-19 epidemic in the spring of 2020 have had a significant impact on European supply chains. In terms of freight transport, this has led to a decline and congestion in truck traffic due to different restrictions on the internal borders of the EU. As similar situations cannot be avoided in the future, it is worthy to form supply chains that are less affected by different epidemics. Similarly to the physical internet hubs, distribution hubs can be forward-looking, but only if it helps development of rail-road intermodal freight transport. The article describes the possibility of a rail-road freight transport system that allows the application of radically new solutions through a new container handling technology that can be used in the rail-road relationship. The extension of the idea at the EU level could result in a significant increase in the share of rail freight and a sizeable reduction of the negative impact of epidemics on the supply chains. Among other effects, the solution can have a significant impact on the IT development of rail freight transport. The solution can also have effect to the development of the network of rail-road intermodal trans-shipment points, their automation and ultimately the completion of Logistics 4.0.

Thisarticle focuses onthe competitive disadvantagesofexisting intermodal rail-road transport comparedwithroad transport. The authorsstate that the domestic and continental combined freight transport system can be competitive in terms of both time and price withroad freight transport. The new container transshipmentdevice contributes to a new terminal structure on the freight rail-road transport market, consideringenvironment protection requirements,and the concept has helpedthelogistics sectorto become cost competitive.The scientific novelty is that the container transshipmentrobot enablesnew technical and organizational technology solutions for combined rail-road intermodal freight transport.

Physical Internet (PI) is an open global logistics system of which components are hyperconnected for increased efficiency and sustainability. Digital twin (DT), referring to the virtual representation of a physical object, is well-perceived as a key driver in the development of PI-based Supply Chain Management (SCM). Due to the capabilities of real-time monitoring and evaluation of large-scale complex systems, significant research efforts have been made to exploit values of PI/DT in SCM. Despite this, the current literature remained largely unstructured and scattered due to a lack of systematic literature reviews to synergise research findings, analyse the evolution of research fronts and extract emerging trends in the field. To address this issue, the paper deploys a bibliometric knowledge mapping approach to provide a bird’s eye view of the current research status in the PI/DT-SCM area. Using CiteSpace’s keyword co-occurrence network, 518 journal articles are clustered into 10 key research streams on PI/DT applications in: job shop scheduling, smart manufacturing design, PI-based SCM, manufacturing virtualisation, information management, sustainability development, data analytics, manufacturing operations management, simulation and optimisation, and assembly process planning. Based on citation burst rate, keywords representing research frontiers of the PI/DT are detected and their temporal evolutions are discussed. Likewise, some identified emerging research trends are production process and system, robotics, computer architecture, and cost. Finally, seven future research directions are suggested, which emphasise on several PI/DT-related issues, including business ecosystem, sustainability development, SC downstream management, cognitive thinking in Industry 5.0, citizen twin in digital society, and SC resilience.

In the aftermath of major disasters, such as the 2004 tsunami in the Pacific Ocean or the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the quality of the aid delivered to assist the affected population was the subject of great attention and criticism. Saving human lives and relieving suffering depend on the capacity of humanitarian organizations to mobilize resources, and specifically to organize the logistics of relief items from sourcing points to distribution points. However, inefficient and unsustainable activities call into question the way humanitarian supply chains are organized. Given this reality, and while an active branch of research is striving to achieve localised improvements, we are taking the opposite view and and explore a more holistic and profound reform. The ambition of this research work is to redesign the foundations of the humanitarian system by ideating a new version of humanitarian supply chains.In this perspective, we focused on a new logistics paradigm known as Physical Internet, which has recently emerged as a way to address the symptoms of unsustainability associated with commercial logistics. The Physical Internet is a global concept that envisages a new way for goods to be moved, supplied, designed, and used in the perspective of making logistics and supply chains more efficient, sustainable, smart, agile, adaptable and scalable. To do so, it suggests a new logistics structure based on open hubs and cooperative platforms for both data and material flows. Also, it aims to strengthen the interconnection between supply chain actors by means of shared and standardized resources, equipment and facilities. The main idea of this innovative research project is to explore the applicative potentialities of this new logistics paradigm to humanitarian supply chains. This original association has been under-studied so far and only by very few researchers. To this end, several research phases were carried out leading to three main contributions. First, the proposition of an hyperconnected humanitarian supply chain paradigm in light of current practices and inspired from the key concepts of the Physical Internet. This conceptual contribution is complementary to very first discussions on the topic and differentiates the method used for framing the ideation phase. New Physical Internet-oriented practices were designed from the recognized performance success factors of supply chains and humanitarian supply chains. The second contribution is the design of a simulation-based experimental approach to evaluate the relevance on performance of this new paradigm envisioned for humanitarian supply chains. Thus far, the novelty of the topic has remained at the conceptual level and no experiments have been conducted so far. This methodological contribution is one of the first of its kind, generic enough to be used in other contexts and requiring the development of a rigorous, relatively complete and novel approach to the humanitarian supply chain model. Thirdly, an applicative contribution is proposed through the design and conducting of an experiment using a field-based case study. This case study is based on the network architecture and main relief activities of the Indonesian Red Cross in the context of a historical earthquake that hit Indonesia in the past. Results obtained from the simulation indicate major positive effects of the tested Physical Internet-oriented practices compared to the current strategies. Significant reductions in both supply lead times and cost were demonstrated, as well as better use of resources., Après plusieurs catastrophes majeures, le niveau de qualité de l'aide apportée aux populations touchées a attiré l'attention et généré des critiques. L'enjeu est de taille puisque des vies humaines sont en jeu et dépendent de la capacité des Organisations Humanitaires (OH)s à mobiliser des ressources. Plus particulièrement, en ce qui concerne la logistique des articles de première nécessité à acheminer. Cependant le fonctionnement associé a été jugé inefficace et non durable remettant en question la manière dont les chaînes d'approvisionnement humanitaires sont aujourd'hui gérées. Partant de ce constat, et alors qu'une branche active de la recherche s'évertue à réaliser des améliorations localisées, nous en prenons le contre-pied et explorons une refonte plus holistique et profonde. Par conséquent, l'ambition de ce travail de recherche est de redéfinir les fondements du système humanitaire en imaginant une nouvelle version des chaînes d'approvisionnement humanitaires. Dans cette perspective, nous nous sommes d'abord intéressés à un nouveau paradigme logistique connu sous le nom d'Internet Physique, récemment apparu comme un moyen de traiter les symptômes de non-durabilité que présentent les chaînes d'approvisionnement plutôt commerciales. L'Internet Physique est un concept global qui envisage une nouvelle façon de déplacer les marchandises dans le but de rendre la logistique et les chaînes d'approvisionnement plus efficaces, durables, intelligentes et agiles. L'objectif de ce projet de recherche est d'explorer les potentialités d'application de ce nouveau paradigme sur les chaînes d'approvisionnement humanitaires. Cette association originale a été peu étudiée jusqu'à présent et seulement par un nombre réduit de chercheurs. À cette fin, plusieurs phases de recherche ont été menées et ont abouti à trois contributions principales. Premièrement, la proposition d'un paradigme de chaîne d'approvisionnement humanitaire hyperconnectée à la lumière des pratiques actuelles et inspiré des concepts de l'Internet Physique. Cette contribution conceptuelle est complémentaire aux premières discussions sur le sujet et se différencie par la méthode utilisée pour encadrer la phase de création. En effet, nous ne sommes non pas partis des défis rencontrés, mais des facteurs clés de performance des chaînes d'approvisionnement en général et plus spécifiquement humanitaires. La deuxième contribution est la conception d'une approche expérimentale orientée autour de la simulation afin d'évaluer la pertinence de ce nouveau paradigme envisagé pour les chaînes d'approvisionnement humanitaires. Jusqu'à présent, la nouveauté du sujet a orienté les discussions sur des aspects plus conceptuels et aucune expérience n'a encore été menée. Cette contribution méthodologique se veut générique pour être utilisée dans d'autres contextes. Elle a aussi nécessité le développement d'un modèle à la perspective nouvelle et complète des chaînes d'approvisionnement humanitaires. Troisièmement, une contribution applicative est proposée au travers de la conception et la réalisation d'une expérience utilisant un cas d'étude métier. Ce cas s'inspire de l'architecture du réseau logistique actuel et des principales activités de secours menées par la Croix-Rouge indonésienne. Les résultats obtenus à partir de la simulation indiquent des impacts positifs et majeurs quant aux propositions de pratiques inspirées de l'Internet Physique ceci en comparaison des stratégies actuelles. Des réductions significatives des délais d'approvisionnement et des coûts ont ainsi pu être démontrées ainsi qu'une nette optimisation dans l'utilisation des ressources.

The progressive digitization of all aspects of human life has led to the development of different labels that try to explain the observed digitization phenomena. This has led to the development of different concepts in the logistics industry in order to apply the digitization phenomena in practice. A systematic literature study was carried out as part of this thesis to get a comprehensive understanding of digitization phenomena and to understand what similarities and differences they have. Furthermore, it was examined how they affect current trends in and influence the future of the logistics industry. Additionally, an application was developed to test the applicability of concepts and methods described in digitization phenomena to solve operational problems. Five different digitization phenomena and a model on how these build on one another were identified. Furthermore, three different approaches related to the logistics industry implementing these phenomena were identified. The prototype has shown that it is possible to solve operational problems and to improve processes using solutions and methods of the investigated digitization approaches and that cross-organizational cooperation and integration is possible because of it. The main discovery of this thesis is the absence of a defined nomenclature within computer science and the scientific community regarding the investigated digitization phenomena. Interesting approaches have been discovered with regard to the logistics industry, but their practical feasibility remains to be seen. The prototype has shown that established methods can bring significant benefits if used correctly. Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung aller Aspekte des menschlichen Lebens hat zur Entwicklung unterschiedlicher Bezeichnungen geführt, welche versuchen, die beobachteten Digitalisierungsphänomene zu erklären. Dies hat in der Logistik-Branche zur Entwicklung unterschiedlicher Konzepte geführt, um die Digitalisierungsphänomene in der Praxis anzuwenden. Im Rahmen dieser Masterarbeit wurde eine systematische Literaturstudie durchgeführt, um ein umfassendes Verständnis der Digitalisierungsphänomene zu erhalten und um zu verstehen, welche Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede sie aufweisen.Weiters wurde untersucht, wie sie sich auf aktuelle Trends auswirken und die Zukunft der Logistikbranche beeinflussen. Zusätzlich wurde eine Applikation entwickelt, um in Form eines Use Cases zu zeigen, dass Konzepte und Methoden der Digitalisierungsphänomene verwendet werden können, um praktische Probleme zu lösen. Es wurden insgesamt fünf unterschiedliche Digitalisierungsphänomene identifiziert, sowie ein Modell, wie diese zusammenhängen und aufeinander aufbauen. Darüber hinaus wurden drei verschiedene Ansätze zur Umsetzung dieser Phänomene in der Logistikbranche identifiziert. Der Prototyp hat gezeigt, dass es möglich ist, betriebliche Probleme zu lösen und Prozesse mit Konzepten und Methoden der untersuchten Digitalisierungsansätze zu verbessern und dadurch eine organisationsübergreifende Zusammenarbeit und Integration möglich ist. Die Haupterkenntnis dieser Arbeit ist das Fehlen einer definierten Nomenklatur innerhalb der Informatik und der wissenschaftlichen Gemeinschaft bezüglich der untersuchten Digitalisierungsphänomene.Mit Blick auf die Logistikbranche wurden interessante Ansätze entdeckt, deren praktische Umsetzbarkeit jedoch noch abzuwarten ist. Der Prototyp hat gezeigt, dass etablierte Methoden bei richtiger Anwendung erhebliche Vorteile bringen können. submitted by Franz Pfeiler, BSc Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des Verfassers Masterarbeit Universität Linz 2022

Nowadays, reducing total costs while enhancing customer satisfaction is a major task for many supply chain systems. To deal with this issue, the physical internet (PI) paradigm can be represented as a potential replacement for the current logistics system. This paper devoted the cost reduction and lead time improvement in a PI-SCN using a hybrid framework based on an artificial neural network (ANN) and an improved slime mould algorithm (ISMA). To address the performance of the proposed framework, a real-case study in Morocco is considered. The new trainer ISMA’s performance has been investigated in three approximation datasets from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) machine-learning repository regarding nine recent metaheuristics. The experimental results highlight the effectiveness of ISMA according to other meta heuristics for training feed-forward neural networks (FNNs) to converge speed and to avoid local minima.

Sustainability is one of the most important topics that should be considered by every sector because it helps to reduce the harmful environmental effects of operations. Supply chain operations have significant impacts on environmental, social and economic issues, and therefore, sustainable supply chains have become an important issue for the companies. Also, Physical Internet (PI) is one of the recent research topics in supply chain literature and it helps to provide sustainability. The contribution of this study to the literature is the comparison of traditional supply chain and Physical Internet supply chain structures with simulation in terms of sustainability. The simulation models are tested on realistic but hypothetical case studies. Each simulation model consists of three echelons (supplier, distribution center and retailer) and is developed by using ARENA 14.0 software. The physical internet and the traditional are compared according to carbon emissions, and the results are discussed in detail.

Owing to its interconnections and open characteristics, Physical Internet (PI) has the potential to help companies meet the sustainability challenges. In this paper, to investigate the sustainabili...