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The article concerns the problem of efficiency of the Just-In-Time (JIT) system, taking into account the benefits for the company and external costs. The aim of the article was to present the conditions conducive to the effective implementation of the JIT system. The article refers to recent discussions in various publications on the effectiveness of the lean management (LM) concept and the JIT system in the context of the pandemic. It also presents the results of simulations carried out with the use of a model developed by the author concerning the transport distances at which JIT deliveries are profitable and the impact of JIT deliveries on the costs of logistics processes and external costs. The results of the conducted simulations showed in which specific cases JIT solutions were beneficial. The results showed that the scale of benefits was strongly dependent on the value of products and the scale of production. Simulations were carried out for four product groups: food products, footwear, electronics, and mobile phones. In the case of cheap products and small scale, the implementation of JIT resulted in a significant increase in the costs of logistics processes if delivery distances were not shortened. Savings of over 70% appeared in the case of expensive mobile phones, even over long distances. In the case of large-scale production and sales, large savings occurred in almost all cases (up to over 90%). Furthermore, simulations of the impact of JIT on the profitability of enterprises were also carried out using the data contained in the financial reports of listed companies. These simulations also showed a significant impact of JITs on the efficiency of companies, albeit assuming that the effect would be primarily an increase in revenues. If the current situation caused by the pandemic (disruptions in global supply chains, increased transport costs) contributes to the return of production to Europe, this may result in the creation of favorable conditions for the implementation of JIT. In this case, the result will be large savings in logistics costs, including external costs of these processes (almost 80%). Here, however, the factor contributing to the reduction in external costs would also be the scale of production and sales. The simulations carried out by the author are a novelty and constitute his contribution to scientific research in this area, as no such calculations have been carried out to date.

The e-commerce industry has been developing extremely dynamically for many years. This development was intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the research conducted by the authors of this paper, in Poland, during the pandemic, the number of delivered parcels increased 20–100%, depending on the courier company. The research of the authors of this article focused on the energy efficiency of the last mile, which is very important for the efficiency of the entire delivery process to customers. As the authors calculated, the last mile can consume over 70% of energy of the whole distribution channel. The article presents the results of research concerning the energy efficiency of deliveries performed by couriers and express companies in Poland. Two models of distribution used Poland have been compared—direct deliveries to final customers, and deliveries to parcel lockers. The research methods are interviews with the managers and couriers, analysis of the literature, and the simulation method. According to the results of the simulations performed by the authors, distribution with the use of parcels lockers can help reduce the consumption of fuel even by 74–87% per parcel or 36% per m3. Apart from this, the authors calculated the impact of scale of operations on the energy efficiency of the transport processes on the last mile, which is an indirect effect of the growth of the e-commerce market, caused by the pandemic. Based on the results of the original research of the authors, it can be assessed that the growth of the number of the delivered parcels during the pandemic resulted in the consumption of fuel per one parcel being reduced in some cases by over 36%. The novelty of the authors’ research is that the conducted simulations regarded not only the efficiency of the processes, but also the energy consumption in delivering parcels at the last mile and during the pandemic.

The article concerns the problem of efficiency of the Just-In-Time (JIT) system, taking into account the benefits for the company and external costs. The aim of the article was to present the conditions conducive to the effective implementation of the JIT system. The article refers to recent discussions in various publications on the effectiveness of the lean management (LM) concept and the JIT system in the context of the pandemic. It also presents the results of simulations carried out with the use of a model developed by the author concerning the transport distances at which JIT deliveries are profitable and the impact of JIT deliveries on the costs of logistics processes and external costs. The results of the conducted simulations showed in which specific cases JIT solutions were beneficial. The results showed that the scale of benefits was strongly dependent on the value of products and the scale of production. Simulations were carried out for four product groups: food products, footwear, electronics, and mobile phones. In the case of cheap products and small scale, the implementation of JIT resulted in a significant increase in the costs of logistics processes if delivery distances were not shortened. Savings of over 70% appeared in the case of expensive mobile phones, even over long distances. In the case of large-scale production and sales, large savings occurred in almost all cases (up to over 90%). Furthermore, simulations of the impact of JIT on the profitability of enterprises were also carried out using the data contained in the financial reports of listed companies. These simulations also showed a significant impact of JITs on the efficiency of companies, albeit assuming that the effect would be primarily an increase in revenues. If the current situation caused by the pandemic (disruptions in global supply chains, increased transport costs) contributes to the return of production to Europe, this may result in the creation of favorable conditions for the implementation of JIT. In this case, the result will be large savings in logistics costs, including external costs of these processes (almost 80%). Here, however, the factor contributing to the reduction in external costs would also be the scale of production and sales. The simulations carried out by the author are a novelty and constitute his contribution to scientific research in this area, as no such calculations have been carried out to date.

Background: The efficiency of logistics processes is a very important decision-making aspect, both from financial point of view as well as in terms of processes at the operational level. Taking into account both the specific features of a cold supply chain as well as conditions of the comprehensive analysis of the efficiency of logistics processes, the significant aspect is the elaboration of the concept, which will allow to monitor and estimate realized processes with the possibility to obtain date in real time. The aim of this paper is to present the concept of monitoring of processes performed in a cold supply chain. Methods: The results of researches conducted in Polish companies in the first half of 2016 year as well as the literature review show the unsatisfied level of the use of the analysis of efficiency of logistics processes. These results were used to select conditions influencing the complexity of the analysis of efficiency of logistics processes. The researches were conducted in 152 logistics companies located in Wielkopolska voivodship. Results: The business product BluTrack of the Blulog company is the result of the elaborated concept. Various variants of the implementation of this tool in practice served as the methodology of the verification of the complexity of the implementation of this concept in monitoring and management of the cold supply chain. Conclusions: The analysis of efficiency of logistics processes is still not unambiguously defined despite many scientific studies. It causes problems in the business practice. The uniqueness of the cold supply chain introduces additional variables and criteria of estimation of efficiency of logistics processes. The presented study put the main focus on the use of mobile technologies for efficient monitoring and evaluation of efficiency of logistics processes in the cold supply chain. The result of the verification of the presented concept was the preparation of the tool, having the desired functionalities for the business practice.