scholarly journals Emerging supply chain of utilising electrical vehicle retired batteries in distributed energy systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Jing ◽  
Junyao Wang ◽  
Nilay Shah ◽  
Miao Guo

Abstract Increasing electric vehicles (EV) penetration leads to significant challenges in EV battery disposal. Reusing retired batteries in distributed energy systems (DES) offers resource-circular solutions. We propose an optimisation framework to model the emerging supply chains and design strategies for reusing the retired EV batteries in DES. Coupling a supply chain profit-allocation model with a DES design optimisation model, the framework maximises the whole chain profit and enables fair profit distribution between three interactive sectors, i.e., EV, DES, dismantling and recycle (D&R) sectors. Our research highlights the system implications of retired batteries on DES design and new modelling insights into incentive policy effectiveness. Our case study suggests significant potential value chain profits (2.65 million US$) achieved by deploying 10.7 MWh of retired batteries in the DES application with optimal retired battery price of 138 US$/kWh. The revenue support on D&R sector is suggested as a promising incentive scheme than tariff support.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohita Gangwar Sharma

PurposeMany commodity supply chains suffer from an unfair value distribution across the supply chain like “Coffee Paradox.” This study explores the coffee supply chain to determine how the country of origin–geographical indicator can be used as a method of fair distribution of value and provenance across the supply chain effectuated by the blockchain technology. By looking at an exemplar case study for India, this study provides insights into diverse research streams and practice.Design/methodology/approachBased on the case method, analyzing the implementation of blockchain in the coffee industry by a leading Indian software implementation of the logic, dynamics and forces for a provenance model has been devised. It further adopts a stakeholder cum institutional theory framework to understand the logical implementation of a blockchain project embedded in a territorial logic for a commodity supply chain.FindingsThis study specifically looks at coffee which is representative of a commodity supply chain. It also explores how the malaise of unfair value distribution gets addressed by bringing farmers and the consumers on a common platform facilitated by blockchain technology. This study contributes to the literature on blockchain, territory, commodity and supply chain. Using stakeholder cum institutional theory, this study helps to explore how the implementation is successful by different actors in the supply chain through collaboration.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides a new stream of multi-disciplinary study at the interface of supply chain, technology, international trade and geography.Practical implicationsBlockchains are embedded in the supply chain, and supply chains are embedded in territories. This linkage is paramount and the ability to make these blockchain projects successful requires the deep study of the interaction of territory, technology and actors from the provenance angle. De-commodification of coffee can be actualized through blockchain.Social implicationsThe coffee paradox and skewed value distribution is also a social problem wherein the farmers do not get the right price of their produce and are exploited. This case also highlights how this social malaise can be addressed and rightful and equitable distribution of value happens across the value chain.Originality/valueThis linkage between territory, blockchain, commodity supply chain and institutions has not been discussed in the literature. Adopting the territorial design approach, this study is an attempt to stimulate inter-disciplinary conversations and thereby create a provenance framework for commodity and research questions for scholars from different disciplines and divergent disciplinary perspectives.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 8381
Author(s):  
Miguel Marco-Fondevila ◽  
José M. Moneva ◽  
Fernando Llena-Macarulla

Companies are gradually becoming conscious about the necessity of reducing their environmental impact and adopting low-carbon strategies in order to cope with increasing institutional and social demands. However, remaining competitive while reducing the environmental impact and improving the corporate image requires adopting sophisticated mechanisms boosting eco-efficiency and keeping costs tight. Material Flows Cost Accounting (MFCA) is an instrument that allows the monitoring of, measurement of, and accounting for physical and monetary processes along the production process. If extended to the supply chain, and applied to the energy usage and CO2 emissions, it allows one to account for the Carbon Footprint (CF) of a company and its products at any given stage of the value chain. The current paper presents a case study developed under the framework of a three-year project to introduce an energy use and carbon emissions monitoring and accounting system in a large winery company in Spain, based on the MFCA approach and CF accountability. Including the supply chain of the company and the whole farming cycle of its main input, the case study presents the method and phases adopted to implement the project, its direct and indirect results and outcomes, and the conclusions that can be extracted, which may be inspirational for practitioners and scholars envisaging similar projects.


Author(s):  
Amip J. Shah ◽  
Kiara Corrigan

A key paradigm shift resulting from the intersection of the information technology (IT) and utility sectors is the availability of real-time data regarding energy use across different industries. Historically, ascertaining the energy costs across the value chain of a given product or service was a laborious and expensive task, requiring many months of data collection; several proxies or approximations for cases where measured data might not be cost-effectively available; and even then, the resulting energy footprint could have significant uncertainty based on time-of-measurement, geographic diversity of manufacturing sites, etc. As dynamic energy pricing begins to take hold and environmental externalities begin to be priced into existing cost structures, the ability to optimize a given value chain for minimal energy use becomes increasingly attractive. In this paper, we discuss an approach for leveraging dynamically available data alongside historical n-tier supply chain models to avail the ability for such optimization. The approach is illustrated for the case study of a computer manufacturer, where we find that metering electricity use at a small subset of sites can allow for a reasonable estimate of the total energy use across the supply chain.


Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Arturo Olivares Vera ◽  
Elias Olivares-Benitez ◽  
Eleazar Puente Rivera ◽  
Mónica López-Campos ◽  
Pablo A. Miranda

This paper develops a location-allocation model to optimize a four-echelon supply chain network, addressing manufacturing and distribution centers location, supplier selection and flow allocation for raw materials from suppliers to manufacturers, and finished products for end customers, while searching for system profit maximization. A fractional-factorial design of experiments is performed to analyze the effects of capacity, quality, delivery time, and interest rate on profit and system performance. The model is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem and solved by using well-known commercial software. The usage of factorial experiments combined with mathematical optimization is a novel approach to address supply chain network design problems. The application of the proposed model to a case study shows that this combination of techniques yields satisfying results in terms of both its behavior and the obtained managerial insights. An ANOVA analysis is executed to quantify the effects of each factor and their interactions. In the analyzed case study, the transportation cost is the most relevant cost component, and the most relevant opportunity for profit improvement is found in the factor of quality. The proposed combination of methods can be adapted to different problems and industries.


2014 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 201-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marimin ◽  
Muhammad Arif Darmawan ◽  
Machfud ◽  
Muhammad Panji Islam Fajar Putra ◽  
Bangkit Wiguna

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9855
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Yang ◽  
Xiaopeng Guo ◽  
Kun Yang

The output of municipal solid waste is growing rapidly, which has brought tremendous pressure to urban development. The supply chain of municipal solid waste (MSW) in China mainly contains three processes: collection, transportation, and disposal. The waste is sorted at the collection and disposed of according to the classification. However, it is mixed at the transportation stage. Mixed transportation remixes the separately collected waste, which seriously affects the disposal effect. The supply chain of MSW urgently needs to be redesigned to improve the MSW disposal effect. First of all, on the ground of the waste treatment situation, we redesigned the supply chain of MSW in China. Secondly, combined with the redesign of the MSW supply chain, this paper established the function allocation model for collection stations, making a collection station only gather one type of waste, and built the transportation path planning model for vehicles, reducing the impact of waste storage on residents. Finally, based on the data of Xuanwu District in Beijing, the supply chain redesigning practical example of incinerable waste was given. The supply chain redesigning model in this paper not only makes full use of the existing infrastructure but also improves the disposal effect of waste. The supply chain redesigning model has practical application value.


Author(s):  
David H. Taylor

The chapter also gives a more general consideration to the potential of value chain analysis concepts and techniques to the measurement, evaluation, and improvement of humanitarian supply chain operations in locations and scenarios beyond that described in the current case study.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document