Logistics and Agri-Food: Digitization to Increase Competitive Advantage and Sustainability. Literature Review and the Case of Italy

This paper examines the current challenges faced by logistics with a focus on the agri-food sector. After outlining the context, a review of the literature on the relationship between logistics and strategic management in gaining and increasing competitiveness in the agri-food sector is conducted. In particular, the flow of the paper is as follows: after examining the aforementioned managerial problem and its broader repercussions, the paper proceeds to address two main research questions. First, how and by which tools can digitization contribute to improving supply chain management and sustainability in logistics? Second, what are the main managerial and strategic implications and consequences of this for the agri-food sector in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, cost reduction, and supply chain optimization? Finally, the paper presents Italy as a case study, chosen both for its peculiar internal differences in logistical infrastructures and entrepreneurial management between Northern and Southern regions (which could be at least partially overcome with the use of new technologies and frameworks) and for the importance of the agri-food sector for the domestic economy (accounting about 25% of the country’s GDP), on which digitization should have positive effects in terms of value creation and sustainability.

Fashion Supply Chain Optimization: A Linear Programming Model

Fashion supply chain management is challenging due to demand uncertainty, short product life, fierce global competition, and increasing expectations such as product diversity and keeping pace with the current and emerging trends. In this paper, a brief review of the published works in the field of fashion and clothing supply chain is given and an integrated linear model is presented to minimize a fashion brand’s costs, including production and logistics costs, enabling the firm to make better decisions with regard to its production and replenishment policies and responding in a reasonable time to customers demands for various designed items. We show that our model can successfully account for complex structure of the supply chain consisting of designer, manufacturers, distributors, and stores. The model is validated using the General Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) with the data collected from an Iranian fashion brand.

Mathematical Analysis of Supply Chain Optimization focusing on Artificial Neural Network: A case study in Apparel Manufacturing Organization

In this study, implemented artificial nueral network (Ann) in apparel manufacturing organizations to optimize the supply chain converging on right supplier selection by analyzing their performance criteria.Moreover, data collected from three diffrents factory to analyze the efficiney and profit -loss status of that units. Furthermore, analyze the supplier selection criteria of three suppliers in order to select the right supplier at the real time in apparel manufacturing industry . This study shows that it can be saved 20 % of the total cost.

Research on Enterprise Supply Chain Optimization Model and Algorithm Based on Fuzzy Clustering

Reasonable logistics distribution network structure can not only effectively reduce the cost of logistics enterprises themselves but also reduce the social cost. Through effective supply chain management, enterprises can significantly reduce costs, improve competitiveness, and enhance their ability to resist risks. Because the single-level distribution network structure of production enterprises is not suitable for large-scale logistics distribution, this paper proposes a distribution network structure design that accords with economies of scale and establishes an enterprise supply chain optimization model based on the fuzzy clustering algorithm. Using this optimization method to optimize the inventory of enterprise logistics supply chain, the operation is fast, the result is correct and reasonable, and it can provide good decision support for the distribution network of logistics enterprises. Through information technology and modern management technology, we should effectively control and coordinate the logistics, information flow, and capital flow in the production and operation process and organically integrate the internal supply chain with the external supply chain for management, so as to achieve the goal of global optimization.