Critical Evaluation of Environmental Impact in Supply Chains - Coursework Example

Critical Evaluation of Environmental Impact in Supply chains

• Abstract

This essay gives a comprehensive analysis of the environmental impact of the most practical freight methods appropriate for the supply of 96,000 drive shafts per month from Oldham, England to Budapest, Hungary. Practical choices are derived from a wide range of sources, including legislators, logistics enterprises, network operators, sub-level service and energy providers, and is based on current infrastructure, whilst recommendations for future practice not only considers increased efficiency with the current resources, but planned environmental efficiencies and actions planned for road and rail networks in the EU in the near and mid-term future.

• Selection of Transport Modes and Environmental Analysis
  • Selection of suitable transport modes

To accurately model the most suitable transport method for this proposal, a scale for the volume should be discussed.

In a typical working year, there is around 253 working days in the United Kingdom. This takes into account weekend days and 8 public holidays per annum. Assuming the stated drive shafts are related to the automotive industry, these parts are of a considerable size.

96,000 shafts a month is 1,152,000 per annum. With the typical available working days in the UK, this results in a production volume of 4,554 shafts per working day, assuming a 5 day working week.

Such volumes would suggest there must be a continuous demand for the product, with little seasonality. This removes some complication from the test model. If the customer builds in line with JIT principles, then the customer may expect many, steady low volume deliveries to ensure minimal inventory waste at the manufacturing

The choice of a practical mode of transports appropriate for Just In Time inventory model depends on the time, cost and convenience of the mode. A number of transport modes are available for supply of the drive shafts from the manufacturer to the customer. The goods can be transported from Oldham to Budapest by road, rail, air, or sea (Tracey1998).

Road

The distance between Oldham and Budapest is 2074.9 kilometers by road and a vehicle takes at least 20.5 hours to cover this distance. The average speed in this case is 101 km/h. This estimation takes into account the stopovers that the driver makes along the way for meals and to sleep. Because of the large number of goods that needs to be supplied, the drive shafts must be transported by trucks. The speed limit for trucks with trailers is 90km/h in UK and Belgium, 100km/h Germany, 110km/h in Austria and 80 in Hungary. It means that if the merchandise is transported by road, the vehicle needs to leave Oldham at least 48 hours before the time when the drive shafts are expected to reach the customer.

JIT requires that the company does not waste any production resource. It would therefore be required that the drive shafts arrive at a time that they would be stored for the least duration possible before being used. At the same time, the principle requires no delays at all, as this may lead to waste. In 2015, the German Environment Agency reported that fuel efficiency of trucks in Europe was 34.5l/100km (Snowdon and Friedt 2012). A vehicle with this fuel capacity will use 715.9 liters of diesel. For ease of planning, JIT can be easily catered for using traditional dedicated road freight. However, road transport can be hampered by congestions which may cause delays in supply. Therefore road freights are limited modes for transportation of goods if both the supplier and the customer work with JIT principles (David B. Grant et al. n.d.).

Rail

Railway is the second option available for transportation of large and heavy goods like drive shafts. Oldham is connected to Budapest by a network of rails comprising the European Freight Corridors. The shortest route by train from Oldham to Budapest goes through London, Bruxelles, Koln, and Numberg, a distance of 1631.9 km. This is a high speed rail route. Between Oldham and London, the rail supports electric trains moving up to 230 km/h, between Bruxelles and Koln, the trains move as fast as 300km/h and from Numberg to Budapest, the railway only supports normal diesel-driven trains moving up to 200km/h. A train going in this route moves at an average speed of 243km/h, taking a total of 6.7 hours. This makes it the fastest mode of transport after air. Trains also carry greater freight weights than road. Railways also do not have congestion problems and with the modern train technology, it is possible to cover the distance without a stop for engine break on the way. Therefore rail is the most appropriate mode of transport in this case.

The trains in Hungary are powered by petroleum. The rails between Oldham and Koln through Bruxelles are electrified. The electrified rails are found in parts of Britain, France and Germany. In France, 75% of electricity is produced from nuclear power. The rest comes from water, wind and petroleum. The leading supply of green power in France is wind which produces about 5,500 MW, comprising only 2.5% of total need of the country Harnay and Rème 2012).

While trains use a lot of electricity, most of the modern ones have energy saving technologies in their traction and brake systems. Germany produces most a total of 631 TWh of power. 74% of this comes from fossil fuels. The country is shifting from the use of nuclear power to renewable electricity sources like wind, solar, biomass and hydropower (Kunzig 2015). Germany also spends half of the timber produced in the country to fire power plants. At 65 GW, Germany is leading in production of renewable energy in the world (Boisvert 2013).

Air

It takes only 2 hours and 40 minutes to fly from Oldham to Budapest. Apparently air is the fastest mode of transport. The problem with air transport is that there is no international airport in Oldham. Therefore, the drive shifts would have to be transported 33 kilometers by road or railway to the Manchester Airport. Most of the time, cargo is carried in special cargo containers in the freight compartments of normal passenger planes. There are a few dedicated civilian cargo aircrafts that fly between the two cities. Shippers have multiple options with the freight planes. The first possible choice can be to use Consolidated Freight. This arrangement puts together goods from different customers so that the transport becomes more cost-effective for them. The second option is to the Direct service which is normally available for many good that need to be transported without early booking. They can as well opt for aircraft charter (Zavrsnik and Jerman 2006).

Freight aircrafts would be the best choice in case the merchandise are to be flown because the drive shafts are big, heavy and have to supplied in large quantities regularly. They price cargo using Unit Load Devices measuring about 307 cm by 213 cm by 193 cm. As goods get near filling the device, the rates get better for the customer. Air transport is only good where the goods need to be transported with great urgency. For regular supplies of large quantity goods, the mode can prove too expensive now and in the long run.

Water

Water transport would be the cheapest mode to move drive shifts from Oldham to Budapest. However, it would be very slow because Oldham is in the mainland far away from the sea port. In case water transport is used, the goods have to be moved by road to Port Talbot. It takes 3 hours to cover the distance. The ship route is also very long. A ship has to pass through the Atlantic Ocean to Morocco then cross the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea before moving Northwards to Hungary. It is a distance of 5,624 kilometers (Maritime Logistics Summary n.d). This would take almost a whole week. However, if good arrangements are made, water transport works well for the large and heavy goods like the drive shifts. The goods can be planned to leave Oldham well in time so that they reach Budapest at a convenient time for the customers. Ships have containers that transport more goods at once and can be a good way to check the cost of the transportation.

2.2 Assessment of the environmental impact of the shortlisted transport modes.

To assess the environmental impact without bias, the scope of the considerations should be established. The main categories in which environmental impact will be discussed will be as follows:

• Emissions by distance over load transported
• Air pollution
• Noise
• Impact on external sources of emissions, increased congestion etc
• Primary fuel type
• Electricity generation type, where freight method is pure electric (note this will change through region, so will alter throughout the total route)
• Sub-handling requirements, excessive handling required for multi-modal transport will likely be carried out by lift vehicles
• Special packaging requirements, where applicable

Roads

By road, Oldham is 2074.9 kilometers away from Budapest. The most effective means to use considering the nature of the goods would be trucks. Trucks engines use diesel fuel and emit carbon compound into the atmosphere. The main emissions are hydrocarbons, particulate matter carbon monoxide and nitrogen compounds. A truck can emit up to 90 grams of carbon monoxide in a distance of one kilometer. Trucks can transport a large number of loads. However, this depends on the type of truck chosen. For cost effectiveness, suppliers transporting large quantities of goods prefer trucks with trailers because they have greater freight capacities. By UK law, Lorries with trailers can only be up to 18.5 meters long. Such a lorry, normally referred to as a road train is permitted to carry goods weighing a maximum of 44 tonnes(Tzimas and Georgakaki 2010).

. It means that if the goods transported are car drive shafts, such a truck can carry up to about 2200 pieces. Since each day requires over 4500 pieces of drive shaft, it means the manufacturer has to supply a day’s demand by more than 2 such large trucks. At the end, more than 500 trucks are used in a year. This translates to very high amount of emission. If the supplier uses lorries without trailer, the carriage capacity of each vehicle will be even less and this will translate to more trips. Each of the trips produces a given amount of gaseous emission and this is worse for the environment than when the long trailers are used (Janic 2007)

The trucks contribute a lot towards pollution of air. As they move, they use diesel and emit a number of fumes that pollute the air differently. Emissions from vehicles using petroleum fuel are the leading sources of carbon monoxide. The compound reduces the amount of oxygen in the air and high levels of it in the body can cause death. The emissions also carry particulate matter made up of acids, metals, organic molecules and dust which are flown into the air and when breathed in can cause diseases such respiratory complications. The third component of truck emissions are nitrogen oxides. The compounds stay in the air and is dissolved during precipitation causing acid rains that corrode metals. It is also responsible for the formation of other air pollutants like the particulate matter and ozone. All these pollutants are hazardous to human health (López, Rodríguez, Burón, García 2009).

Trucks have large engines that produce very loud sounds as they run. Trucks also produce very loud sounds when they brake or release pressure from the clutch line. Moreover, trucks are among the leading causes of traffic congestions that cause many annoyed drivers to hoot. The sounds compose the noise from the roads, which causes distractions and nuisance.

Long trucks take a lot of space on the roads. Because of their huge weights, they mostly have speed limits in Europe. They are major causes of congestion in the roads. Congestions lead to traffic snarl-ups which highly demobilize other vehicles using the roads. Since vehicle engines continue to run in the traffic jams, a lot of petroleum fuel is burned and wasted without distance coverage. This means that each driver involved in the jams will use more fuel to cover same distance they do every day. Hence, there will be increased air pollution from emissions. People also like to hoot when there is congestion on the roads and this causes a lot of noise on the roads (Islam and Zunder).

The primary fuel type for trucks is diesel. Diesel is cheaper than petrol in Europe. Therefore it is relatively cost effective. It is said that diesel produces less emissions than petrol. However, more recent research claims that increased use of diesel engines has increased the amount of carbon monoxide in the air and contributed to more global warming. Compared to other modes like air and train, diesel emissions from roads still constitute more emissions leading to air pollution.

Rail

Rail transport route connecting the two cities is shorter than roads and water. The line which goes through Bruxelles, France and Koln Germany is about 1631 kilometers. Out of this distance, two thirds (about 1080 kilometers) has electrified train. Therefore traditional trains are only used in parts of Britain and Hungary. Emissions resulting from railway transport can only occur in a distance of about 500 kilometers. This is the distance covered by the normal non-electric rails. The locomotives use diesel (Brewer 1996). Though they produce more emissions, the emissions will occur in the shortest distance of all the means. The sections with electric rail use electric power, which is environmentally friendly because it does not emit any pollutant (Clausen 2013). In general, there will be much less emission in total when this mode of transport is used than road and water. The goods wagons and the box cars used in rail transport can accommodate large quantities of supplies at once. European governments recommend more use of cargo trains than roads to supply large quantities of goods. It is because the rail can carry more weight than any other means available in this case. Therefore, rails are more effective considering the emissions and carriage capacity ratio (Ghijsen, Semeijn, and Linden 2007).

Rail causes air pollution in sections that have not been electrified. In this route, the sections such as parts of Austria and Hungary will experience air pollution from emitted carbon compounds resulting from engine combustion of diesel (Woroniuk, Zunder, Mortimer, Marinov 2013).

The components of diesel emissions are similar in all locomotives. Just like in road transport, pollutants will be produced. The three pollutants cause health complications that may become severe and cause death of humans, animals and vegetations. The electric trains do not cause any environmental pollution (Janic 2008).

Rail is the noisiest mode of transport. When the freight trains move, the wheels hit the rail in a manner that causes very loud noise. They also have cast iron bake locks which cause a lot of noise during train movement. The primary fuel types for rail transport are diesel and electricity (Midya and Thottappillil 2008).

. The larger part of the journey is by electric trains. The electric trains use electricity to power engines and they result to no pollution. The rest of the journey is completed by the traditional diesel powered trains that produce carbon compounds and other emissions (Tzeng and Lee 2010). However, since this occurs only for a short distance, the impact will be relatively less than other modes (Bojović 2002).

The rails in France and Germany are electrified. In France, electricity is mainly generated from nuclear reactors. Radioactive energy production is one of the pollutants of the environment. The pollution resulting from nuclear energy plants is relatively lower than coal, petroleum and gas. It also has smaller risk to human health (Railway freight transport statistics - Statistics Explained n.d.). However, explosion of the nuclear reaction containers is a major catastrophe associated with nuclear energy as it releases radioactive materials into the environment. In Germany, the main sources of energy are wind, solar and hydroelectric power. All these sources are renewable and cause no pollution of the environment. Apparently, both countries still depend on petroleum and biomass to generate electricity. A half of the wood cut in Germany goes into power production. Such activities lead to air pollution because it offsets the natural air cycle balance (Marin, Gabriel, Naterer 2010).

Water

Water transport uses ships as the means of transport. Ships use diesel, which emits lots of pollutants of different nature. Shipping goods from Oldham to Budapest would take the longest route i.e. 5624 kilometers. Despite the large amounts of loads they can carry, emitting carbon monoxides and other pollutants into the air over such a long distance is dangerous for the environment (Setamanit, Pipatwattana 2015).

Ships also pollute water through spillage of oil and dumping of solid wastes. Water would be an environmentally unfriendly means to transport the goods.

The emissions from combustion of diesel pollute the air with carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. The oil spillages and dumping of wastes into water also pollutes the water bodies. Oil spillage cover water surfaces depriving the water underneath of oxygen circulation and thereby cause death of many aquatic organisms (Strogen, Bell, Breunig, Zilberman 2016).

Shipping will make it necessary to use other means of transport to move the drive shifts from Oldham to the nearest sea port in the route to Budapest. This will bring in trucks or cargo trains, which are both other causes of emissions leading to environmental pollution (Masamichi 2010).

Air

Aircraft use jet fuel that emits water vapor particles of matter, carbon monoxide, and heat. Planes don’t carry very large loads. Therefore, using them would mean that many freight planes have to be used multiple times, translating to furtherance of the emissions. The planes however cover the shortest distance in duration as short as 2 hours and 30 minutes. Therefore emission time does not last very long.

The emissions from jet fuels cause pollution of the environment and can result in global warming and climate change. Planes also produce a lot of noise when they move overhead, causing nuisance and destructions.

The choice of air transport would require that other modes of transport like road or railway be used to move the drive shafts from Oldham to Manchester Airport. The vehicles and trains used in Britain cause air pollution through emissions (Pettersson 2007).

The primary fuel for planes is jet fuel. It is a petroleum product with similar environmental effects as diesel and petrol. However, it is lighter and contributes less to these environmental impacts.

Planes also have sub-handling and special packaging requirements that may result in pollution. Sub handling may involve cranes and vehicles that use petroleum fuels. Freight aircraft just like passenger planes have special packaging material for goods. The material if not handles and get disposed of properly, may cause environmental pollution.

Recommendations

To control the amount of carbon foot prints, Electrified rails should be developed as the main mode of transport for both goods and services. Electrified trains are very fast and they do not emit pollutants into the environment. All the rails in the European Freight Corridor should be electrified to speed up movement of cargo and reduce pollution from diesel powered trains (Mansson, Thottappillil, Backstrom, Lunden 2008).

Governments need to invest in more renewable energy sources for production of electricity to power more electric trains. Wind, hydro power, solar and biomass conserve the environment because they are naturally renewable and have no emissions that can pollute the environment (Pacesila, Burcea and Colesca 2016).

. There should be more exploitation of nuclear energy to reduce dependency on fossil fuels in all countries but the generation plants should be located at least 30 kilometers away from towns and human dwellings. More strict laws should be put in place to limit use of wood in production of electric energy. Leaving people to use alternative methods of energy production will promote reliance on renewable energy (Knopf, Nahmmacher and Schmid 2015).

Noise from vehicles, trains and planes should be controlled with strict policies. The noise from trains can be controlled by policies enacted to limit noise allowed in rail traffic. Some parts of European Freight Corridor have noise barriers that block noise coming from the movement of the train in the railway (Egbunike and Potter 2011).

Other sections of the rails like in Germany and France have dampers fitted on each side. The dampers absorb vibrations resulting from train movement. The European standards also require that a manufacturer of freight train makes synthetic brake locks to smoothen the wheels. This technology reduces the noise coming from train movement almost 8 times (Drew 2008).

Roads should be widened all over Europe to avoid congestions that lead to increased emission of pollutants and noise from hooting vehicles (Internalisation of the external costs of road freight transport n.d.). Roads are the second most effective mode of transport for cargo in Europe. To limit the amount of emissions from roads, fright transportations should be restricted to use of trucks with trailers only. Suppliers with small quantities of goods can share the road trains. The European Union has been encouraging more use of engine diesel than petrol in vehicles as a way of controlling carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The scientific reasoning has been that diesel is heavier than petrol and therefore burns more slowly and completely in engines (Hilal 2008).

Fuel efficiency of vehicles should be increased more through use of technology to develop lighter engines. Tractor and trailer fuel consumption has been highly reduced in the US. It is expected in 10 years, their trailers will be using 27 liters for every 100 kilometers. Similar developments should be implemented in Europe where tractor fuel efficiency is still about 35l/100km (Marchet, Perotti, Melacini 2014).

Future innovations should consider using renewable energy to power vehicle and ship engines. In America for example, the University of Michigan developed a car completely powered by direct solar (Fouquet 2008). For ships, innovators can think around using wind to create high power energy that can be stored to run the engine even when the sea is calm. Engineers can also consider how ships can generate small amounts of hydropower to run their engines.