Transport Techniques and Management - Essay Example

Transport Techniques and Management Contents Contents 2 Question 3 Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Conclusion 8 Question 3 9 Introduction 9 Discussion 9 Ethanol 10 Natural Gas 12 Biodiesel 14 Conclusion 16 References 17 Question 1 Introduction With the increasing demand of use of information technology in the business process the companies have shifter their business towards e-commerce in a huge way. This has led to change in the lifestyle and also have influenced customers to buy online in a huge manner than from retail stores. The growth in information technology doesn’t create any effect on the sales of the product but it does affect the movement of the product that is the way the product moves from the manufacturer to the end customers. This increasing growth in information technology has led to fast development in the e-commerce part for all the industries and mainly for the retail industry. This will in turn lead to changes in vehicle routing in the cities and also these changes will bring more complex transport medium. In this essay it can be seen how the increasing growth in e-commerce has led to significant changes in the traditional distribution and logistics in the way the product is been moved from the manufacturer to the customers. Discussion The rapid growth in e-commerce is been seen when the forecast for the growth is been made. In today’s generation around 92% of retailers are selling online while only 68% have brick- and-mortar stores. B2B e-commerce business has more value than B2C e-commerce, and there is a huge difference between the two and the difference is also expected to grow with time. The maturity of different e-commerce and different home delivery services varies in a huge way like transporting large items to home and the traditional markets are more preferred for buying large items than the e-commerce sites which is mainly preferred to buy small items and also grocery items (Brandimarte and Giulio, 2007, pp. 23-28). This is because the traditional markets being the matured one and also have more security and people tend to have more faith on them then on e-commerce sites to buy large items. In case of B2C the distribution activity has a start and end thus in the urban areas lot of potential changes can be seen. Thus for e-commerce business to have an efficient, profitable and reliable business process it needs to have an efficient, reliable and low cost transportations system. In addition to this the cost incurred in picking up the order will be low as a result it could be a big barrier to e-commerce business. Even with the freight service being of low cost it must be see that the services can achieve the required level of efficiency and reliability which is expected by the customers whose expectations always keep increasing. The present distribution channel for e-commerce business is very difficult to meet the customers’ expectations and it needs to continuously make significant changes in the distribution channel to satisfy the customer’s expectations (Gourdin, 2006, pp. 46-52). It is because the existing distribution channels have already reached their saturation points and the customers’ expectations are beyond their level of efficiency. In case of logistics in e-commerce business certain new costs are also been added which is the cost incurred in order picking and delivery to the customer’s home. The difference that has come up now is that earlier these costs were been borne by the customers but now the e-commerce companies only borne these costs. Thus it is very important for the e-commerce companies to redistribute its costs rather than creating new cost. In the present situation the relationship between the business and the supply chain partners is very strong and also they maintain a long term relationship with them. More and more emphasis is been put on building such strong relations with the partners of the supply chain network. The vehicles or the physical transport links that are been used in the supply chain network are well established and sometimes they become complex because of the partners and the contractors those are involved in the whole process. With the creation of more open information in the market the chances for more rapid changes in the physical transportation links might come up at a rapid pace, and it will be needed to make significant changes in the overall distribution network which can satisfy to the changes in a proper way. In this high flexible and changing environment it is possible to see a pattern of change in for the distribution network is in high demand and also the change is been see right from the starting point to the destination and in a very less time (Lowe, 2005, pp. 76-82). The conditions changes differently in case of B2C and B2B e-commerce companies in a huge way. As in case of B2C the conditions changes based on the market conditions and in case of B2B it depends between the members equally. The major point for the physical distribution pattern is the heavy development of the distribution network where the product can flow quickly from the origin to the destination point. Along with this the order size, the speed of delivering and picking the order also has led to the significant changes and that too at a quick time and the increasing frequency of order pickup and delivery has brought lots of changes in the transportation system. The fast emergence of the partners of supply chain network has a huge impact on the logistics functions and on the inventory management and also on the transportation. The typical traditional method of movement of the materials from the manufacturing department to the retail outlets has changed in a huge way and the changes can be seen throughout the whole distribution network (Lowe, 2012, pp. 35-42). The on-line communities’ acts like a hub with which a retailer can place the orders continuously to the manufacturer with respect to the change in demand and with respect to this the manufactures places the orders to the suppliers for the raw materials. In this way it will help the company to review their distribution system on a continuous basis. In case of B2B e-commerce, the impact on the transportation with respect to the vehicle trips and fleets is very uncertain. To meet the requirements many times small trips are been made to deliver the goods in time. But on the other hand the use of computer intelligence by the supply chain commodities will help in getting a better control and also better transparency over the orders and thus will help in better vehicle utilisation and also reduce the freight cost by a huge amount. These developments in the freights will increase the competition level to great heights among the carriers for the contract for the shipment. Because of this increasing competition better facilities and also low cost transportation mediums can spur in the coming future. Another option that can also be seen is that all the freight carriers coming together and working as a single group which will give a lot of benefit to the logistics team as they will have lots of opportunities to make their choice. This switch of coming together from being individual company will create a huge impact in the distribution channel. This development of the partners of the supply chain will lead to new strategies and an integrated collective intelligence of all the companies making the distribution system more effective and efficient by increasing the production capacity and also provide more inventory to meet the fluctuation demand of the market. The transportation medium varies for different products, some of the products are too small and need not be delivered in the hand of customer instead they can be delivered in the letterboxes and it can be delivered with or without the presence of the customer. These types of products are mostly transported using the national postal services. In case of delivery of grocery items to the customers a pre-planned arrangement has to be made with the customers with regard to the time of delivery as per the time when the customer will be available in the delivery place. Only by making these arrangements these deliveries can be made successfully in time and also in good condition. While in case of delivery of large items like furniture’s etc. the date and time as per the presence of the customer is been fixed very strictly based on which the delivery is been done on the exact date and time that is been fixed earlier with the customers. In case of e-commerce business the distribution network depends heavily on the collection and delivery of the products. One of the most important points in collection and delivery pons is to select the correct and most optimum vehicles for the particular product. The space utilisation in the vehicles is a key issue as wastage of space is a big loss for the company. With the increasing e-commerce business the distribution network is been affected mainly with respect to the transportation in the following ways listed below. Total fleet capacity of every vehicle, which means that every fleet that is been taking place in the collection and delivery of the products needed to be utilised in the most optimum way and the capacity of each vehicle is be utilised 100% without wasting at all. Fleet activity (trips/kilometres) by each vehicle, it shows the distance that every vehicle carrying the goods travel in a day and in which route they travel. Fleet mix, is the mix of collection and delivery done by a single vehicle from origin to destination. Technology/development used in the transportation is very important to see that the vehicles can reach on time and uses the shortest route to reach the destination and also it is used to keep the condition of the goods in good quality. Apart from this e-commerce has also opened the whole global market for the business and with the increasing e-commerce system in business operations companies need to even deliver goods and also pic up orders not only from their own country but even from other countries across the globe. This means that the companies need to have a very strong and well established distribution network across the global market and have good relationships not only with road transportation companies but also have their transport mediums through marine and also airways and use the most optimum transportation medium as per the requirement of the customer to make sure that they can meet the expectations of the customers and also satisfy them to the maximum level. Thus the distribution network across the globe must be very strong and also it must have a good supply chain network and make continuous significant changes as per the changing demand in the market and also with the developments that are been made in the technology sector to enable an efficient and effective distribution network for supply of the goods from origin to the destination that is from the point of manufacturing to the end customer. Conclusion Delivering goods to the customers home is an old phenomenon but the dramatic changes in the way the good is been delivered to customer home has risen with the growth in e-commerce in the business process in huge way. Because with the growth in e-commerce there is a significant increase in volume of products that are been bought and needed to be delivered to the customers. Thus looking at this study it can be seen that with the increasing use of e-commerce in the business operation throughout the global market the distribution network needs to continuously keep changing with respect to the changing demand in the market and make sure that the customers’ needs and demands are been fulfilled and also they are able to meet the expectations of the customers in long run. Question 3 Introduction The transport is the sector which is the major reason which is leading to extinction of fuel and also for emission of CO2 in the global environment. With the loss of high fuel through the continuous increase in road transport it will be very difficult for the future generation to get more diesels for transportation. This renewable source helps in curbing the emission of greenhouse gases and also provides huge facility to substitute them with the alternative fuels. These fuels can be produced with no limits and also can be used in huge amounts which will make the transportation more efficient and also increase the rate of transportation. In this report, three alternative sources can be seen which can be sued to replace diesel as a substitute and help in reducing the usage of diesel as a fuel in transportation. Discussion There are many alternative fuels that are can be used in place of diesel as a renewable source for helping the transportation and also reducing the usage of diesel which is very much used in transportation vehicles. These renewable sources can be used for the road transportation purpose to make sure that the road transportation process becomes much more efficient and also causes less damage to the environment and to the society as well. The various types of alternative fuels that can be used are like ethanol, nature gas, electricity, hydrogen, natural gas, biogas etc. all these fuels can be produced in huge amount and also help in reducing the usage of diesel by a huge way. These fuels are easy to produce and also help to keep the vehicles in good condition. These are generally the hybrid concept vehicles that run using such renewable sources (McKinnon, Browne and Whiteing, 2012, pp. 124-132). Among all these alternative sources the three alternative fuels that can be used to replace diesel in road transportation are Ethanol, Natural Gas and Biodiesel. Ethanol Ethanol is one of the renewable fuel which is been made from a material extracted from plants. This fuel can be produced even domestically. This can be produced easily from various commonly available plant materials like sugar cane, corn or even by using grasses. With the use of Ethanol as a fuel in road transport the usage of diesel as a fuel can be reduced by a huge amount by reducing the dependence over oil and also help in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases in the environment. In US the usage of Ethanol has grown up by huge numbers from around 17. Million gallons been used in 2001 to around 12.9 billion gallons used in 2012. This increase in usage of Ethanol in US has helped the US government to reduce the usage of oil and also has led to a lot of reduction in greenhouse gases in US. Most of the gasoline that is been used as a fuel in US has around 10% ethanol (Rushton, Croucher, and Baker, 2010, pp. 34-45). Most of the automobile manufacturers do produce vehicles which can be run on gas and they do allow the usage of ethanol E10. In ethanol there is another bend named as E85 which is also called as flex fuel, t can also be used as an alternative fuel and it has around 51-83% of ethanol depending on the geographical conditions and the seasonal conditions. As in summer season more ethanol is needed than in winter. For the flex fuel vehicles 4 E85 can be used which are been specially designed to run on gasoline. Many companies do produce flex fuel vehicles to allow the customers to run vehicles on renewable sources and also reduce the dependency on oil in a huge way. The cost of E85 varies from place to place based on the energy requirements of that particular place. It is though cheaper than gasoline per gallon but by cost per miles it is more than gasoline. The fuel flex vehicles do run with good toque and horsepower when it is been run by E85 or E10 than gasoline. These fuels do help the flex fuel vehicles in increasing their performance level by a huge amount. The drivers find these fuels very efficient (Rushton and Walker, 2007, pp. 45-53). The advantages and disadvantages of usage of E85, E10 and E15 in vehicles is been discussed below. Advantages Can be produced domestically in every country Helps in reducing dependence over imported petroleum It causes less air pollution by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases in the environment. It is more resistant to engine knock The added cost for the flex fuel engine and vehicle is negligible. It helps in reducing the usage of diesel in road transportation by a huge way. Disadvantages It can be used only in flex-fuel vehicles and not in other vehicles. Because of the low energy content in it can go only a few miles per gallon. This fuel is not been used yet in such a huge manner as people look to go to long distances and they tend to take diesel as a fuel by which they can go to a long distance per gallon. But with the increasing knowledge about Ethanol people are looking forward to use this fuel for their vehicles Natural Gas Natural gas is a fossil fuel which is mainly comprised of methane and is one of the most cleanly burning fuels. It is one of the most efficient alternate fuels that can be used to substitute diesel in an effective way in road transportation. The use of natural gas as a fuel will help to reduce the dependence over diesel for road transportation by a big way. It can be used in two forms of liquid natural gas (LNG) or compressed natural gas (CNG). Both the forms of natural gas can be used as a fuel for cars and trucks. Certain vehicles are been manufactured which are completely dedicated to be run on natural gas while the hybrid cars can be run on both natural gas or by diesel. The hybrid cars do give a lot of opportunity to the customers as they can run their vehicles using diesel or by using natural gas. Though they should prefer using natural gas over diesel because of its efficiency in less emission of harmful gases and also as it is the most clean burning fuel available. Thought the natural gas needs to be stored in high-pressure fuel tanks thus the hybrid vehicles do have two fuel systems thus it reduces the space for the passengers in the cars and trucks (Song and Panayides, 2012, pp. 27-35). The conventional vehicles running on oil and diesel can be easily modified and converted to form the vehicle in a way that it can run by using compressed natural gas in an easy way. Apart from this the fuel can be made domestically by every country thus will help the countries to reduce their importing cost which is very high for importing diesel from other countries. The usage of natural gas in wide scale for road transportation and mainly in the logistics purpose can help in reducing the dependency and usage of oil by the logistics company in a huge way. The companies will find an efficient logistics by using natural gas as they will be able to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by a huge amount and thus they will be able to match the environmental standards set by the government in an easy way. The advantages and disadvantages of using natural gas can be seen below. Advantages It can be domestically produced thus reducing the dependence on the importing of oil. Natural gas eliminates around 20% to 45% less smog-producing gases. It helps the environment as it eliminates only 5% to 9% greenhouse gas emissions. It is far less costly than the oil that is been imported for the cars and trucks. Disadvantages The availability of such vehicles is far less than the vehicles available which can be run on oil. Natural gas is less available than oil as the natural gas stations are far less than the oil stations. Using natural gas as a fuel the vehicles can only go few miles in a single tank because of the less energy produce by this car. Natural gas though been so efficient and also causes less pollution is been use very rarely because of its less availability and because of the unawareness among the people about the fuel and people are also unaware of the benefits that natural gas can provide to them over oil. Biodiesel Biodiesel is one of the forms of alternative fuel which can be used to replace diesel in road transportation and also in an efficient way. This fuel can be made domestically using vegetable oil, recycled grasses or by using animal fats. This fuel can be used to reduce the pollution as the usage of this fuel leads to less emission of air pollutants and greenhouse gases than oil form of fuel. Biodiesel can be used in its pure form or can also with mix with petroleum form of diesel. B2, B5 and B20 are the common blends that are used as a form of biodiesel as a fuel for the cars and truck to replace diesel. Mostly all the automobile manufacturers approve to the use of B5 and few of the automobile companies also approves the usage of B20 for its vehicles as a fuel. A wrong blend usage of this fuel can lead to serious damage to the vehicle’s engine thus the fuel must be used only after having a good knowledge about which blend of biodiesel to be used for which vehicle. The usage of this fuel is far cheaper than using the petroleum diesel as biodiesel is very cheaper than petroleum diesel (Stroh, 2006, pp. 34-39). Even it causes less pollution as the vehicles that are run on biodiesel emits less air pollutants and greenhouse gases thus causing less affect to the environment. There are many advantages and also disadvantages in using this fuel for the vehicles and more for the vehicles that are been used for logistics purpose. These advantages and disadvantages can be seen below. Advantages Can be produced domestically using non-petroleum, renewable resources. It can be used in almost all the diesel engines, and especially in the new engines that have been launched in recent times. It emits less air pollutants other than nitrogen oxides causing less air pollution. It emits less greenhouse gas in the environment. It is highly biodegradable so there is no problem with it as a waste. It is highly non-toxic and doesn’t cause any health problems. It is also safer to handle than petroleum diesel. Disadvantages Wrong use of blend can damage the entire engine and cause lot of problems to the vehicles. It has lower fuel economy and power compared to petroleum diesel. Currently it is more expensive than petroleum diesel. Few blends are generally not suitable in low temperatures. It does emits a little more of nitrogen oxide in some circumstances than petroleum diesel (Taylor, 1997, pp. 76-84). Though this fuel has so many advantages it is still not been used in such a huge manner because of its high cost and also because of its ability to generate less power when compared to petroleum diesel. Thus people prefer to go for petroleum diesel over biodiesel as it is far cheaper and also generates more power. Conclusion The increasing efficiency and by providing more mileage for the vehicles will never be a solution to the extinction of the fuel. To make it more efficient use of the fuel for the limited source of the reserves and to make sure that diesel doesn’t gets extinct certain renewable sources are to be used for the transportation and running of the vehicles. Renewable sources are the sources which cause less pollution and causes less damage to the environmental balance and also there is no danger of extinction of such sources and can be used again and again which will help to save diesel and other fuels in a huge way. References Brandimarte, P. and Giulio, Z. 2007. 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Global Cases in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. London: Thomson Learning. Read More