TY - GEN
T1 - Food
manufacturing & economies of scale
T2 - 27th European Symposium on Computer-Aided Process Engineering
AU - Angeles-Martinez, Liliana
AU - Theodoropoulos, Constantinos
AU - Lopez-Quiroga, Estefania
AU - Fryer, Peter J.
AU - Bakalis, Serafim
PY - 2017/9/22
Y1 - 2017/9/22
N2 - Since the industrial revolution, the economies of scale have been widely exploited in the food production. A centralised production reduces the manufacturing cost, however the transport costs and the CO2 emissions of process and distribution systems can increase. In this paper, we explore several scenarios that could affect the optimum food supply chain configuration. For this purpose, we propose a novel framework, we call the Honeycomb model, that integrates the techno-economic analysis and environmental impact for the design of an optimum configuration (processing plant capacities, location of the facilities, suppliers, etc.). We use the production of tomato paste as an illustrative case study. The results highlight the importance of the carbon footprint of the raw materials on the predicted configuration for agro-based products. In some cases, the CO2 emissions associated with the agricultural activities far exceed the CO2 from the transportation, turning the food miles an unreliable metric of sustainability.
AB - Since the industrial revolution, the economies of scale have been widely exploited in the food production. A centralised production reduces the manufacturing cost, however the transport costs and the CO2 emissions of process and distribution systems can increase. In this paper, we explore several scenarios that could affect the optimum food supply chain configuration. For this purpose, we propose a novel framework, we call the Honeycomb model, that integrates the techno-economic analysis and environmental impact for the design of an optimum configuration (processing plant capacities, location of the facilities, suppliers, etc.). We use the production of tomato paste as an illustrative case study. The results highlight the importance of the carbon footprint of the raw materials on the predicted configuration for agro-based products. In some cases, the CO2 emissions associated with the agricultural activities far exceed the CO2 from the transportation, turning the food miles an unreliable metric of sustainability.
KW - distributed/centralised manufacturing
KW - optimisation
KW - supply chain
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041624824&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/B978-0-444-63965-3.50154-9
DO - 10.1016/B978-0-444-63965-3.50154-9
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85041624824
SN - 9780444639653
T3 - Computer Aided Chemical Engineering
SP - 913
EP - 918
BT - 27th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering
A2 - Espuña, Antonio
A2 - Graells, Moisès
A2 - Puigjaner, Luis
PB - Elsevier
Y2 - 1 October 2017 through 5 October 2017
ER -
