Intra-simulative ecological assessment of logistics networks: Benefits, concepts, and tool enhancement

Ecology and resource efficiency have achieved high relevance in industry, not only due to their economic effects. Thus, logistics planning is required to contribute to “green” initiatives. However, it still lacks appropriate methods and tools. Simulation represents a well-accepted method in logistics planning, for it can handle dynamics, stochastic effects and a high degree of complexity. In the context of ecological planning, dynamics play an important role as demand peaks are compensated by usually inefficient supporting processes, such as express transportation. OTD-NET is known as an innovative supply chain simulator and is extended by the ecological transportation assessment. This enables the evaluation of green KPIs and - due to the intra-simulative approach - logistics decisions based on ecological balances. In this paper we describe the state-of-the-art on ecological assessment, discuss requirements for its integration into simulation, and explain an implementation approach as well as its benefits by means of a use case.