Transferring best practices in logistics to the economy and public institutions in over 15 European countries was the subject of three conferences summarizing the work of the European consortia SUGAR, CASTLE, and KASSETS in Bologna on December 13 and 14, 2011. The Institute of Logistics and Warehousing played a significant role in the implementation of the projects.
According to Dr. Stanisław Krzyżaniak, Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing, organizing the joint conference for the SUGAR, CASTLE, and KASSETS projects proved to be a very accurate move. Not only from a “logistical” point of view – by enabling partners of two or all three projects to use their time effectively. A much more important effect of the conference was that it became a platform for exchanging experiences gained from the implementation of individual project tasks, as well as a meeting place for representatives of various stakeholder groups (local government authorities, small and medium-sized enterprises, solution designers, and logistics educators). The presented papers, as well as side conversations, will certainly be the seed for further cooperation.
The subject matter of the SUGAR project is related to the implementation of innovative solutions in the field of urban freight flow management, urban logistics, and the movement of heavy and delivery vehicles.
CASTLE is a response to regional needs to improve transport policy and the logistics activities of SME sector companies. The project’s task is to improve the region’s transport policy with particular emphasis on actions for the SME sector, improve the efficiency of logistics operations of companies in this sector, and develop Logistics Competence Centers and Regional Logistics Forums. As a result, best practices for increasing the efficiency of SME logistics operations were identified and best practices were exchanged.
The goal of the KASSETTS project is to solve the aforementioned problems by creating a network of logistics coordinators using ICT tools. Each coordinator connects logistics departments among SMEs: they collect transport orders from companies daily, aggregate and optimize them in regional and European supply chains, in cooperation with other coordinators, based on destination/quality/shipping time, and pass these orders to selected logistics operators (road and intermodal transport).
Other project news on the websites:
www.sugarlogistics.eu
www.castle-project.eu
www.kassetts.eu
