Exploring operational waste in haulier operations

Paper i proceeding, 2011

Haulier operations have traditionally been considered inefficient. Although their operations have gained increased interest from authorities and consumers being concerned with impacts on society and the environment, previous literature on how to address road haulage efficiency issues has been fragmented. Significant research has been done on optimisation models and/or applications of state-of-the-art information systems, but typically without addressing the details of actual road haulage operations. This paper aims to provide a holistic approach to efficiency issues in haulier operations, outlining the areas of haulage operations where attention to efficiency issues is necessary and providing detailed samples of issues in those outlined areas. Based on a literature review and on an expert interview study, a model of waste areas in haulier operations was generated. For validation purposes the framework was tested in two projects aiming at improving haulier operations, and is currently being used to structure operational waste in existing haulier operation improvement projects. In order to identify potential waste reduction and operational improvement, the framework can be applied as a first step to identify waste areas. In addition to the managerial impacts of this work, the provided framework and the common waste vocabulary that is in part in line with today’s Lean Thinking and is used in this work is beneficial for both academics and professionals.