Assessing the environmental impact of integrated inventory and warehouse management

Johannes Fichtinger, Jörg M. Ries, Eric H. Grosse and Peter Baker

International Journal of Production Economics, 2015, vol. 170, issue PC, 717-729

Abstract: There has been considerable research on the environmental impact of supply chains but most of this has concentrated on the transport elements. The environmental impact of warehousing has received relatively little attention except within the context of distribution networks. A high proportion of total warehouse emissions emanate from heating, cooling, air conditioning and lighting and these aspects are largely related to warehouse size. This in turn is greatly influenced by inventory management, affecting stockholding levels, and warehouse design, affecting the footprint required for holding a given amount of stock. Other emissions, such as those caused by material handling equipment, are closely related to warehouse throughput and equipment choice. There is a substantial gap in the literature regarding this interaction between inventory and warehouse management and its environmental impact. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to filling this gap. Therefore, an integrated simulation model has been built to examine this interaction and the results highlight the key effects of inventory management on warehouse-related greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, it is found that decisions on supply lead times, reorder quantities, and storage equipment all have an impact on costs and emissions and therefore this integrated approach will inform practical decision making. Additionally, it is intended that the paper provides a framework for further research in this important area.

Keywords: Warehousing; Warehouse operations; Materials handling; Inventory management; Environmental sustainability; Green warehousing; Carbon emission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527315002406
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:proeco:v:170:y:2015:i:pc:p:717-729

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2015.06.025

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Production Economics is currently edited by Stefan Minner

More articles in International Journal of Production Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().