PhD Studentship: Developing green and efficient final mile logistics strategies

Transportation Group, University of Southampton
Location: Boldrewood Innovation Campus, University of Southampton
Closing Date: 30th September 2018
Reference: 993118AT
Project Reference: CDT-SIS-496

With our increasing love affair with on-line shopping, the pressure on delivery companies to meet our ever exacting delivery requirements is increasing. This leads to increasing inefficiency in the system, especially as we move into an era of ‘same-day’ delivery where consignees can receive goods a few hours after ordering them. In urban areas where bus and cycle lanes as well as increasing pedestrian facilities are resulting in diminishing kerbside space for delivery vehicles, the addition of new low-emissions zones means an increasingly challenging operating environment for carriers.

As a result, carriers are having to explore new operating scenarios to get round these issues including consolidating goods, using more environmentally friendly non-motorised modes over the last-mile, and forming collaborative working relationships with other carriers and third parties, all of which involve developing new operating and fleet optimisation models.

Through this project, you will have the opportunity to help develop and implement some new approaches to solving our urban delivery problems impacting on the parcel sector.

About the sponsor: CitySprint Group, with revenue of £180mn, is the UK’s largest same-day logistics company, and London accounts for over 30% of it’s national revenue. It is also where it has the greatest concentration of high profile clients and the most challenging operating environment. Since 2015, it has put significant investment into a technology group (Last Mile Link) to build new cloud based platforms to manage the entire business commercially and operationally.

The company is rapidly expanding into retail, healthcare, and food delivery sectors but is met with structural challenges such as courier utilization and a self-employed fleet with vehicles not ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) compliant.

The research will be critical to help CitySprint with the following but not limited to:
- Improve courier utilization through peaks and troughs of demand
- Improve customer service and provide faster deliveries (as a consequence of the above)
- Predict when jobs may be early or late
- Develop courier hotspots where fleet should be positioned to take on more work
- Improve gross margins
- Remove polluting vehicles from Central London
- Introduce more zero-emission vehicles in Central London

The ideal candidate will have:
- A sharp business acumen to understand economic and market forces shaping the industry.
- Technical and mathematical skills to help create models and solutions.
- Coding skills.
- Strong inter-personal skills to immerse themselves in the company and work across departments.
- Drive to help develop commercially viable solutions as opposed to theoretical models.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Tom Cherrett, Transportation Research Group, Email: [log in to unmask], Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 4657.

This project is being run in participation with the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (View Website). For details of our 4 Year PhD programme and further projects, please see http://www.cdt-sis.soton.ac.uk/
To apply, please use the following website: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/postgraduate/research_degrees/apply.page
 
Professor T.J. Cherrett
Professor of Logistics and Transport Management
Transportation Research Group (TRG)
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
Southampton Boldrewood Innovation Campus
University of Southampton
Room 4057, Building 176
Burgess Road
Southampton
SO16 7QF

Tel: +44(0)23 8059 4657
Fax: +44(0)23 8059 3152
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.trg.soton.ac.uk
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