Masters Degrees (Logistics)

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Supply chain analysis : a case study of differentiated physical distribution for chronic medicines in the public health sector of South Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Enoos, Bashier; Louw, Johannes Jacobus; Pillay, Anban; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: Timely, predictable, and sustained access to essential medicines is critical for ensuring long-term treatment adherence for chronic stable clients. In South Africa, ineffective and inefficient distribution processes compounded by a sizable and increasing burden of chronic diseases and shortages of health care professionals further strain the functioning of the public health supply chain. The Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) programme is an alternative supply chain dispensing and physical distribution model for chronic medicines and long-term therapies in South Africa, which leverages the dispensing, warehousing, and distribution infrastructure of private sector service providers. Although some studies have evaluated the performance of the CCMDD programme from a public health perspective, no study to date has specifically evaluated the programme through a supply chain lens. Six focused research questions provided insights into CCMDD programme indicators, defined the CCMDD segmented supply chain and illuminated opportunities toward continuous improvement. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to analyse the CCMDD programme and its contracting mechanism from a supply chain perspective. The analysis period spanned from July 2019 to September 2021. Quantitative secondary data from the South African National Department of Health (NDoH) were used for retrospective descriptive data analysis. Qualitative data, publicly available or provided by the NDoH, relevant to CCMDD programme contracting, segmentation and physical distribution were used to analyse the supply chain, supplemented by widely recognised models, tools, and frameworks. Six public health medicines supply chains were identified in South Africa using the SCOR model. Eight of 1 171 products on contracted supply agreements across all defined supply chains (by volume) were long-term therapy products, and equated to 22% of the total volume of all contracts. The CCMDD supply chain was defined as high-volume products with predictable demand for long-term chronic therapies. Reliability was identified as the CCMDD strategic driver with perfect order fulfilment as the key performance indicator. Further, by using a recognised “Supply Chain Dynamic Alignment Framework”, differences in the supply-side and demand-side, related to desired behaviour, were identified, with a transactional, lean approach on the supply-side opposed to a collaborative approach on the demand-side. Findings from this research also indicated that the CCMDD programme’s supply contracts and indicators did not comprehensively include all aspects of a balanced scorecard approach. By analysing the CCMDD programme indicators showed that: 1) client medicines parcels were delivered to 2917 external pick-up points outside of traditional internal public health medication distribution sites, 2) chronic stable clients were decanted to alternative external pick-up points outside of traditional internal public health medication distribution sites (1 449 644 active clients (59%)), 3) 52% of total registered clients were actively using the programme, 4) the highest demand for the programme came from antiretroviral therapy clients with 66% of active clients, followed by noncommunicable diseases with 20% and antiretroviral therapy with co-morbidities at 15%. The contracting of private sector service providers allowed the public health system to leverage private sector dispensing, warehousing, and distribution infrastructure for the CCMDD programme. The study concludes with recommendations for further research into client satisfaction, active client retention, increased enrolment of noncommunicable diseases client type, phase two of the SCOR roadmap, national centralisation of high-volume product lines, and CCMDD benchmarking toward a balanced scorecard approach.
Determining the mobile device offering at a large SA retailer
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Dagnin, Monique; Nieuwoudt, Isabelle; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: The retail industry is one of the biggest industries in the world and an important factor in the success of retailers, is carrying the correct products for their customers. The Retailer in this study, like many other retailers, provides a range of financial services and products to their customers to add value and improve the customers’ experience in their stores. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assist The Retailer in determining the best range of mobile devices to keep in stock in their stores. The Retailer has over 1 280 stores and was seeking device ranges for store groups, rather than a unique range for each individual store. Therefore, stores with similar characteristics are grouped based on several external factors that were identified. Hierarchical clustering is used to group similar stores within each supermarket type based on the number of landlines, rate of population change, population age and population income. Six clusters, two per supermarket type, are found with this method. For each group of stores, the range of mobile devices to keep in stock is determined using three performance measures, namely rate of sale, total units sold and average units in stock. These measures are calculated to evaluate the performance of mobile devices and rank the devices according to their performance. Two iterative approaches are followed to determine whether a device should be ranged in any of the six clusters. For mobile devices that have not been ranged in a particular store, but should be ranged according to their performance, the required stock level in these stores is determined by estimating the rate of sale per store using a regression tree for each mobile device. To build the regression trees, population age, rate of population change, population income, number of landlines, store size, province in which a store is located, adapted mobile device category rate of sale, average sales amount per store and total number of mobile devices sold in a store are used as independent variables. The methodology is illustrated using a selection of The Retailer’s devices currently in stock. Eleven of these 30 sampled mobile devices are ranged using this methodology, suggesting that this methodology succeeds in reducing the variety of mobile devices ranged by The Retailer by removing under performing devices.
A comparison of container airflow technologies to improve temperature control along the table grape export supply chain : a South Africa to Netherlands case
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Nel, Margot; Goedhals-Gerber, Leila Louise; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: The South African table grape industry is significant as it plays a major role in terms of the economy and the growth of the country. It is, therefore, essential to maintain the high level of exports from South Africa and ensure that the quality of table grapes is maintained. Temperature management is the first step to ensure that the fruits reach the end consumer in the optimal condition. Failure in managing the table grape export cold chain can have a significant impact on the farmers and distributers as quality issues ultimately lead to dissatisfied customers and major financial losses. The main purpose of this research was to visualise and compare the temperature profiles of two table grape shipments, each with two containers equipped with different airflow technologies and one control container, from South Africa to the Netherlands. The research questions are centred around the number of container temperature breaks, how often they occur, the duration of these container temperature breaks and which of the two technologies or the control container maintained the most optimal temperature within the containers. A deductive approach to theory development was applied. Quantitative data was gathered by temperature sensors placed within these different containers, and qualitative data was gathered by semi-structured interviews with industry experts and observations at the cold store in South Africa. The data was visualised to illustrate the number and duration of temperature breaks and the data distribution to interpret the median values and interquartile ranges across the two shipments, the various technologies and the different sensor and pallet positions within all containers along the stages of the export cold chain. Problematic areas were identified along the export cold chain through the temperature profiles of the various containers. Many temperature breaches, light breaks and humidity breaks were discovered. The control containers experienced higher temperatures, more temperature breaks, longer temperature break durations and delivered overall worse quality table grapes than the containers equipped with the airflow technologies. Therefore, the technologies played some role in maintaining the ideal temperatures. The containers fitted with Technology 2 outperformed the containers equipped with Technology 1. This study fulfils the aim of the investigation prompted by Company X. It provides insights pertaining to the table grape cold chain for role players to identify where temperature breaks occur more frequently and which benchmark activities and airflow technologies can be applied to limit product quality losses and, therefore, limit financial losses.
The effect of the introduction of a container barge system on the carbon footprint of the Port of Durban : a citrus industry case
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Burgstahler, Micah; Goedhals-Gerber, Leila Louise; Human, Daniel Benjamin Verwoerd; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: Road congestion in and around the Port of Durban has been an ongoing issue that significantly affects cargo movements and negatively impacts most port users. A potential solution that could help in alleviating some of this road congestion, is the introduction of a container handling barge system in the Port of Durban. In this system, a portion of the container road traffic can be moved to and from port areas with heavy road congestion via barge. A consequence of road congestion in the Port of Durban is increased CO2e emissions caused by trucks. Introducing a container handling barge system can potentially also contribute to a significant decrease in CO2e emissions for the citrus industry in and around the Port of Durban, which is one of the most important ports for South Africa’s citrus industry. This research study has five main objectives. First, to understand the main sources of road congestion affecting the Port of Durban’s containerised traffic flows for citrus reefer containers between cold stores and container terminals. Second, to assess the opinions of the stakeholders that would be affected in and around the Port of Durban by the introduction of the barge system. Third, to quantify the number of citrus reefer containers to be transported by the barge system. Fourth, to understand how citrus makes its way through the Port of Durban currently, and how that would change if the barge system is implemented. Lastly, to quantify the potential savings in CO2e emissions per citrus reefer, as a result of the barge system. For the researcher to achieve these objectives, a stakeholder analysis was conducted to assist the researcher in identifying stakeholders involved in and affected by this study. After stakeholders were identified, their relationship to the objectives of this study were analysed, and engagement strategies were developed. This research was conducted in the form of an exploratory case study with a cross-sectional time horizon. The primary data used in this study was collected via interviews and questionnaires, while the secondary data used in this study was collected via a very experienced fruit industry expert. A deductive approach was used for the theory development of this research. The collected primary and secondary data, as well as information catalogued in the literature review, were utilised in delivering results for this research. These research results enabled the researcher to draw conclusions and propose recommendations. The carbon footprint calculations in this study only involved the barge system’s changes in transport mode and additional transport legs and handling, compared to the current system.
Evaluating the performance of the citrus export cold chain to the United States of America : a case study
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03-29) Dreyer, Mia; Goedhals-Gerber, Leila Louise; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: South Africa (SA) is regarded as a top producer and exporter of citrus fruit, supplying high quality citrus to premium markets globally. The United States of America (USA) is supplied annually during the months of April to October with fresh South African citrus produce, namely soft citrus, oranges, grapefruit, lemons and limes, which conform with the international cold treatment regime for the USA. Most of the citrus fruit is distributed to the ports along the East Coast of the USA. The SA to USA citrus trade has shown significant growth and development over recent years in terms of containerised cold treatment citrus exports. However, the industry is concerned regarding the functionality and performance of the citrus export cold chain to the USA. Company M encouraged the research, which focused on evaluating the performance of the citrus export cold chain to the USA out of the Port of Cape Town. The focus of the research was directed on the South African component of the citrus export chain, namely from the cold storage phase until port of discharge (POD). The research attempted to identify and explore the challenges, vulnerabilities as well as opportunities in the citrus export chain. The research included in-depth expert interviews, electronic questionnaires as well as citrus export data covering the citrus exports to the USA over a ten-year period. Furthermore, secondary data, enhanced the research. From the analysis, it was apparent that the industry experienced significant growth in citrus exports, especially in that of soft citrus and easy peelers such as tangerines. While identifying the increased citrus exports, the data analysis highlighted that the chain is encountering several challenges such as co-operation from the port in terms of port functionality, road transportation reputation and cold store space capacity. These above-mentioned challenges affect the performance and functionality of the citrus export cold chain to the USA. Apart from these challenges, the impact thereof was researched, identifying delays in the export chain, further expenditure for stakeholders and a negative performance perception of the export chain. The results of the research revealed that the citrus export cold chain to the USA is performing adequately, however, has room for improvement to boost performance levels. While each phase highlighted concerns, the Port of Cape Town was stressed as the foremost concern in the exporting chain. Main findings highlighted poor port performance results, which included lacking port infrastructure and equipment, congestion, poor customer service and reliability, which negatively influence the citrus supply chain day-to-day operations. The research identified limited cold store space availability, transportation unreliability and cost as well shipping line equipment availability and expenditure as additional concerns.

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