Masters Degrees (Logistics)

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    A toolkit for cold chain requirements for the physical distribution between South African retail distribution centres : a perishable food case
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Sam, Caryn Lisa; Goedhals-Gerber, Leila Louise; van Eeden, Joubert; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Food loss is of great concern globally as large quantities of food are lost on an annual basis. This is a growing concern for all countries, especially where developing countries like South Africa, are concerned. A third of the edible food available in South Africa is lost, which equates to an estimated 10.3 million tonnes of food per annum. The significant amount of food loss is alarming for South Africa when examined from an economic, social and environmental perspective. Food loss occurs at various stages of the value chain, with 20% occurring during distribution and retail, which motivated the need for this study. The main aim of this research was to develop a toolkit for cold chain requirements for the physical distribution between South African retail distribution centres, specifically for perishable food products. This toolkit was developed with the sole purpose of enlightening stakeholders within the retail supply chain and creating a sense of awareness around contributing factors to food loss within the cold chain. This is done by providing information and guidelines on cold chain requirements for perishable food products and is directed towards South African retail supply chains. This research followed a deductive approach and the methodological choice for this thesis included a mixed-method approach for data collection. This approach allows the researcher to gather data by integrating qualitative and quantitative data. The time horizon for this research was cross-sectional as it took place at a single point in time. The data collection methods consisted of primary and secondary data. Primary qualitative data were collected in the form of exploratory, semi-structured and validation interviews. In addition, this thesis used secondary qualitative data in the form of a stakeholder analysis and a systematic literature review and secondary quantitative data in the form of historical temperature data. The research successfully met all the research objectives by answering all the research questions and ultimately developing a toolkit. The toolkit provides guidelines that promote best practices within the cold chain to ensure that perishable food products reach consumers at optimal quality and reduce food loss within the supply chain. The toolkit serves as a resource that offers guidelines and insights into the cold chain requirements for perishable food items along with workable solutions to address commonly faced challenges in this segment of the supply chain. The toolkit was validated by industry experts to ensure the reliability and validity of the toolkit.
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    A hybrid simulation analysis of graduation success at Stellenbosch University
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Slamang, Sha-abaan; Venter, Lieschen; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Logistics.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Stellenbosch University aims to be one of the leading research institutions on the African continent. High school matriculants (both locally and internationally) can apply to the university with the hope of graduating through one of its ten faculties. The selection of students for enrolment into a degree programme in the Economic Management Sciences Faculty is based on academic merit. For a student to progress to each academic year, they must obtain the minimum academic credits required to continue. The aim of this research is to design and implement a hybrid simulation model of student progression using agent-based and systems dynamics modelling. This model is applied to analyse graduation success in the Faculty. Following the validation of the hybridised student progression model, four intervention scenarios are tested for three degree programmes to increase the number of minimum time graduates. These intervention scenarios focus on a decrease on the influence of the perception of degree difficulty on graduate success, an increase in admission requirements, an increase in student engagement, and a combination approach where all three intervention scenarios are implemented. In the calibrated model for Mathematical Sciences students it results that they are better assisted through higher selection criteria while Management and Economic Sciences students are better assisted through higher engagement. Both the calibrated and uncalibrated models are analysed to control the bias of overfitting. In the non-calibrated model, all students appear to be better assisted through the decreased perception of degree difficulty. The model use is illustrated by means of this specific case study, but it is able to assist decision support in multiple contexts wherever graduation success is a metric of interest.
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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.
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    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.
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    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.