Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 9.1
An integrator's overnight short-haul network operation
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compared to the average for belly-hold air freight of six days - and overnight deliv-
ery to most destinations within a continent or region. A further key attribute is their
development of, and dependence upon, a global long-haul air network that is inte-
grated with regional short-haul air/truck networks, which are, in turn, integrated with
local truck networks. A typical short-haul schedule for an integrator operating in
Europe is shown in Figure 9.1.
A trend towards integrators carrying a wider range of products, offering ware-
house services and locating account managers directly in production plants has facil-
itated improvements in global supply-chain capabilities, as well as fuelling their
continued growth. For example, 15 years ago planned deliveries as part of an inte-
grated supply chain accounted for 25 per cent of DHL's business; today it is over 70
per cent (Macbeth, 2001). DHL currently offer a service where it personally runs
the distribution function of major clients, including Dell Computers, Rolls-Royce,
Sony and Toyota; it now claims to carry 31 per cent cargo sold as general freight against
69 per cent sold as its express document and package services (Macbeth, 2001). This
has partly been achieved as a consequence of the maximum weight of consignments
carried being increased beyond the traditional limit of 50kgs (Peters and Wright, 1999).
It is the integrators who have contributed substantially to the growth in and dom-
inance of 'just-in-time' production on an international scale by offering supply-chain
services to and from suppliers in the global market place. The speed and, increasingly,
the reliability of these service providers have facilitated the concentration of produc-
tion at locations around the world where costs are favourable and economies of both
scale and scope can be realized, and where transport can be relied upon. The result is
a remarkable collapse in the time-space geography of the world's principal market
places that could not have happened without such innovative developments in freight
transport operations (Humphreys, Gillingwater and Watson, 1999). Industry fore-
casts of the kind produced by Boeing show no sign of change in this upward trend
(Boeing, 2001).
