Sustainable supply chain design: capturing dynamic input factors

Across the European Economic Area (EEA) more goods are being transported over longer distances more frequently than ever before. As a result, Greenhouse Gas emissions from transport increased overall by 28% between 1990 and 2006 for the 32 countries in the EEA. With incoming Kyoto regulations, and opinion resistant to heavy freight traffic, efficient freight transport has become a growing concern. This paper will document the tools already used in environmental supply chain (SC) analysis and investigate the potential use of discrete event simulation (DES) as a method of capturing the dynamic nature of modern SC design and operation. The paper reviews and analyses the use of quantitative analysis for supporting SC decision makers in choosing the most environmentally friendly SC design. This is done through the development and use of a DES model, which, through the capture of dynamic input factors, illustrates the economic versus environmental trade‐offs of alternative SC designs.