Irina Gribkovskaia, Bjørn O. Gullberg, Karl J. Hovden and Stein W. Wallace
The value chain of the Norwegian meat production industry has recently been through major structural changes resulting in increased flows and transportation needs at all levels…
Abstract
Purpose
The value chain of the Norwegian meat production industry has recently been through major structural changes resulting in increased flows and transportation needs at all levels. The purpose of this paper is to present results of the initial stage of a five‐year research project between the Norwegian Meat Research Centre, Norwegian meat companies and Molde University College. The main goal of the project is to develop a decision support system for the transport of live animals to a slaughterhouse to reduce transportation costs while maintaining high level of livestock welfare and meat quality, as these are three main factors for the profitability of both farmers and industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a mixed integer programming model that combines vehicle routing and inventory control. We introduce the possibility for multiple routes for a given vehicle on a given day in a multiple‐period planning perspective. Arrival times of the loaded vehicles to the slaughterhouse are controlled by production (slaughter) rate and inventory level at the abattoirs so that the supply of animals for slaughter is steady and production breaks are avoided. Livestock welfare is secured by the route duration constraints.
Findings
The model has been formulated and tested on small data sets. The major future challenge is to solve real‐life problems from the involved companies.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is the present inability to solve large cases.
Originality/value
The model combining transportation and inventory control in a setting of animal welfare constraints is original.
Details
Keywords
A crucial contemporary public health issue is the construction and contestation of the relevance of the natural world to human health.
Abstract
Purpose
A crucial contemporary public health issue is the construction and contestation of the relevance of the natural world to human health.
Approach
Taking a critical approach, this chapter examines how the natural environment as a health determinant is positioned in relation to the ‘social’ within social theory generally and social epidemiological studies of health, illness and disease specifically.
Findings
– This study shows how current constructions of social and natural environmental health drivers contour social approaches to the study of health and proposes an integrated social-ecological approach for generating new contributions of social epidemiology to research on environmentally driven health injuries.
Originality
– The research breaks ground for further social scientific studies of health and the environment and in particular substantiates the call for an extended notion of the ‘environment’ using ecological principles. Methodologically, the interdisciplinary reach of this research draws attention to the tensions that arise when working across the medical, natural and social sciences.
Details
Keywords
Stewart Clegg, Michael Grothe-Hammer and Kathia Serrano Velarde