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Food waste (FW) reduction, of which household wastage comprises a large fraction, has an important role in promoting the circular economy (CE). This study investigates how certain consumer traits impact household FW, particularly in the face of external shocks.

The authors conducted a qualitative and longitudinal study, spanning three periods in New Zealand. A preliminary model is constructed from the outcomes of a survey with 178 participants. Then, the authors carried out 29 semi-structured interviews to refine the preliminary model and adapt it to the analysis of household waste behavior.

Different segments of consumers have distinct response patterns in successive lockdowns, and these patterns impact household FW reduction and food supply chain (FSC) management. The key findings include (1) for government, quick responses to quash unhelpful rumors help to reduce public concerns around FSC interruption; (2) for retailers, the pandemic has hastened the growth of online shopping; being able to expand the distribution channel in a short time is a critical issue; and (3) for consumers, the experience of lockdown has different impacts on different groups of consumers. This variation of experience may either enhance or exacerbate FW in households.

This paper complements the existing literature on the FSC and contributes to household FW and CE literature by providing a framework that integrates external impacts, consumer segmentation to reflect on waste management, and the possible applications of the proposed framework.

Empty container trucks may cause a deficit in transport capacity and contribute to congestion and emissions in the port territory. Reengineering of the container truck hauling process to introduce truck-sharing arrangements using the truck appointment system has the potential of reducing the number of empty-truck trips. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This research evaluates the results from an investigation of the truck appointment system using a case study approach. The data collection phase involved primary and secondary sources along with using publicly available data on port operations.

The study explores a dynamic truck-sharing facility for a computer-based matching system to assign probable export containers to available empty slots of a container truck. The proposed model reengineers the truck appointment system with a potential to reduce the number of empty-truck trips to increase container transport capacity around seaport gates.

Due to continuous increases in container-freight traffic, leading seaports of the world are experiencing a capacity shortage resulting in traffic congestion. The research findings are useful in practice as the proposed truck-sharing model can be introduced to enhance capacity in the container transport chain of the port territory.

The empty-trucks problem has not been addressed much in studies from a decentralized perspective where all truck operators have an equal chance to contribute to optimize the supply chain in contrast with the typical one-company-based optimization. The solution addressed here uses the shared-transportation concept to cover the research gap.

This study aims to explore the challenges of truck-sharing and effective ways of dealing with those in achieving supply chain collaboration and collaboration in transportation management (e.g. transport collaboration) for transport capacity expansion, and reducing carbon emission and traffic congestion for integrating environmental and social sustainability issues. This paper also reveals insights into successful shared-transportation and a reduction in empty trips.

This exploratory qualitative study was conducted by means of interviewing road carriers from the container transportation industry.

In a truck-sharing initiative, technical issues (e.g. carrying capacity) arise, some of which involve the container truck and some involving constraints that cannot be controlled, such as driving restrictions, seaport operating hours, and the presence of the large number of container categories pertaining to the industry. Therefore, a significant amount of “structural empty running” may always prevail. It should also be noted that some, seemingly vital, constraints can actually be changed, treated, or modified for better truck-sharing outcomes, such as building a foundation of trust and establishing coordination among road carriers.

A probable solution to the problem of increasing hinterland transport capacity is to make appropriate use of the huge number of idle truck slots that exist; this could be achieved by encouraging the acceptance of the challenges of truck-sharing realistically and suggesting an approach to handling them.

To broaden its appeal, truck-sharing initiatives must be able to overcome challenges by combining theoretical insight with an understanding of the practical aspects of such an endeavor. This original research fosters knowledge that is unique and which also has real-life applications in maritime logistics studies and supply chain literature for both port authorities and container road carriers.

Line balancing has been an important technique for manufacturing system design, because a completely balanced system can provide maximum resource utilization at the designed capacity. However, even if a system is completely balanced, it still has capacity waste when the entire product life cycle is considered, because real production is often significantly less than capacity. Avoiding this mismatch requires scalable systems such as reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) to meet changing product demand. Stage paralleling is suggested as an approach to scalability for RMSs. By comparing the economic feasibility of such manufacturing systems with completely balanced transfer line systems with respect to station cost, it is shown that line balancing is not necessarily desirable with this approach. The effect of station cost differences for unbalanced systems is also considered.

Presents a model of the machining system selection process that is focused on capital intensive, complex machining systems that are intended to provide service over a long time horizon. This model was developed based on interviews with both machine tool suppliers and buyers. The systems considered here increasingly face potentially conflicting demands such as: the ability to be quickly and inexpensively upgraded and reconfigured in order to have quick new product change‐over and ramp‐up time; and high product variety at close to mass production costs. This new “reconfigurability” capability increases the importance of the supplier‐buyer relationship after the machining system has been selected. We also remark that the selection process can serve as the basis for internal consensus and team building within the buyer firm and for enhancing supplier base quality.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.