Konceptframtagning av samordnad varudistribution : En fallstudie för implementering av ett hållbart ”last mile”

Sammanfattning: The goods distribution companies are today controlled by customer needs and environmental goals. New customer needs that have arisen the past years are that the goods distribution should be ecologically sustainable and leave the lowest possible ecological footprint. There are several possible vehicle and routing concepts as well as system perspectives appropriate for product distribution. This study aims to investigate the appropriate concept that meets customer needs. KPI: s are used to measure the performance of companies. One problem with goods distribution by automobile transportation is the accessibility in the traffic that follows. Congestion, pedestrian- and one-way streets as well as to park decrease accessibility. The problem with replacing automobile vehicles with the chosen vehicle concept in this study, electric-powered cargo bikes, is that productivity risks to be degraded from a system perspective since the cargo volume is significantly smaller with an electric-powered bicycle. But the customer's framework conditions need to be followed and the goods distribution companies should also consider that environmental zones could be introduced in their municipalities. Various vehicles that are being used today worldwide to deliver goods are heavy trucks, light trucks, and bicycles. These deliveries are routed with a route optimization program. Vehicle load carriers are designed differently and therefore have different load capacities. High load capacity is an advantageous characteristic of productivity. With bicycle implementation, a reload point may be necessary if there is too long of a distance between the distribution center and the area of the recipient. This study is based on an explorative research purpose and an inductive research approach. The set questions of the study were answered mainly through qualitative research methods, but also quantitative research methods were used. The results show that an electric-powered cargo bicycle, called the Starke cycle, will be proposed to be implemented as a vehicle concept together with a movable transshipment point and a garage for the bicycles. A conclusion drawn by the study is that the customer's main need is to achieve an ecologically sustainable distribution. Suggestions for further research are to investigate more in route optimization and to investigate robotic solutions used for last mile.