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Depiction of possible solutions to improve the cold supply chain performance system

Neeraj Kumar (Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India)
Mohit Tyagi (Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India)
Anish Sachdeva (Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India)

Journal of Advances in Management Research

ISSN: 0972-7981

Article publication date: 12 April 2021

Issue publication date: 10 January 2022

811

Abstract

Purpose

A poor performance of the cold supply chain (CSC) may increase the loss of quality and potency of perishables and temperature-sensitive products that deteriorate the financial and environmental aspects of the same. The purpose of the current research work is to identify the critical performance factors (criteria) and their co-factors (sub-criteria) that are responsible for the performance measurement of CSC and suggest the best possible solutions (alternatives) to improve the same.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the objective of the research, a hierarchical model has been developed and analyzed using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-Fuzzy TOPSIS as a hybrid approach to obtain the severity weights of the identified criteria and prioritization toward their relative importance for the best possible alternatives.

Findings

Analysis reveals that the criteria “energy consumption” comes out to be the most critical criteria, and alternative “application of passive cold devices” is the most effective solution for improving the performance of CSC. Higher energy consumption leads to a higher rate of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increasing the global warming phenomenon, high operational cost and degradation of natural energy resources. The Application of Passive Cold Devices (PCDs) utilizes solar energy to operate the refrigeration units reducing the energy consumption, environmental and operating cost of CSC.

Research limitations/implications

The research work provides several insights into the critical issues related to the CSC and suggests significant findings that enable the management and decision-makers to adopt these practices for performance evaluation and improvement of the same. The key findings of the work, such as “application of passive cold devices” and “application of IoT in cold chain logistics”, facilitate an improved platform to improve the CSC performance and proposed several directions that will enhance the merit of future research.

Originality/value

The presented study consolidates the various perspectives associated with CSC performance, explores the most critical criteria and proposes the best suitable cold chain practices for organizational growth. The work also provides an analytical analysis with the essence of practicalities and sensitivity analysis to support the robustness of the results. By enriching the literature and quantitative analysis of the new proposed model, this paper forms vast managerial and research implications in the field of CSC.

Keywords

Citation

Kumar, N., Tyagi, M. and Sachdeva, A. (2022), "Depiction of possible solutions to improve the cold supply chain performance system", Journal of Advances in Management Research, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 106-138. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAMR-10-2020-0285

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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