• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Public Partnerships That Last

Public Partnerships That Last

December 10, 2008
From The MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics

Even though companies are devoting more resources to developing green supply chains, some form of government support is needed to address environmental issues that are simply too big for enterprises to tackle alone. The problem is that such private/public partnerships often falter after the initial goals are met. The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics' (MIT CTL) Carbon-Efficient Supply Chains research program is looking at ways to make these partnerships more enduring, using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's highly successful SmartWay program as a model.

EPA launched SmartWay in early 2004 to address the environmental and economic challenges surrounding growth in the freight industry. Through SmartWay, EPA is now working with over 1,000 businesses to improve both their bottom line and the environment. SmartWay offers tools for evaluating opportunities to lower fuel use and emissions and help in locating financing for the purchase of environmental and fuel-saving technology.

"We are deconstructing the program and looking at how and why it has been successful, and identifying the key drivers of success in the way it has been implemented by EPA," said Dr. Edgar Blanco, head of MIT CTL's Carbon-Efficient Supply Chains research program. The insights gleaned by the team will not only help EPA to make SmartWay more sustainable, but will provide guidelines for similar government programs anywhere in the world.

A problem that policymakers often face is maintaining funding levels after recording early successes. As programs expand, agencies have to decide whether to spread existing resources more thinly over a larger membership base, or try to secure more government funding and continue to recruit new members. If service levels go down due to a lack of resources, it can be more difficult to persuade existing members to stay in the program, particularly when they have met their initial objectives. Also, agencies have to continue to develop new and improved services to maintain the program's momentum. "They can easily become victims of their own success if they don't strike the right balance between service levels and resource requirements: these are the sorts of issues we are modeling," said Blanco.

The research has identified a number of other issues. For instance, the structuring of the SmartWay program to include shippers has contributed greatly to its rapid growth. While shippers are not in direct control of carbon dioxide emissions, they have leverage over the carriers that they hire. They are able to put pressure on these carriers to join the SmartWay program and implement strategies to improve fuel efficiency. In addition, while program staff members had very close contact with each of the partner companies during the initial stages of the program, this is becoming extremely resource-intensive as the number of participants increases. It is recommended that program staff reduce their direct involvement in partnership management, and focus instead on program services. Other scenarios that the research has looked at include implementing a stronger drop out system and concentrating resources on larger companies.

The results of the MIT CTL research are scheduled to be presented at the EPA International SmartWay Summit, December 2, 2008, Ann Arbor, MI. The EPA will present the next version of SmartWay at the event.
The MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
KEYWORDS sustainability
  • Related Articles

    Partnerships that Enhance Logistics Performance

    Rapidus Launches New AI-Powered Service that Optimizes Logistics of Last-Mile Delivery

    For Nestle Waters, Public Concern Over Wasted Plastic Bottles Is a Supply Chain Issue

  • Related Events

    The Big Picture: What It Takes to Make Last-Mile Delivery Work

From The MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics

Public Partnerships That Last

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: Biden to Join Global Covax Initiative; India to Ship Vaccines to South Asian Nations

    Coronavirus
  • AT&T

    How the Pandemic Has Altered AT&T’s Global Sourcing Strategy

    Coronavirus
  • container port

    New Global Visibility App Sees Delays Before They Happen

    Logistics
  • Can Employers Require Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Part 1

    Watch: Can Employers Require Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine? Part 1

    Coronavirus
  • U.S. Vaccine Shift Stirs New Unease as 128 Million Join Line

    U.S. Vaccine Shift Stirs New Unease as 128 Million Join Line

    Coronavirus

Digital Edition

Scb home issue 27

2020 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

  • LSP Wows Global Client, Quickly Advances to Become End-to-End Provider

Visit Our Sponsors

6 River Systems ArcBest Armada
aThingz BluJay Burris Logistics
DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association) DHL Resilience360
Genpact GEP Honeywell Intelligrated
Infor Logility Magnitude Software
MPO Old Dominion Oliver Wight
OpenSky Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
TGW Systems Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam Yang Ming
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright © 2016 - 2018 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing