Educating the managers of the future - David Leach
Issue: Winter 2010
The high price of oil together with heightened concerns over carbon emissions, mean that it is increasingly important that organisations minimise their consumption of fossil fuels and migrate towards lower carbon supply chains.
The University of Huddersfield has been educating managers within the transport and logistics industry for more than 25 years. A key focus has been equipping students with the knowledge and skills to design and operate supply chains that optimise cost, service and sustainability.
As a core part of degree and short course programmes, the university educates students in the principles and practice of fuel management, responding to regional, national and international operator needs. It also has a long track record of producing and publishing work that has been incorporated nationally and internationally into Government fuel management programmes and we have contributed to the development of best practice guidelines in this area.
Working with logistics operators and innovators we continue to lead the development of feasible solutions that benefit both industry and society through reduced costs and reduced emissions.
Our pioneering fuel management research, conducted many years ago, placed all fuel saving measures or interventions into one of twelve possible categories and since then by pooling resources within the university and with selected organisations we are able to independently and robustly evaluate a broad range of interventions.
To maximise the effectiveness of our activities in this area, the university has established a collaborative research centre that capitalises on the expertise of the logistics management, automotive engineering and chemical/biological science specialists within the university. This provides and co-ordinates the specialist knowledge to investigate and develop innovations that are management, engineering or science based.
Within the field of logistics management, the university has been undertaking numerous research projects, such as research into carbon measurement methodologies, use of carbon emission data to redesign supply networks, optimal vehicle selection, examination of user experience of alternative fuels and exploration of the sustainability of biofuels. We have also been pioneering the development of more efficient routing and scheduling algorithms, taking into account known congestion patterns and routing vehicles accordingly to improve fleet utilisation and reduce fuel consumption.
In the area of automotive engineering, example projects include the evaluation of a number of engine based products that are tested for improvements in fuel consumption, emissions and wear on a range of engine dynamometers. Furthermore, there are a number of aerodynamic related projects at various stages of development. All interventions are evaluated on both a technical and economic basis to ensure feasibility.
The activities in liquid fuel research range from the synthesis of biofuels, to their testing in diesel engines through to the economics of biofuel usage. In conjunction with catalyst manufacturers, we are working on new catalysts for biodiesel manufacture with the objective of reducing the waste and the energy consumed in fuel production. Our internal capabilities enable us to scale up fuel synthesis experiments to study the behaviour of biodiesel made using new routes under controlled operational conditions in test engines.
We are also working on the synthesis of second generation biofuels, based on lignin and cellulose, concentrating on solvent systems to dissolve the starting materials and catalysts to promote its degradation to volatile organic liquids suitable for use as fuels.
The challenge to significantly reduce dependency on fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions will not be easily met. To maximise our contribution, the University of Huddersfield is actively engaged in the dissemination of knowledge to assist with strategic, tactical and operational improvements as well as adopting a holistic approach to the research and development of new solutions to improve sustainability of the supply chain.
David Z Leach is Senior Lecturer, Transport & Logistics, University of Huddersfield. For further information, contact Transport and Logistics, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH Tel: 01484 473346, E-mail: logistics@hud.ac.uk or visit: www2.hud.ac.uk/sas/trans
Published: 21/01/2010
