Panalpina World transport (service optimisation)

Developing inventory control and 3D printing techniques for service optimization in additive manufacturing.

A grant of £285k was awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Innovate UK to support a two year project with Panalpina World Transport Ltd, a leading logistics service provider and freight forwarder with a global coverage.

The academic team who completed the successful KTP application were:

• Professor Aris Syntetos, Cardiff Business School
• Dr. Xun Wang, Cardiff Business School
• Dr Franck Lacan, School of Engineering.

Project aims

The project enabled Panalpina to develop and apply novel inventory control and 3D printing techniques for service optimization in additive manufacturing.

This assisted the strategic expansion of the company to 3D printing services and enabled them to become the first global logistics company that could provide industrial level 3D printing on a global scale.

The project also sought to innovate the traditional supply chain structure by shifting it from a linear model to a more fragmented and distributed one, potentially benefiting many other relevant businesses across UK and Europe.

The academic team, who are experts in statistical forecasting, inventory control and 3D printing techniques, had a unique opportunity to investigate the challenges of applying and suitably modifying state-of-the-art inventory control theory to additive manufacturing.

In addition to the impact of this research, Cardiff University also benefited from the development of business case studies to be introduced in the postgraduate modules offered across Cardiff Business School.

Funder

The project was co funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Innovate UK.