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A roadmap for those embarking on supply chain opportunity assessments which is a generic plan that can be expanded or contracted to fit the unique needs of specific industry segments or individuals.

Cities are drivers of economic development, providing infrastructure to support countless activities and services. Today, the world’s 750 biggest cities account for more than 57% of the global GDP and this number is expected to increase to 61% by 2030. More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, or urban areas, and this share will continue to growth. Rapid urban growth has posed both challenges and opportunities for city planners, not in the least when it comes to the design of transportation and logistic systems for freight. But urbanization also fosters innovation and sharing, which have led to new models for organizing movement of goods within the city. In this chapter, we highlight one of these new models: Crowd Logistics. We define the characterizing features of crowd logistics, review applications of crowd-based services within urban environments, and discuss research opportunities in the area of crowd logistics.

Shipping containers used in the import and export process are the building blocks of global trade. But those containers have to be moved from importers who empty them to exporters who fill them and moving empty containers costs the industry billions of dollars annually. Optimizing the process could have a major impact. That’s where street-turns come in.

The development and implementation of value-added, information technology-based services and solutions is the best way for 3PLs to differentiate themselves from the competition and reduce downward pressure on margins and profitability. However, the 2006 Eleventh Annual Third Party Logistics Study shows a significant gap between expectations and performance. 3PLs have to invest more in their systems and educate their customers on their IT capabilities to capitalize on the IT value-added services.

The paper starts with the assertion that the way physical objects are currently transported, handled, stored, realized, supplied and used throughout the world is unsustainable economically, environmentally and socially. Evidence supporting this assertion is exposed through a set of key unsustainability symptoms. Then the paper expresses the goal to revert this situation, thus meeting the Global Logistics Sustainability grand challenge. It suggests exploiting the Digital Internet metaphor to develop a Physical Internet vision towards meeting this grand challenge. The paradigm breaking vision is introduced through a set of its key characteristics. The paper then proceeds with addressing the implications and requirements for implementing the Physical Internet vision as a means to meet the grand challenge. It concludes with a call for further research, innovation and development to really shape and assess the vision and, much more important, to give it flesh through real initiatives and projects so as to really influence in a positive way the collective future. For this to happen, it emphasizes the requirement for multidisciplinary collaboration among and between academia, industry and government across localities, countries and continents.