Professor Robert Swinney studies the environmental impact of the speed of supply chains
Using nearshoring is always better for the environment than using expedited shipping to make the supply chain faster.
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The conventional wisdom is that faster supply chains—supply chains that are more responsive to fluctuating consumer demand—come at an environmental cost.
But it depends on how speed is achieved, says Robert Swinney, a professor of operations at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
“You often hear the viewpoint that faster supply chains are bad for the environment. But it’s not that simple,” he said. “It really depends on how firms are speeding up their supply chain.”
In a paper recently accepted at the journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, ‘Sustainability Implications of Supply Chain Responsiveness’, Swinney and Fuqua PhD candidate Ali Kaan Tuna examine the environmental impact of the ways businesses can build responsive supply chains, which exploit short lead times to adapt fast to meet demand.
Swinney said supply chain speed is achieved either by moving production and distribution closer to the consumer—as in nearshoring—or by speeding up shipping—for example, using airplanes instead of ships to transport products made offshore.
[This article has been reproduced with permission from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. This piece originally appeared on Duke Fuqua Insights]