Overview

This is a project that is in line with the industry 21 initiative launched by the Economic Development Board. The research aims to create new knowledge that would help drive the local logistics industry to remain globally competitive and achieve a sustainable growth in the new knowledge-based economy. The logistics industry in Singapore and the Asia Pacific has unique characteristics that are not quite the same as found in the US or Europe. Hence, special research is needed that would address both the strategic and the operational issues that the industry in the region faces. This research is in continuation of the Global Supply Chain Logistics program launched in 1999. Under that program five strategically important sectors were taken up the study to understand the trend and issues particularly relevant to the local logistic industry.

Continuing on the leads obtained in the previous research, TLI - Asia Pacific has now identified two areas of critical and immediate importance. These research areas are

1. Petrochemicals/Pharmaceutical Supply Chains
2. Sea Cargo

We study in depth these areas and build models and IT tools that would help the industry in meeting the new challenges. This entails understanding the business environment and expressing it in a mathematical/computer model to support decision - making.

Objectives

The research effort under this program will result in the development of new technology in the form of IT infrastructures and tools. Further, policy guidelines and cutting edge planning and control methods for the logistic industry would be developed through better understanding of the regional and local supply chain concepts and processes.

This research will involve a significant number of personnel from NUS, Georgia Tech and others like research students and engineers, thereby increasing substantially the talent pool of logistics experts in NUS.

The faculty would specialize in their areas and would assist the institute in becoming a one-stop center for logistics expertise and solutions.

Potential Applications/Exploitation

The research is scientific and technologically inclined with economic and social benefit objectives. There is high potential for commercial exploitation of the technology and the tools that would be developed, especially the software.

Collaborations

The faculty from The Logistics Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology will continue to collaborate in all projects.