110066 - BIP- CASE STUDY ON TRANSPORTATION

Subject type: Optional

Coordinator: Maria Dolors Celma Benaiges

Trimester: Second term

Credits: 5

Academic year: 2025

Teaching course: 4

• English

The aim of this course is to familiarize students with sustainable practices in the supply chain, with a special focus on e-commerce and transportation. The course is structured around the case study of a leading company based in the city that hosts each version of the BIP in each edition; in this case, Barcelona. During the course, students are expected to work on challenges related to the need to increase sustainability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to the company's transport and distribution process, without sacrificing efficiency and profitability. Students will propose some alternative solutions working in groups made up of students from the different participating universities. This will allow them to practice various problem-solving and communication skills, including a public presentation of their proposal on the last day of the intensive week.

This is a collaborative project with the IUT Université Lumière Lyon 2 (France), the University of Salento (Italy) and the University of Piraeus (Greece), co-financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.

The classroom (physical or virtual) is a safe space, free of sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic and discriminatory attitudes, either towards students or teachers. We trust that together we can create a safe space where we can make mistakes and learn without having to suffer the prejudices of others.

Students will work on a challenge related to the supply chain of the selected company, related to the need to increase sustainability in its distribution process, without losing efficiency in terms of time and costs. In particular, the case to be developed will focus on two topics:

• the analysis of alternative multimodal transport routes, optimizing time, economic cost and ecological footprint; and
• the analysis of the efficiency and reliability of alternative container logistics models for the transport of goods, with the aim of optimizing the management of resources at origin.

The course has the following components:

1) Preparation sessions and mandatory prior readings to be carried out at the students' home university. Includes online sessions with all program participants to present the main characteristics of the sector to be analyzed and the challenges of the case.

2) An intensive week at the university hosting the program, during which theoretical lessons, visits to company and industry facilities will be held. hub transportation indicated in each case, as well as guided and autonomous work sessions for the development of group work.

The final grade of the subject depends on:  

1. Group project (70%)
   Each group's proposals to improve the sustainability and efficiency of the company's distribution and transportation system chain will be presented on the last day of the intensive week and will be evaluated by professors from the participating universities. Not only will the group's ability to respond to the challenge be assessed, but also their ability to critically reflect on the advantages and disadvantages, the innovativeness of the proposed solutions, the quality of the presentation and their ability to present in public and answer the evaluators' questions.
   
   2) Individual final report (30%)
   At the end of the intensive week, each student must work on improving the proposal presented in the group by incorporating the feedback received from the teaching team and providing a more conceptual maintenance based on extra bibliography related to the case, and delving deeper into the more specific topic of interest of the student. An individual written report must be prepared that will be evaluated only by the TecnoCampus teaching staff.

Given the nature of the program, attendance at the intensive week and participation in all activities scheduled during this period is mandatory. Furthermore, it will not be possible to recover any part of the assessment at a later date.

Any form of academic fraud will be sanctioned in accordance with the center's assessment regulations. If signs of fraud are detected, including the improper use of generative artificial intelligence tools, the subject's teaching staff may call the student for an individual interview with the aim of verifying their authorship.

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Dablanc, Laetitia, and Antoine Montenon. "Impacts of environmental access restrictions on freight delivery activities: Example of low emissions zones in Europe." Transportation Research Record 2478.1 (2015): 12-18.

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