The Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LCL) will begin two new externally funded projects with industry partners in October 2021.
A four-year project, “Medical radioisotope supply chain design for security: Efficiency, alignment and speed” funded by SCK CEN, the Belgian Nuclear Research Institute, within the framework of their Academy programme will sponsor a doctoral candidate at the LCL. Medical radioisotopes are critical for diagnostic medical procedures. These radioisotopes have a half-life of around 66 hours, and handling and transportation is heavily regulated for safety reasons. These unique characteristics provide a supply chain challenge that will be met by PhD candidate Tiffany Nguyen. Part of this project will be carried out as part of the EU Horizon2020 project EU-QUALIFY, “EUropean QUalification Approach for Low EnrIched Fuel sYstems for secure production supply of medical isotopes”, in which SCK CEN participates as a beneficiary.
The second project, “Multi-objective value chain optimization”, will last two-years and is funded by a large global manufacturer. With the support of a post-doctoral researcher Matteo Cosmi, the project’s aim is to develop approaches based on artificial intelligence, optimisation, and simulation to quantify the profitability-sustainability trade-off present chemical value chains. The LCL intends to use insights from this research in the development of teaching materials for Master in Logistics and Supply Chain Management, while the industry partner intends to use the results of this research to improve their planning of supply chain activities all over the world, in particular to accurately determine and control the carbon footprint of selected product portfolios.
“Partnerships with industry are the best way to create real innovations that impact and inspire practitioners and academics alike.” said Prof. Joachim Arts, project coordinator. “Both projects highlight the significance of healthy and sustainable supply chains in the smooth functioning of industry.”