Modeling of supply chain for energy performance – business process and information modeling using the UN/CEFACT methodology

Abstract

Energy efficiency is a critical performance objective of sustainability in a supply chain. Efforts to improve energy efficiency have now expanded to a supply chain, where energy efficiency is directly related to the resources required for logistics: physical transportation flow of consignments between nodes in a supply chain. Capturing data associated with these physical flows is critical to tracking location and status of consignments. In this paper, we define the content of information associated with the physical flow of materials by examining logistics and supply chain processes that directly impact energy efficiency. We model these processes using the modeling methodology specified by UN/CEFACT. From these process models, we analyze relevant information flow and associated data elements, which we use to create information models. We believe these models can form a basis for new standards that will facilitate energy tracking and reporting across a supply chain.

Keywords:

• Energy efficiency
• sustainability
• business process modeling
• information modeling, supply chain

Acknowledgments

I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my former supervisor, Dr. Albert J. Jones (Supervisory Operations Research Analyst, NIST SID) for comments and editorial efforts that greatly improved the manuscript.

Notes

1. In this document the term “e-business” includes electronic systems of information exchange.

2. Energy Service Provider: the functionality of this party is to collect and calculate energy data, and to analyze the calculated energy performance data. Additionally, this party provides the analyzed data to the relevant parties, such as the Manufacturer, Supplier, or Logistics Provider.