TEK715 Economy of transport and distribution lp1 HT19 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Technology Management and Economics

v1.1 2019-09-02 See bottom for revision history

Contact details

Examiner:            
Per Olof Arnäs, Division of Service Management and Logistics
per-olof.arnas@chalmers.se
031-772 1334

Teacher:              
Ceren Altuntas Vural, Division of Service Management and Logistics
ceren.altuntasvural@chalmers.se 
031-772 6903

Course assistant/supervisor:
Per Wide, Division of Service Management and Logistics
per.wide@chalmers.se 
031-772 6860

Guest lecturer:
Magnus Blinge, Scania
magnus.blinge@scania.com 

Student representatives:
Emil Gilenfall, emilgi@student.chalmers.se
Ludvig Josephson, ludjos@student.chalmers.se
Hanna Mahaffey, mahaffey@student.chalmers.se
Anton Schack, Schack.ase@gmail.com

Course purpose

The purpose of the course is to acquire a deeper understanding for the interplay between demand and supply for transport within the macro and micro economic environment. To achieve this purpose, the course focuses on various components that affect the costs for distribution and logistics and the relationships between these costs and the price of logistics services. In addition, the course studies the significant issues that affect the economics of logistics systems such as environment, technological change and trends in shipper preferences.

Content

- Physical and administrative distribution activities
- The actors of the distribution channel, process control and new trends in distribution
- Distribution structures and their individual characteristics
- The construction of distribution structures in a network, integration and complexity
- Informationsystems: from EDI to control and prognosis systems

Organisation

1. Lectures and seminars
2. Assignments
3. Cases
4. Guest lectures and study visits

Examination including compulsory elements

Two mandatory, computer-based midterm tests. Mandatory attendance at guest lectures, study visits and other mandatory tasks. Project work in group.

The midterm tests each give a maximum of 25 points (Part A and B), and the group work gives a maximum of 50 points (Part C).

The threshold for passing each part is 40 %. Each examining part must be passed and all other mandatory parts fulfilled for completion of the course. 

Grading thresholds for final grade (based on the total points):
40p = 3
60p = 4
80p = 5

Short description of the course purpose and content: can be copied from syllabus in Studieportalen. Additional information can be added.

Schedule

See Calendar here in Canvas for details, also see TimeEdit

A graphical representation of the schedule is seen in the table below (based on data from the course start, please consult schedule in calendar for current version):

Course literature

Lumsden, Kenth: Economy of transportation systems, PDF version.

Scientific papers (see separate list).

Lecture material (can be downloaded via Files/Lectures, video summaries of lectures can be found here or via the calendar events).

Case material (can be downloaded via Files/Apelsin case, some material may not be available from the start).

Filmed summaries of some of the lectures, will be published here.

Course design

The course is divided into two main parts, the percentages indicate work load:

• Theory - 50%
  • Lectures and calculation sessions related to the course book (Transport economics) plus guest lectures – 35 %
  • Scientific papers on distribution economics and related topics. Seminars plus preparation of material – 15 %
• Case project, group work – 50 %

A detail of the distribution is described in the chart below:

Groups

Case groups will consist of 5 members each unless special permission is given by examiner. Students can choose groups themselves in Canvas, the groups need to be formed at or immediately after the introductory lecture (the same day the course starts). These groups will do the case project and the literature seminar together.

There will also be 5 case seminar groups, created by the examiner. These groups consist of one member from each project group. The system is explained in the table below:

	Case group 1	Case group 2	Case group 3	...	Case group 10
Seminar group I	Tony Stark	Udo Dirkschneider	Uma Thurman	...	Marie Curie
Seminar group II	Clark Kent	Anne Wilson	Bruce Willis	...	Albert Einstein
Seminar group III	Lois Lane	Joan Jett	Steve Buschemi	...	Stephen Hawking
Seminar group IV	Natalia Romanoff	Rob Halford	Lucy Liu	...	Donna Strickland
Seminar group V	Kara Danvers	Bruce Dickinson	Quentin Tarantino	...	Alexander Fleming

Tony, Clark, Lois, Natalia and Kara in Case group 1 will do the case work and literature seminar together. But in the case seminars, they will all belong to different groups. Tony will join Udo, Uma and Marie. Clark will join Anne, Bruce and Albert etc. This means that each seminar group will have one representative from each of the case groups, thereby making sure that all are give the chance to represent their own case group. 

Lectures and calculation sessions

The course contains one introductory lecture (L0), 5 lectures on theory (L1-5, related to the course book) and three guest lectures (G1-3).

For details regarding individual lectures, see schedule in Calendar.

Here in Canvas, we are using the Quiz tool to add self study assistance regarding some common calculation methods used in the course. To assist there will be open calc sessions (Ca1 and Ca2) where a teacher will be on hand to answer questions. The first part can be found here.

Scientific papers

Apart from the course book, a number of scientific papers are included, see list here. These papers all relate to the course subject areas. Each Case group will choose one paper. It is not possible for the same paper to be chosen by more than one group. The Case group will read and explain the paper to the other groups at a special literature seminar. Groups will meet in pairs to present "their" papers until all groups have heard all presentations. All students are required to present at least once to ensure that all group members prepare for this. The presentations are to be 5 minutes each, you are allowed to use a laptop to show slides, but there will not be a projector. 

Each group shall therefore prepare a short (5 min) presentation and a short summary of the paper. The aim of the literature seminar is that all should have knowledge on the basic ideas and results presented in the papers. Some tips on what to include in a presentation/discussion:

• What is the paper´s basic premise? What do the authors want to tell us?
• Identify 3 central takeaways/insights from reading the paper
• What questions would you like to ask the authors?
• Is the content of the paper in any way related to your case project? How?

To ensure that all are prepared, each group member must present at least once during the seminar.

After the literature seminar, each group writes study material (a summary) for their own paper (minimum 2 pages). All these summaries are collected into one document and published on Canvas. This document is then part of the course material for Exam B. 

Case project

The case ("Apelsin") is a role play where the client is a CEO of a manufacturing company and the case group are consultants hired to help the company. Initially the problems are related to distribution of products to the customers, but as the case progresses, the focus may change. 

Note that this is an open-ended case. There are no simple or single solutions, it all depends on your individual assumptions.

The case consists of two parts (1 and 2) and is centered around two meetings with the company CEO and two case seminars. At the start of the project, all groups get the same data (more data may be provided later):

• A description of the company and its (public) history
• Data files containing freight transactions
• Excerpt from annual report
• Task description, as stated by the company
• A report by the logistics manager of the company that suggests some changes

A special access to the environmental calculation tool NTM Calc can be found here.

The meetings with the CEO are booked in the calendar in Canvas (one meeting per case part). Each group gets 2x15 minutes to ask questions directly to the CEO of the company. It is recommended to record these meetings since there will be lots of data given that may be needed later. Every group needs to submit their questions the day before the meeting with the CEO.

The case seminars are organised differently. As shown in the table above, five seminar groups will be formed. Each of the seminar groups will have members from all of the case groups. The seminars will last 45 minutes.

Every group is expected to submit their case project report on 18 September till 23:59 (part 1) and on 20 October till 23:59 (Part 2). Formatting details for the report are given below. In addition to the case project report, every student, individually, has to submit one question for the case seminar. This question needs to be about the course topics analysed in the case and can't be the same or very similar to other questions that are asked by other students. You will be able to see others' questions in your seminar groups so please read them carefully and avoid repeating questions within your groups. Questions are entered here (Seminar 1 and Seminar 2). Questions for case seminar 1 are due on 19 September till 23:59. Questions for case seminar 2 are due on 20 October till 23:59. 

Every student will be graded both as a group member but also individually based on their contribution in the case project. The report is graded out of 20 points. Each student's performance in the discussion sessions during case seminars will be evaluated out of 4 points. Finally every student is expected to submit a reflection paper about the case project. The reflection paper is maximum 1 page and can be found here and here. Reflection paper is 1 point so in total a student can get a maximum of 25 points from each case project part. Deadline for submitting the reflection paper for case project 1 is 24 September till 23:59. Deadline for submitting the reflection paper for case project 2 is 22 October till 23:59. 

There are also two separate supervisions, book in the calendar in Canvas. 

Reporting guidelines

Each of the two parts of the case project are to be reported in writing as well as in seminar format. The following submissions are expected for the two parts:

• Case Apelsin part 1
• Case Apelsin part 2

The project reports:

Each report has a maximum limit of 6 pages, excluding title page, table of contents, reference page and appendices). Use the space wisely.

• Times New Roman 11pt for normal text
• Single line spacing
• 14 pt for level 1 headings
• 12 pt for level 2 headings
• Use outline numbering of headings
• Use page numbers

The report is submitted in Canvas as a PDF. All submissions will be checked by Urkund (anti-plagiarism). Do not copy text from other sources unless you are directly quoting.

Deadlines for report submission:

• Part 1 - September 18, 23:59
• Part 2 - October 20, 23:59

Changes made since the last occasion

This course is new, previous one was in Swedish (SJO682). However, many aspects of the previous course have been transferred. Some of the changes include:

• Language now in English, translation of previous book used
• The case is now debriefed in seminar format instead of full class presentations
• Extra hand-in for the case parts - individual reflection
• Digital exams - no longer using the Mean Squared Error format

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

- Explain and analyse the cost structures within the different transport modes during logistics operations
- Describe the main physical, financial and information properties in distribution systems.
- Evaluate the effects of new logistics concepts with regards to the efficiency of a distribution system.
- Explain the relationship between cost and price in transportation and logistics.
- Divide transport costs in fixed and variable costs. -Understand resource utilisation from a financial perspective.

Study plan

Examination form

Two mandatory, computer-based midterm tests. Mandatory attendance at guest lectures, study visits and other mandatory tasks. Project work in group.

Project is graded in two parts, maximum 25 points each where 1 point is for an individual reflection paper and 24 points for the report and individual contributions during seminars and project as a whole,

The midterm tests each give a maximum of 25 points (Part A and B), and the group work gives a maximum of 50 points (Part C).

The threshold for passing each part is 40 %. Each examining part must be passed and all other mandatory parts fulfilled for completion of the course. 

Given that the midterm exams are passed, and that the case is approved, the course can be finished before the final exam date, making this date redundant.

Grading thresholds for final grade (based on the total points):

40p = 3
60p = 4
80p = 5

_______________________________________

Revision history

Date	Version	Changes	Changed by
2019-08-26	0.99	All details in place, missing student representatives.	Per Olof Arnäs
2019-08-29	1.0	Added class representatives	Per Olof Arnäs
2019-09-02	1.1	Added links to video lectures	Per Olof Arnäs