Physical internet: simulation

The emergent Physical Internet initiative is currently active in five countries: Canada, France, Germany, North America and Switzerland. In Switzerland, TraCE coordinates and initiates research activities and projects in relationship with Physical Internet.

So far, three of our laboratories already conduct research on this topic, namely the Transport and Mobility Laboratory (Prof. Bierlaire), the Laboratory for Production Management & Processes (Prof. Glardon) and the Logistics, Economy and Management Chair (Prof. Wieser).

In collaboration with Prof. Montreuil (Interuniversity Research Center on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation, Laval University, Canada) and Prof. Ballot (Scientific Management Center, Mines ParisTech, France), our laboratories are working on the development of a simulation tool that will demonstrate the potential contribution of the Physical Internet in solving logistics issues, with an application to the transport and distribution of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in France.

This project will last 18 months and is funded by the “Program of research, experimentation and innovation in land transport” (PREDIT) of the French Ministry for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning.

The project won the “International cooperation” Prize from PREDIT on 7 October 2013 at Paris. See Mines ParisTech press release.

Principal investigator Prof. Rémy Glardon
Project managers Michel Pouly, Michaël Thémans
Sponsor PREDIT (France)
Period 2010-2011 (18 months)
Laboratories LGPP, TRANSP-OR, LEM
External collaboration Ecole des Mines de Paris (MINES ParisTech), CIRRELT, Université Laval
Collaboration TRACE