An evaluation and selection framework for developing logistics centre location decision

The successful realization of Logistics Centre design projects and their sustainability are highly likely dependent on location selection decisions done right at the first sight, level of integration with seaports, transit motorways, railways, and the ability to offer value-added logistics services. It is also dependent on whether their business partnership structure and board of management are PPP (Public-Private Partnership) or similar. The design qualities and necessary specifications of projects listed above emphasized the importance of its existence, and more are all needed to be in line with the preferences and expectations of groups designated as future customers of Logistics Centers which is vitally important for the sustainability of the investment. A comprehensive model has taken the advantage of prioritized customer expectations in comparison with each other for determining the outlines and details of the design together with customer preferences and their reflections on the final design are aimed to be presented for this dissertation. COVID-19 global pandemic realized and unfortunately continued for several years which has created socio-economic shocks for all industries and layers of society, as well. So, this pandemic has also implications on this dissertation. We have experienced severe gaps and weaknesses in many supply chains of several industrial sectors during the global pandemic but also opportunities for innovations in computing, communication, and coordination that successfully highlighted the areas to address them. National health services and other medical institutions have had to serve as facilitators for forming alliances among the hospital systems with other actors of the industrial sectors in the region to collaborate on the procurement and allocation of protective gear and critical equipment. The governments realised the necessity for the transformation of the existing national supply chains to more agile and resilient supply and demand systems and inevitably altered their investment plans in transportation and logistics for the next decade by introducing an almost common motto as forming collaborative approaches to enhance resiliency. It is well accepted by all the decision-makers worldwide that supply chains are the locomotive of an easy return to new normal and growth in the coming days. So, as it is explained in the thesis that customers' requirements needed to be listened to at earlier stages of the projects for checking against the design requirements and design constraints for attaining better decisions and business models which assure secure design procedures and technologies. It is also realised during the global pandemic that there is a need to have newer and better business models envisioning to gather several initiatives of independent shareholders even from geographically distant investments into common platforms of logistics centres to be built as equitable socially and economically and concentrating to details as possible. In this study, an evaluation of the Logistics Centre's design is done in a broader scope covering the determination of the success criteria, features and qualifications identified for the design to be used to decide by the current and future stakeholders. The aim of this dissertation is to provide a particular tool kit that can interactively approach the expectations of stakeholders such as investors and customers, to solve the design problem of a Logistics Centre Project with the appropriate qualifications fulfilling the stakeholders' requirements and preferences. "The design problem" is a broad-based conceptual meaning here in this study that comprises almost all the aspects of a Logistics Centre such as location, stakeholders and project initiators, business model and scope of operations, target customers, value proposition, environmental and social values, key activities being pursued together with the information and communication technologies and their applications and their necessary equipment. A model presented here is totally beneficial for a group of people who plan to invest in a Logistics Centre project which is best suited to their current expectations and/or probable needs in future, as well. As indicated in the research question of the dissertation regarding the aim of accomplishing effective and sustainable investment performance and customer satisfaction through the services offered in Logistics Centres are depended upon regional or intercontinental settlement which is a consequence of the location selection and quality level of services given and the conformance to the customers' expectations there. Besides that, it is also linked with the level of development of the region where the customers live and their pursuit to build their respective roles in world trade. Integration of transportation through the sea, road, air, and railways is an affecting phenomenon and affiliated with the dynamism and commercial understanding of the investor groups and the ethical structure they have developed both within the country and with the others in collaboration abroad, as well. Maritime and air cargo transportation management planning and development processes interrelate to the ultimate success expected from such investments. Nevertheless, it is also reliant on the organization of operational activities and the level of integration with the logistical requirements. There are many approaches available in the literature regarding the same subject under consideration in this thesis, so is the aim to fill the gap that exists in the literature. Although customer preferences and expectations from any Logistics Centre project are considered particularly important factors in developing a related investment model for that specific project, it has been realized that there is a limited number of studies having the researchers involved in studies on the same subject. To address such a deficiency, this dissertation focuses on examining the preferences of investors, customers, and other stakeholders, interpreting them into necessary inputs correctly and then developing an approach for producing the outputs to support the Logistics Centre design studies. The methodology and the analytical techniques being used for research determine the process set forth to collect, combine and evaluate the data required for that research. In this dissertation, the information to be obtained in discussion groups and through structured interviews is compiled and evaluated. A specific approach guided by a House of Quality (HOQ) method is studied for analysing stakeholder expectations in Logistics Centre Design Problem. The concept of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is implemented into a process where hierarchical decision-making techniques that compare the different strategies are applicable. One of the main findings of this dissertation is that Stakeholders in Supply Chain Management seek to decide the investment priorities while establishing the end-to-end visibility in the whole process of the supply chain to increase Productivity and Efficiency while reducing Risk. The Talent Shortage is one of the other obstacles that hinder the stakeholders' endeavour to sustain their ability to boost the resilience of their supply chain, and so business partners and service providers need to employ the talents equipped with new skill sets. They found the ultimate answer to the recent urbanisation trend in logistics that the inevitable transformation in the supply chain is the logistics centre inclusive of all the stakeholders' expectations that fulfilling the design requirements at the holistic connectivity level in supply chain management. It is well understood by them that all the logistics providers need to emphasise traffic congestion difficulties of serving the customers being closer to the megacities or in the cities and loading/unloading tasks to be executed at the last mile. The supply chain matters creating uncertainties in business and causing disruptions in the global logistics which coupled with divergence in sourcing strategies and geopolitical instability drives the stakeholders to implement new business patterns together with the new partnerships which are found again in the logistics centre investments. The sustainability, environmental compliances and all the conditions delivered for the labour who serves through the supply chain need transparency in all the processes shared with the stakeholders, local authorities and their agencies, governmental institutions and the customers which is the case in the contemporary design of logistics centres. Stakeholders' preferences and the decision criteria that affect their supply chain strategies are aiming for operational excellence established in collaboration with all the customers and investors, flexibility in logistics services that meet the changing requirements of all the parties, alternative sourcing opportunities in all aspects and logistics proximity that enforcing to plan to work more closely with the suppliers in the vicinity. The main conclusion and its implications of the dissertation are that there is a definitive need to have practical consequences of modelling approaches that customer requirements to be transformed into customer value with regards to the logistics services. It is a very well-known fact that more than 70% of customers require companies to understand their needs and expectations promptly and produce or serve accordingly. If the reality is not like this, then makes the customers feel that their needs are perceived as irrelevant by the service providers or don't matter at all. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a useful processing instrument that helps designers, decision-makers and even doers decode or rephrases the customer requirements into institutional business model elements. The objective of applying QFD in logistics service design is to assure that the final service design meets up customer requirements. The most influential phenomenon that is concluded here in this dissertation is the proposed methodology and its core algorithm providing the model needed just immediate after realising the requirements. Once all the alternatives are capable of being provided to customers that have been created, we need to assess their fitness to customer preferences before selecting the eligible one. A valuable framework to use when considering the relevance of an option is seeking the suitability – feasibility - acceptability of a proposal successively on a string. In this dissertation, it has also been achieved that such a conceptual framework of strategic management is referenced to evaluate the strategy behind the proposal. Keywords: Voice of Customer, Design Requirements, House of Quality, Decision Making, Intermodal Transportation