Energetic Assessment of the Broiler Poultry Supply Chain

Abstract

In the food supply chain, energy efficiency can be seen as a combination of technological and organizational efficiency, in all the stages of the food system. We describe the process to monitor and manage energy consumption in the supply chain, which consists of four steps: initial assessment, process design, and evaluation and application opportunities. We then apply the methodology to a broiler poultry manufacturer and distributor located in the South of Spain. Once the energy consumptions have been quantified and structured, we apply a comparative analysis to highlight those processes that represent the largest energy costs. We propose several actions for improvement (related to warehousing, inventory management, transportation, reverse logistics, energetic management, etc.), and evaluate the energetic situation of the company ex-ante and ex-post, using the appropriate indicators, in order to determine the degree of energy efficiency of the company.