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CHAPTER 1
Introduction and Purpose
Most of us have been in a bakery. We remember the wonderful aroma, perusing display
shelves full of goods, our attention drawn to making selections for an upcoming meal, and min-
gling with other patrons doing the same. Depending on how observant we are, we might notice
wheeled carts stacked with trays of fresh product emerging from the kitchen behind the store.
Aside from the carts, the aroma, and the warmth of the ovens, there are few signs of the intense
activity back in the kitchen where the production of goods on display has been underway since
early morning. Anyone who bakes at home knows the work required to obtain ingredients and
What Is a
assemble recipes, while tending to the oven and cleaning up the mess. However, in the bakery
storefront these activities become invisible. The baker's labors make it possible for modern con- Supply Chain?
sumers to concern themselves with other things, like the vital matter of acquiring nourishment A supply chain is a
(delicious no less).
group of human
In today's economy, the baker's concerns about having the necessary ingredients readily at hand and physical entities
are likely to be addressed by a bakery supply company. Like any efficient company in the modern
economy, the baker uses very little space for inventory or long-term storage of ingredients. With including procure-
the high price of urban real estate, retailers and other shop owners use their most valuable square ment specialists,
footage to sell products. To support the wide variety of product selection and quality freshness con-
wholesalers, logis-
sumers demand, bakeries and other retailers in urban settings receive deliveries from warehouses
at least several times a week and, in many cases, every day of the year. tics managers,
Most modern American households get their food and other supplies through retail grocery manufacturing
stores. One of America's top grocery chains interviewed for this research indicated that their fleet plants, distribution
of trucks makes over 40,000 deliveries each week. They provided the following estimate for how
centers, and retail
many days' worth of product they keep on store shelves:
outlets, linked by
· Produce and frozen foods (e.g., meat and fish): 1 to 3 days
· Eggs and dairy: 2 days information and
· Dry goods: up to 7 days transportation in
For an urban grocer, if deliveries are disrupted, fresh and frozen food products will be gone a seamless,inte-
in 1 to 3 days, eggs and milk in 2 days, and store shelves would be empty in a week. City residents grated network
who have endured a hurricane or blizzard know that a run on supplies can empty the shelves
even faster, sending prices through the roof. In everyday life, we simply stop by the store and get to supply goods
what we need, affordably. The simplicity of shopping we enjoy masks the reality that an elabo- or services from
rate 24/7 system of supply sustains it--in the same way that a bakery is sustained by the work the source
back in the kitchen and its supply chain. The success of the system creates the illusion of effort-
lessness; residents can ignore the mechanics, but they depend on the results. of production
As cities become increasingly dense, congested, and complex--those who make decisions about through the point
development, land use, and commercial transport regulation need to understand and support the of consumption.
1
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2 Guidebook for Understanding Urban Goods Movement
goods movement system. There is a need for local decisionmakers to understand how, for exam-
ple, the links of a bakery supply chain affect the certainty citizens enjoy, that when they stop by
the bakery on their way home, they will find the perfect loaf of bread for that upcoming meal.
The research results, supply chain, and best practice case studies presented in this guidebook are
intended to raise the level of understanding so that decisions made by urban governments sup-
port both the needs of freight service providers and the quality of life their citizens expect. The
sections on regulations affecting urban goods movement and putting it all together are intended
to provide insights and direction on what local decisionmakers can do to improve access and
mobility in urban settings.
In today's global More than four out of five people in the United States live and work in urban areas (U.S. Cen-
economy, virtually sus 2009). The Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), the primary source of national- and state-level
data on domestic freight shipments by American establishments, finds that 65 percent of Amer-
anything anyone
ican goods originate or terminate in major urban areas, indicating that the purpose of most trips
consumes comes is somehow created or satisfied in cities (USDOT RITA, BTS). Cities are metropolitan statistical
whole, or in part, areas (MSAs) and combined statistical areas (CSAs). Originations and terminations include gate-
way traffic. Intercity distances are long, suggesting that the freight miles traveled between urban
from somewhere areas are more than the freight miles traveled within them. However, according to the IHS Global
else. To make this Insight Transearch® freight database, most (55 percent) 2008 U.S. empty truck miles occurred
in MSAs. The proportional value of goods originating or terminating in metropolitan areas is
possible, U.S. com-
even higher--81 percent according to the CFS--underscoring the key link between freight flows
panies collectively and urban economies. Various studies have reinforced the economic contribution of freight
spend a trillion activity to urban areas. In Atlanta, the transportation and logistics cluster is the fifth largest in
the nation, the second fastest growing, and a principal pillar of competitiveness in the regional
dollars a year on economy (Porter et al. 2002). In Chicago, the rail-freight industry sector accounts for entire per-
freight logistics; centage points of the metropolitan economic product, and ports frequently justify their existence
based on economic impacts to regional economies. Cities that are not big freight generators or
nearly 10 percent
shipping hubs may attribute less importance to freight activity, but nationwide logistics accounts
of the nation's GDP, for between 9 and 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in normal conditions, making it
or nearly 10 cents an activity that should always be worthy of attention (Wilson 2010). Even so, statistics and num-
bers can understate the importance of goods movement in our lives, because the freight system
for every dollar, in does two related but distinct things: (1) it enables economic activity of the sort often reported in
the economy. statistics and (2) it delivers supplies to the citizenry that support their existence. It is the latter
aspect that is taken for granted so easily, whose inefficiencies are swallowed as part of the high
--20th Annual State of cost of city living, and whose disruptions become matters of urgency in just days.
Logistics Report, pre-
The efficient movements of goods in urban areas occupy a crucial position in the functioning
pared by Rosalyn Wilson of cities, and are an appropriate concern for the public agencies that manage them. This guide-
of Delcan for Council of book is designed to help public agencies address such responsibilities.
Supply Chain Manage-
For the purposes of this guidebook, the terms "freight" and "goods movement" are used inter-
ment Professionals and changeably. At times there have been attempts to distinguish between the different freight needs
presented at the National of "goods" (property, merchandise, or wares being transported) and the freight needs of "ser-
Press Club, July 17, 2009. vices" (transportation of materials supplying service industries like construction, or activities
associated with services like waste management, utilities, and healthcare). This guidebook
touches briefly on distinctions between goods and services, but in general the term freight should
be interpreted as meaning the transportation of both goods and services.
It is worth recognizing at the outset of this discussion that "goods movement" in a metropol-
itan context is likely to mean very different things to different members of society that make up
the urban fabric, as follows:
· To a business, metropolitan regions are highly concentrated production/consumption envi-
ronments. Consumer demands for goods and services are transmitted to facilities that source,
