Presentation

As part of the Rev3 (Third Industrial Revolution), the Hauts-de-France region has set itself the mission of becoming a pioneering region for the "world after". The aim of our Chair project is to help build the logistics of this "next world" - green, clean and waste-free logistics, based on the circular economy and enabling sustainable and resilient industry. Our project is in line with the 5 strategic dynamics of the Rev3 as well as the objectives of the "European Green Deal".

Mission

Nowadays, we are witnessing an over-consumption of natural resources as well as major climate change. Industry uses more and more resources, doesn't recycle enough, and generates a lot of waste. Our activities, through their energy consumption and pollution, are having a major impact on the environment and biodiversity.

We're also witnessing an increase in the use of natural resources and climate change.

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the failings of our production and logistics systems, particularly in the Hauts-de-France region, with stock and supply disruptions, production system shutdowns, traceability problems, ... and our dependence on other countries.

At the same time, we are experiencing the advent of new technologies (Smart objects / systems, IoT, Cloud, BigData, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual / Augmented Reality, Digital Twin). This manna of tools and the massive flood of data that accompanies it are fundamentally altering our understanding of the world and represent a great opportunity for the new logistics to be defined in our region.

These findings show that the linear economic model has reached its limits and that we need resilient and sustainable systems associated with new technologies that could help meet these challenges (they are even inevitable). We postulate that the Circular Economy (CE), Short Circuits, the sustainable supply chain and an adequate multimodal transport system are the solution for these challenges facing us.

We have set ourselves the mission of developing applied research and qualifying and practical training around this theme: Research based on:

our laboratory's skills in optimization, modeling, simulation and management of logistics operations
the expertise of Prof. Joseph SARKIS, the world's leading authority on the Circular Economy and sustainable supply chains, and his team.
a high-quality training program nourished by new research findings, aligned with the needs of the socio-economic world and which will be able to deploy these changes in practice.

Owner

The holder of the Chair is Professor Joseph Sarkis, internationally renowned from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in the United States, who perfectly meets the scientific and academic requirements.

He is currently Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at WPI's Foisie Business School. His research interests include sustainability and its link to supply chain management, technology management and the circular economy. He received his Ph.D. in Management Science from the University at Buffalo in 1992.