Food has a fundamental position in society, ensuring health, happiness and political stability. Consequently, the management of food chains and networks is one of the most important aspects of the modern food industry. Yet food is difficult to handle along long supply chains, with a limited window for storage and handling time, and the risk of spoiling if incorrectly handled or processed. These issues can lead to logistical problems that can severely affect product quality and freshness. Intelligent Agrifood Chains and Networks offers a timely discussion of the current state of food logistics, and indicates the major ICT problems that can occur during production, warehousing, transportation and retailing. Emphasis is given to new technologies and intelligent systems that are able to process time-dependent information, handle emergencies, and support logistics operations in food management. In particular, the authors show how telematics and RFID can be implemented in the supply chain. The book also includes real-life case studies, in which actual food logistics problems and their solutions are presented, demonstrating how systemic and logistics approaches may be combined. The book is directed at academics, researchers, and students seeking the necessary background in terms of the interplay between the food supply chain and ICT. Its comprehensive review of current issues in the food supply chain will be of interest to managers and technicians working in the food industry, while its technological focus will be invaluable to food scientists and technologists working in research and industry environments.

Table of Contents:
Foreword. Contributors. 1 Introduction (Michael Bourlakis, Ilias Vlachos and Vasileios Zeimpekis). 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Scope and structure of this book. 1.3 Conclusions. 2 Food and Drink Manufacturing and the Role of ICT (Fintan Clear). 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Industry structure. 2.3 Food consumer trends and food legislation. 2.4 Information systems and food manufacturing. 2.5 Food manufacturing and supply chains. 2.6 Conclusion. 3 Retail Technologies in the Agrifood Chain (Michael Bourlakis). 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Food retail logistics. 3.3 Information technology in food retail logistics. 3.4 Conclusions. 4 Basic Principles for Effective Warehousing and Distribution of Perishable Goods in the Urban Environment: Current Status, Advanced Technologies and Future Trends (Nikolaos Stragas and Vasileios Zeimpekis). 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 The nature of perishable foods. 4.3 Warehousing operations. 4.4 Distribution process. 4.5 New technologies in warehousing and distribution. 4.6 Conclusions and future trends. 5 Emerging Footprint Technologies in Agriculture, from Field to Farm Gate (Spyros Fountas, Thomas Bartzanas and Dionysis Bochtis). 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Precision agriculture. 5.3 Robotics in agriculture. 5.4 Fleet management. 5.5 ICT technologies in agriculture. 6 Telematics for Efficient Transportation and Distribution of Agrifood Products (Charalambos A. Marentakis). 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Technological prerequisites for telematics. 6.3 Application of telematics in freight transport and distribution. 6.4 Investing in value of information. 6.5 Distribution of agrifood products: current status and needs. 6.6 The use of telematics in distribution of agrifood products. 6.7 Potential for advanced and value-adding applications. 7 RFID: An Emerging Paradigm for the Agrifood Supply Chain (Louis A. Lefebvre, Linda Castro and Élisabeth Lefebvre). 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 RFID technology. 7.3 RFID potential in the agrifood supply chain. 7.4 RFID and traceability processes in the agrifood supply chain. 7.5 RFID and quality control management processes. 7.6 RFID and manufacturing processes. 7.7 RFID and warehouse and distribution processes. 7.8 RFID and asset management processes. 7.9 RFID and point of sales processes. 7.10 Conclusions. 8 Food Quality and Safety (Ilias Vlachos). 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Food supply-chain management. 8.3 Information systems. 8.4 Case studies. 8.5 Discussion. 9 Traceability in Agrifood Chains (Ulla Lehtinen). 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Traceability and food safety legislation. 9.3 Traceability systems. 9.4 Traceability techniques. 10 E-business Applications in the European Food and Beverages Industry: Evidence from the Wine Sector (Michael Bourlakis and Ilias Vlachos). 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 E-business applications: a typology. 10.3 E-business applications for agriculture and the food industry. 10.4 The role and use of ICT in the European food and beverages sector. 10.5 Precision vine growing with satellite imagery. 10.6 Conclusions. 11 The Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on the Organisational Performance of Microenterprises: Evidence from Greece (Ilias Vlachos and Panayiotis Chondros). 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 Literature. 11.3 Methodology. 11.4 Results. 11.5 Discussion. 11.6 Managerial implications. 11.7 Limitations/future research. 11.8 Conclusion. 12 Warehouse Technologies in Retail Operations: the Case of Voice Picking (Aristides Matopoulos). 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 Retail warehouse operations. 12.3 The AB Vassilopoulos case study. 12.4 Conclusions. 13 Leveraging RFID-enabled Traceability for the Food Industry: a Case Study (Angeliki Karagiannaki and Katerina Pramatari). 13.1 Introduction. 13.2 Background. 13.3 The context. 13.4 Alternative RFID implementations. 13.5 The selected RFID project. 13.6 The pilot implementation. 13.7 Conclusions. 14 Intelligent Agrifood Chains and Networks: Current Status, Future Trends and Real-life Cases from Japan (Mihály Vörös and Masahiko Gemma). 14.1 Introduction. 14.2 General concepts and roles of the local food systems for improvement of quality of life. 14.3 Development of local food systems in Japan. 14.4 Examples of local food systems in Japan. 14.5 Consumer support for local markets. 14.6 Conclusions. 15 The Use of Telematics in the Daily Distribution of Perishable Goods: The Case of NIKAS SA (Vasileios Zeimpekis). 15.1 Introduction. 15.2 Background. 15.3 A real-time fleet-management system for dynamic incident handling. 15.4 Simulation testing. 15.5 Real-life testing. 15.6 Conclusions. 16 RFID-enabled Visibility in a Dairy Distribution Network (Daniel Hellström and Henrik Pålsson). 16.1 Introduction. 16.2 Achieving visibility. 16.3 Jönköping dairy implementation. 16.4 Cost-benefit analysis with ROI calculations and sensitivity analysis. 16.5 Lessons learned. 16.6 Concluding discussion. 17 Conclusions (Michael Bourlakis, Ilias Vlachos and Vasileios Zeimpekis). 17.1 Evolution of the food chain. 17.2 Technologies in the food chain, key benefits and implications. 17.3 Concluding remarks. Index.