As important as transport is to people, it is also vital to freight and manufacturers

Freight is a good place to begin any discussion of the significance of Systems Engineering within the transport industry. It is something the general public give little or no thought to, unless goods are delayed en route and items such as food, drugs and parcel deliveries are not delivered on time.  

It (freight) refers to the movement of raw materials, fuel (non-pipeline) and merchandise. It is typically intermodal, including as it does multiple interfaces with other transport operators. Efficient freight transportation is essential for productive manufacturing & distribution and contributes to sustainability through integration with green energy sources. 

Ticapampa District, Peru Source: Ernesto Leon for Unsplash

From train to bus 

Systems Engineering (SE) is vital to the successful deployment of future transport systems. Most transport systems are intrinsically dependent on universal enablers such as safety, security and energy. Additionally, many transport system passengers and freight users engage with more than one mode, often as part of the same journey. This means that if user needs are to be fully met, it is important to address cross-modal considerations. 

Freight systems can be seen as a holistic, turnkey system, where the elements to keep traffic moving smoothly through the network – infrastructure signalling, rails, harbours & docking facilities, canals, bridges roads, customs facilities, policing, electronic communication – already exist and require no input from the carrier, who simply turns up and uses the system.

Complexity

SE is already a critical tool for developing the complex systems that characterise turnkey freight solutions (particularly for rail). Modern turnkey systems exhibit increasing levels of interface complexity and new requirements often need to be incorporated in the system lifecycle (e.g., interfaces not necessarily intended by the designers, such as for cybersecurity). Applying SE approaches to a system that will only become more complex as the demands upon it increase, will become increasingly necessary, particularly as society makes the transition from fossil fuel solutions to green energy sources.   

Questions to think on 

All aspects of society are dependent on the movement of freight: this involves marine (sea, river and canal), road, rail and air transport. Looking into the future, what transport system strategy will best address our societal and economic requirements (taking account of advances in technology and the need to achieve climate change targets, change consumer habits, and supply chain resilience)? 

Approaching this from a SE perspective, how can the largely un-integrated freight transport system we have today transition to a more efficient, resilient cross-modal system? It would need to take advantage of technological developments (such as connected and autonomous systems) and have a significantly reduced environmental impact. What are the critical transport policy and strategy decisions that need to be taken to make this real? 

Hard to handle: Hazardous loads on Restricted Roads 

Currently orange plates are used to identify hazardous loads on all road vehicles and are managed through sensitive or restricted locations (e.g. segregation and escorting in tunnels) for safety reasons. This requires additional infrastructure to enable vehicles with hazardous loads to wait in a holding area before entering the restricted area. 

Enforcement of the orange plate restriction process requires a combination of actions (detection, warning, control, inform, direct, resolve). Both manual and automatic interventions are often used (for example, to manage hazardous vehicles approaching the Dartford Tunnel.) These systems are affected by factors such as traffic density (where plates are obscured by additional vehicles) and weather. 

It is critical for a SE approach to properly understand the root cause(s) of a problem before identifying solutions. This is because the solutions proposed may impact only on some of the causes but not all equally. For example, a transponder could be fitted to identify vehicles carrying hazardous loads. This would alert authorities to an attempt to avoid restrictions, although it would not affect incorrectly identified hazardous loads and it is dependent on driver/operator cooperation. 

Alternatively, a complex system to scan vehicles for hazardous material, plus penalties for unidentified hazardous loads, might reduce deliberate attempts to incorrectly identify hazardous loads as safe. 

Moving away from the specific problem, there are several general factors in this case which result in limited opportunity for improvements: 

• Lack of Systems Thinking in analysis of the issue – a tendency to introduce more technology without a full understanding of what it is aiming to achieve.
• Lack of common international standards – should a more complex and expensive technical solution be deployed, development and implementation costs can be controlled by making the solution transferrable and internationally applied.
• Lack of ownership of the problem – in this case it is likely a highway authority would take the lead. This would require international, cross industry collaboration to reach a balanced approach for all stakeholders.

Can Systems Engineering (SE) support efforts to improve freight efficiency in the UK without international agreement? If not, how can SE be used to support global trade?

How can SE be used to support communities’ needs for freight? People need freight for economic security, but they also need safety and a sustainable life-enhancing environment.

How can SE be used by the freight industry to meet all of the needs of the communities it serves?

How can SE support flexibility in the freight industry so that it can respond effectively to future supply chain disruptions caused by incidents, pandemics, climate events and war?

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