ITS experimental applications in a freight interchange platform

The logistics and transportation sectors research new ways, new strategies and new technologies to improve the efficiency and the competitiveness, reducing the waste and increasing the services quality. The ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) allow an efficient management of the logistics processes and represent useful tools for companies to produce new knowledge, new organizational models and new business cultures in order to carry out competitive advantage. The paper aims to highlight the ITS contribution in the management of the freight interchange nodes. Four case studies are proposed, in which the current system is compared with some project scenarios involving ITS in the logistics activities. The reference system is an agri-food platform and the study concerns the processes related to the inbound activities. The analysis has been carried out using a dynamic, stochastic, discrete-event micro-simulation model, conveniently specified and calibrated.