Transportation & Logistics

Fayetteville through the University of Arkansas has a long-standing tradition in the logistics area through advanced research activities and educational programs. Logistics research has been catapulted into prominence by driving forces such as e-commerce demand to deliver products in a timely fashion and the reality that competitive edges are now realized through execution and delivery in a complex multi-channel supply chain. Millions of dollars of industry-funded research sponsorships have led to breakthroughs by the university in material handling and logistics, leading-edge methodologies in supply-chain management, shop floor logistics, and vehicle dispatching. Research is led by the following university centers:

  • The Supply Chain Management Research Center
  • Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution
  • The Mack Blackwell Transportation Center
Supply Chain Management Research Center

The Supply Chain Management Research Center, an outreach service of the Walton College, serves the direct link between the private sector and the university supply chain resources. The Center works collaboratively inside and outside the University of Arkansas with many organizations including:

  • Colgate-Palmolive
  • FedEx Corporation
  • General Mills
  • J.B. Hunt Transport
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Procter & Gamble
  • Tyson Foods, Inc
  • Wal-Mart Stores, Inc

The goal of Supply Chain Management Research Center is to further supply chain education, through activities such as conferences, custom tailored programs, and specific seminars and courses in conjunction with the Center for Management and Executive Development.

Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution

The Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution (CELDi) is a multi-university, multi-disciplinary National Science Foundation-sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. Research endeavors are driven and sponsored by representatives from a broad range of member organizations, including manufacturing, maintenance, distribution, transportation, information technology, and consulting. CELDi helps industry partners excel by leveraging their supply chain to achieve a distinguishable, sustainable difference. Member companies realize a measurable `return` on their investment by creating competitive value chains, in terms of cost and service quality. Through collaborative applied research with industry, technology transfer, and education, CELDi is a catalyst for developing the engineering logistics methodology necessary for optimizing logistics value chains.

The Mack Blackwell Transportation Center

The Mack Blackwell Transportation Center (MBTC) is one of only three national study centers for education and research in rural transportation established by the U.S Department of Transportation. The U.S Deparment of Transportation selected the University of Arkansas as the site for the Center because the state's geographic diversity and because Arkansas' multimodal transportation system provide a natural laboratory for rural transportation studies. Since the Center's establishment in 1992, MBTC's program has taken full advantage of Arkansas' geographic variety, its diverse transportation system and its central location in the U.S.

To date, MBTC has funded more than 100 transportation research studies from a variety of disciplines. Sponsored research includes all modes of transportation (water, highway, rail, and air) and their connections. Studies are interdisciplinary and currently involve researchers in colleges of engineering, agriculture, business administration, and arts and sciences.

By contributing to improved systems of roads, waterways, railroads and airways, MBTC helps industry and institution move people and goods to their destinations more efficiently and economically.