In a remarkable display of innovation and strategic planning, a graduation project developed by students Karam-Vincent Sweis, Haya Dawkassab, and Zaid Abusharar, under the supervision of Eng. Maram Shqair, achieved first place in the Mechanical/Industrial Engineering category at the 2023 Jordan Engineering Association Graduation Projects Competition, which included participants from all universities across the Kingdom. The project aimed to revolutionize Jordan's tomato supply chain by integrating Green Lean methodology and Agent-Based Modeling within the DMADV framework, a Six Sigma technique for enhancing system efficiency and sustainability.
In the project, a novel data collection methodology was proposed to synthesize unavailable micro-level data from existing macro sources, addressing stochasticity and data scarcity challenges in the tomato supply chain. This algorithm, showcased at the 7th International Conference on Geoinformatics and Data Analysis (ICGDA) in Paris by Karam-Vincent Sweis, is due for publication in the International Conference Proceedings Series by ACM.
The project vision extended to transforming the supply chain into a Closed-Loop system that aligns with Circular Economy principles and Reverse Logistics strategies. This included strategically positioned consolidation centers between farm clusters to optimize logistics, reducing transportation-related costs and distances by more than 30%.
The project’s sustainability integration involved a classification center integrated with a biogas facility, processing post-harvest and consumer tomato waste into renewable energy and organic fertilizer. The feasibility study highlighted the biogas facility's 15% Minimum Attractive Rate of Return (MARR) and a $3.9 million net present value.
The project aims to recycle all tomato-related waste in Jordan by improving the efficiency of the current tomato supply chain using Circular Economy and Closed-Loop Supply Chain strategies. This initiative targets to support and provide debt relief to Jordanian farmers, who are significantly affected by traditional agricultural recycling practices.
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