.png)
COLLECTION NETWORK DESIGN
Source, Consolidate, Transform
WHAT IS A COLLECTION NETWORK?
Whether you source perishable agro products, collect waste for energy or recycling, recover materials for reuse in a circular process, or procure components from manufacturers, the stakes are high:
-
Supply costs represent the majority of your operating expenses
-
Supply volumes are difficult to predict
-
Materials require to involve significant working capital
-
Brutal supply shortage that can compromise the entire business
-
Supply network can require multiple logistics assets to operate effectively and sustainably
Increasingly, collection networks also support closed-loop systems, where materials from post-use or by-product stages are recovered, consolidated, and reintroduced into the supply chain—reducing dependency on virgin inputs and enabling compliance with circularity targets.
The objectives are to minimize total cost, maximize material availability, minimize inventory and minimize carbon footprint. You add resilience to the equation and you get a full picture. It's complex but highly impactful. We take the challenge and help you build a world class inbound supply network for today and probable tomorrows. CEL helps taking a holistic understanding of the stakes and trade-offs at play in your supply network and identify alternative configurations and decision points.
Collection networks are meant to consolidate the volume of materials from multiple sources. They are particularly important in industries where the supply points are numerous and scattered in a wide geographical area.
Thinking Circular?
CEL extends its supply chain and logistics expertise to help clients design closed-loop collection systems—recovering materials from post-use, reuse, or remanufacturing flows. This is not just sustainability—it’s supply chain optimizationfor a circular future.
"
APPLICATIONS
-
Dry wastes: plastic, paper, metal, mineral, textile, etc.
-
Bio wastes: wood, food, by-products, industrial, etc.
-
Chemical wastes
Wastes
-
Fresh produce: Vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood, milk, etc.
-
Dry products: grains, wood, rubber, coffee, ...
Agriculture
-
Postal / Express: letters, parcels collection
-
Last Mile: goods pickup from vendors
Express
& Last Mile
-
Supplier network to consolidation warehouses or consumption points
-
Retail, Manufacturing, Trading
Inbound Materials
Operations
-
Where should our storage facilities be?
-
What storage and transport capacity will be needed?
-
What cost-to-procure is to be expected?
-
What inventory levels would ensure the best ROI?
-
What technology needs to be considered?
-
Which parts of the logistics should we outsource or manage ourselves?
Finance
-
What capital investment will be required, when, for what ROI?
-
What operating expenses are to be expected?
-
What working capital will be mobilised into the inventory? #supplychainrisk #autonomoussupplychain #networkdesign #businesssimulation #distributionnetwork
Sourcing & Procurement
-
Where should we source from as a priority?
-
How can we mitigate risks of shortages due to heterogeneous supplier capabilities?
-
What are buying price and payment terms to sustainably balance our cost and our supplier's profitability?
-
What should we outsource or invest into?
HOW DO COLLECTION NETWORKS OPERATE?
Goods are locally consolidated, controlled and stored in small collection points. Specific inventory levels trigger a transport order to allow goods to be transferred to intermediate consolidation points. Goods can be preprocessed, sorted, and prepared at different stages of the network to ultimately end up in the final consolidation facility where it is further sorted. The final processing step is performed on a continuous basis requiring inflows to ensure a certain amount of buffer stock so there are no interruption of processing activities. Once enough material is processed, it can be redistributed to transformation plants. Collection networks are often subject to chaos as inbound volumes are usually uncertain, yet there is a strong need for supply continuity at the other end. That is where buffer stocks and transfer frequency can make or break a collection network, beyond its physical configuration. In circular systems, such collection networks become the operational backbone for return logistics, waste-to-resource recovery, and product take-back loops—requiring synchronized material flow planning and high adaptability to volume uncertainty.
DESIGNING A COLLECTION NETWORK
Estimating collection volumes
When it is about wastes or agro commodities, volumes are difficult to predict prior to actually collecting them. Yet volume estimates are needed to size and position different facilities involved in the network (collection points, consolidation facilities, processing facilities etc.). By analyzing demographics, econometrics, infrastructure, traffic or any available data, we help you determine volumes, their geographical distribution and potential evolution over time, with clear and solid assumptions. Now you know what, where and how much, the network design exercise can start.
#supplychain #demandsupply #alignment #supplychainconsulting #routetomarket #supplychainplanning #supplychainoptimization
Designing a collection network
Designing a collection network involves multiple factors. First, the goods themselves are subject to transportation, storage and processing requirements. They may also be subject to seasonality or volume uncertainty, thus requiring the development of a dynamic and probabilistic approach to quantifying the inflows of goods in the network. In addition, specific local constraints (e.g. road accessibility) may have significant impacts on the location and size of the facilities. Investment constraints may also prevent fully optimal set up, thus solutions for the best alternative configurations with limited capital are called for.
We will take you from strategic intent to practical answers on where and how big the facilities should be, how they are connected, how many vehicles would be needed, and what revenue and operating cost can be expected for how much capital investment.
Whether designing for forward sourcing or closed-loop recovery, CEL supports clients with volume modeling, infrastructure configuration, and collection cost simulations—tailored for both linear and circular material flows.
CEL collection network design process is as follows:
Material Specification
Source type categorization
Location & mapping
Define collection routing & frequency
Simulate flows and define capacity requirement
Establish processing resource capacity need
Determine clustering approach
Define Consolidation facility location per cluster
Collection cost modelling
Scenario comparison and selection
Estimate Investment and revenue
Compute P&L evolution
Establish ROI
