Coordination in transportation networks: a Process-Mining-enabled methodology

Coordination and collaboration in transportation are an answer to the current need for lower logistics costs. Yet, scientific literature is still lacking contributions that suggest how to attain such a coordination in a transportation context effectively. This doctoral thesis designs and develops a seven-step methodology for achieving horizontal coordination in transportation networks through Information-Technology-enabled information sharing. The developed approach is mostly based on the exploitation of Process Mining, a set of techniques for monitoring and enhancing business processes drawing from the event log data largely available in today's Information Systems. The methodology was partially validated through a case study in the port of Leghorn. The results proved its usefulness locally in predisposing the export activities for a focused process enhancement and potential alignment with the export process of other ports. This outcome enables coordination among different transportation nodes, paving the way for an improved efficiency of the entire transportation network.