Sustainability-Driven Food Supply Chain Design and Optimisation through Digital Twinning

The modern food industry faces unprecedented challenges driven by the intersecting needs of increased efficiency, and economic and environmental pressures. With the global population projected to reach 9 billion by 2050, a paradigm shift in how the food supply chain is designed and managed is required. Sustainability-driven solutions encompass a holistic approach accounting not just for efficiency, but also for economic viability, environmental resilience, and social responsibility. This paper presents a sustainability-driven approach for supply chain design and optimisation based on Digital Twin simulations. Through this approach, the meat supply chain in China’s Gansu Province was used as an example to propose development objectives and establish evaluation indicators. Two scenarios were simulated and analysed using the Anylogistix® software to compare indicators and obtain a better blueprint for food supply chain designs that might enhance established sustainability goals and achieve better environmental, economic, and social benefits.