and the establishment of temporary infrastructure
How can modular logistics improve the sustainable
managerial processes of the Olympic Games?
STUDENT PAPER
By Maxime HANRION NICHOLLS, Baki ALTUN, Ludovic PIRES DOS SANTOS, Hamza EL MOUMNI
The Graduate School of Industrial Logistics – ESLI
(l’École supérieure de logistique industrielle – ESLI)
Paris, France
ABSTRACT
Every four years, the Olympics are hosted in a different country. As they are becoming bigger and more diverse through the years, their impact is growing deeper and greater on the economic, environmental and the political status quo of the hosting country. Therefore, one of the main challenges of these countries is to guaranty the event’s performance while planning a sustainable and profitable outcome. That being said, within the context of the ongoing digitalization & robotization of business logistics, engineers have started to imagine alternatives to palliate to the non-sustainable infrastructures that are being built each year to welcome the Olympics. Thus, these massive innovations could revolutionize the organization as well as the return on investment of the Olympic Games.
Key words: Logistic demand, Modular logistic, Olympic Games, Sustainable management, Construction innovation, Olympic waste management, Decarbonization
INTRODUCTION
The Olympic Games which originated in ancient Greece, were revived in 1896 in Athens. The world’s preeminent sporting competition welcomed to its first modern edition, 280 participants from 12 nations competing in 43 events. In 2024, this legendary event will take place in Paris for the 2nd time since 1900. Paris will welcome over 10 500 athletes from 206 nations competing in over 30 disciplines and almost 10 million visitors. The skyrocketing number of people involved in the games have an enormous impact on the political, economic, social and environmental scale of every country that is chosen to host the competition.
This competition has to face more challenges every four years. The risk of the faded future of the Olympic installations all over the world has become a real problem. These risks have always had a bad impact on the environment and can lead countries to severe economic situations. It is obvious that since the late 19th century, a significant progress has been made in terms of technology and its application on every field of activity such as logistics or construction. Thus a greener and more sustainable approach of the managerial processes of the Olympic Games organization must be reviewed if we don’t want the hosting countries to be affected by the biggest event in the world therefore, we can raise the following question: How can modular logistics improve the sustainable managerial processes of the Olympic Games?
In order to answer this question, we will first bring to the fore the Olympic Games and its challenges. We will then introduce the modular logistics sector via a literature review. Finally, we will deduct from the research the benefits and the limits that can come out of implementing this type of logistics to the event.
I. THE OLYMPIC GAMES AND ITS CHALLENGES
Impacts of Olympic Games on host cities have been classified into five types by Pitts and Liao (2009): physical and environmental, socio-economic, socio-political, urban displacement, and socio-cultural and socio-psychological impacts. In this section we will talk about the political, environmental, social and economical aspects.
A. THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS
Political aspect
Speaking at the meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha, President Bach said ‘’ […] we are living in a diverse world where your neighbor may think differently and may not feel the same way and may have a different opinion. Respect your neighbor, respect all the members of the Olympic family and don’t take political sides. Concentrate on the unity of sport, concentrate on what unites us, and not on what divides us or those who try to divide us.” (Bach, 2019). For the president of the IOC, political neutrality is key during the Olympics.
More than neutrality, the Games are sometimes seeking for temporary peace as in the Greek tradition of the Olympic Truce or Ekecheira, under the pretext of the unifying character of sport. For example, in 1917, the seat of the IOC was transferred to Lausanne so it was not involved in the Franco-German conflict. Franco-German conflict.
The competition must be a neutral ground where athletes of all nations can compete in peace. According to Pascal Boniface, this apolitism is a myth because the very objective of the IOC to promote peace is political.
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Editor’s note: This paper was prepared for the course Supply Chain Tools and Project Management in the Masters’ program in Secured & Intelligent Logistics – option: Defense and Private-Public ecosystems, l’École supérieure de logistique industrielle – ESLI, Paris campus. Reviewed by Mohamad-Fadl HARAKE, Affiliate Professor at ESLI Paris – Director of International Academic Affairs of GIP CEI and Academic Head of Logistics Programs – Paris Campus.
How to cite this paper: Hanrion, M., Altun, B., Dos Santos Pires, L., El Moumni, H. (2022), The Tetris of the Olympic Games and its establishment of temporary infrastructure, PM World Journal, Vol. XI, Issue VII, July. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/pmwj119-Jul2022-Nichols-Altun-DosSantos-ElMoumni-temporary-infrastructure-for-olympic-games.pdf
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Maxime HANRION NICHOLLS
Paris, France
Maxime Hanrion Nicholls is a student at ESLI Paris, MSc Industrial Logistics and Purchasing Management (MLAI). After a bachelor’s degree in Logistics management where he learned every logistic problem in warehouse management, supply chain strategy, accounting and transport, he decided to continue his studies path by applying at ESLI Paris. Now he focuses more on industrial logistics. He also had the opportunity to develop his professional experiences through 5 years in the French army and also 2 years in the agri-food industry as sales administration manager. He can be contacted at mhanrionnicholls@etu.campus-redon-industries.com
Mohammed Hamza EL MOUMNI
Paris, France
Mohammed Hamza ElmoumnI is a student at ESLI Paris in Master 2 MLAI (Manager of Logistics and Industrial Purchasing) in the field of intelligent secure logistics. He has an engineering background in industrial mechanical engineering and through this training has come to know the importance of logistics in the industrial field. He can be contacted at melmoumni@etu.campus-redon-industries.com
Baki ALTUN
Paris, France
Baki Altun is a student at ESLI Paris, MSc Industrial Logistics and Purchasing Management (MLAI). He has a bachelor’s degree specialized in the field of logistics; he also got a high diploma in transport . Today he is an ATC engineer at Siemens mobility for the “Grand Paris Express” project. He can be contacted at baltun@etu.campus-redon-industries.com
Ludovic PIRES DOS SANTOS
Paris, France
Ludovic Pires Dos Santos is a student at ESLI Paris, MSc Industrial Logistics and Purchasing Management (MLAI) in France. After a bachelor’s degree in Logistics management at AFTRAL – ISTELI, he decided to continue to study in this field of activity. He is a project manager at Castorama – FRANCE. He can be contacted at lpiresdossantos@etu.campus-redon-industries.com
