On December 5-6, 2019, the 20th Scientific Conference Modelling of logistics processes and systems organized by the Department of Logistics of the University of Gdańsk and PKP Cargo SA took place at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk. This annual scientific meeting of representatives of the world of science, politics and business practice was held under the honorary patronage of the Rector of the University of Gdańsk, the Minister of Infrastructure, as well as the Polish Chamber of Railway Equipment Producers and Railway Service Providers and the Luxtorpeda 2.0 Cluster and under the media patronage of “Intermodal News”, „Kapitał Polski” and „Raport Kolejowy”.
During the inauguration, after the guests were welcomed by the organizers, professor Mirosław Chaberek - Head of the Logistics Department of the University of Gdańsk and Czesław Warsewicz - President of the Management Board of PKP Cargo S.A., professor Aneta Oniszczuk-Jastrząbek - Vice-Rector for IT Development and Internationalisation, , has officially opened the conference, as well as professor Monika Bąk - Dean of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk. Then, letters addressed to conference participants sent by professor Piotr Gliński - Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Andrzej Adamczyk - Minister of Infrastructure, Ignacy Góra, PhD - President of the Office of Rail Transport and Krzysztof Mamiński, President of the Management Board of PKP S.A. Andrzej Bittel - Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Mirosław Antonowicz, PhD - Member of the Management Board of PKP S.A. also took part in the inauguration, and in their speeches they appreciated the importance of the conference in building the cooperation between the world of science and economic practice.
The first in the substantive part was the debate entitled Practice and science in the development of the National Logistics Provider PKP Cargo S.A. in the Strategy for responsible development, which aimed to:
- identifying logistic barriers in the domestic economy and in the development of international cooperation as the key factors limiting the country's development in accordance with the Strategy for responsible development,
- defining the tasks of the logistics provider in the 3PL and 4PL models,
- outlining goals, tasks, functions of the national logistics provider,
- determining the opportunities and barriers of PKP Cargo in the development of the country's logistics infrastructure,
- defining the economic and social potential benefits and threats to the national logistics provider 's project.
On the first day there was also a moderated discussion entitled: Reflections on logistics in the context of the 20th anniversary of the Conference: Modelling of logistics processes and systems, in which memories of regular guests of Sopot logistics conferences dominated. The final of this part was the concert of the Academic Choir of the University of Gdańsk, which also had a memorial and jubilee character. The pieces performed referred to both the 20th anniversary of the conference and the 50th anniversary of the University of Gdańsk.
On the second day, three plenary sessions were held to present innovative logistics concepts by representatives of academic centers dealing with logistics, and innovative logistics tools used in the business practice by representatives of the companies.
The world of science was represented, among others, by the Universities of Economics in Katowice, Kraków, Poznań and Wrocław, University of Gdańsk, University of Łódź, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Opole University, University of Szczecin, University of Warsaw, Maritime University of Gdynia, Maritime University of Szczecin , Ignatianum Academy in Krakow, Koźminski University, Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology, Poznań University of Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Wrocław University of Technology, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin and WSB University in Toruń,
The business practice environment was represented by such companies as LPP S.A., PKP Szybka Kolej Miejska w Trójmieście Sp. z o.o., Zakład Automatyki i Urzadzeń Pomiarowych AREX Sp. z o.o., Raben Logistics Polska Sp. z o.o., Uni-logistics Sp. z o.o. and ELSE Systemy Informatyczne.
At the end of the conference, Leszek Reszka, PhD - the Scientific Secretary of the Conference together with the students of the Students’ Logistics Club conducted a draw of gifts funded by the conference partners.
We thank all participants for coming and invite everyone to the next, 21st conference, which we plan to organize at the beginning of December 2020.
Leszek Reszka
