Professor Andrew Lyons M.Eng., Ph.D.

Research Overview

Through the Centre for Supply Chain Research (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/management/research/centres/cscr/), OSCM research coalesces around five specific themes: transport and logistics; agri-food supply chains; sustainable supply chains; agile operations; supply chain technologies, analytics and risk. The group has a consistent 25-strong cohort of Graduate Teaching Fellows, PhD students and funded PDRAs, and established research alliances with academics and centres of excellence in Cambridge, Dalian Maritime, Hong Kong Polytechnic, Michigan State, Tianjin, Valencia and Zhejiang universities.

My own expertise and research interests are broadly in the area operations and supply chain management and design. This includes supply strategy and the design of supply chain performance measurement systems, the scrutiny of supply chain practices through innovative mapping and modelling techniques, the examination of the effectiveness of lean practices, digital strategy development and analytics to support growth in SMEs, and the examination of mass customisation and variety management challenges. I have published over 60 articles and Customer-Driven Supply Chains, a book published in 2012. I am visiting professor at the University of Valencia, a member of the Chartered Institute of Logistocs & Transport (CILT) and have been a member of the organising committee for several international conferences. I have supervised over 20 PhD students.

My current, externally-funded, and most-prominent research concerns an EC Interreg-funded project looking to reduce the environmental footprint of seafood supply chains, a NERC-funded project on the business model and sustainability implications of improving the circularity of plastic packaging, an H2020-funded project on the integration of local and global food supply chains, and an ERDF-funded project on the introduction of industry 4.0 technologies to SMEs. In addition, I have led major research and knowledge exchange projects funded by the EPSRC, EC FP7, EC H2020. ERDF, TSB, BEIS, the Royal Society and the UK Ministry of Defence.