Business Commons^™

Toward Sustainability, High Density And Short Response Time By Live-Cube Storage Systems, Nima Zaerpour, Yugang Yu, René De Koster

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

This paper studies random storage in a live-cube storage system where loads are stored multi-deep. Although such storage systems are still rare, they are increasingly used, for example in automated car parking systems. Each load is accessible individually and can be moved to a lift on every level of the system in x- and y-directions by a shuttle as long as an open slot is available next to it, comparable to Sam Loyd’s sliding puzzles. A lift moves the loads across different levels in z-direction. We derive the expected travel time of a random load from its storage location to …

Open Location Management In Automated Warehousing Systems, Yugang Yu, René De Koster

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

A warehouse needs to have sufficient open locations to be able to deal with the change of item inventory levels, but due to ongoing storage and retrieval processes, open locations usually spread over storage areas. Unfavorable positions of open locations negatively impact the average load retrieval times. This paper presents a new method to manage these open locations such that the average system travel time for processing a block of storage and retrieval jobs in an automated warehousing system is minimized. We introduce the effective storage area (ESA), a well-defined part of the locations closest to the depot; where only …

Analysis Of Material Handling Systems Based On Discrete Time Design Modules, Furmans Kai, Ozden Eda, Stoll Judith, Epp Martin, Schmidt Thorsten, Meinhardt Ingolf, Schulze Frank

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

In this paper, we present a method for the performance evaluation of material handling systems in an early planning stage. We are mapping typical material handling elements onto stochastic analytical models. Our intention is to build a toolbox of material handling modules that allows a fast analysis of typical continuous conveying systems. The tool should enable the identification of bottlenecks and the computation of lead time distributions for intra-logistic systems.

Humanitarian Logistics – The First Week, Selina Begum, Bill Ferrell

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

Decisions made on material flow during the first week of a natural disaster are critical for victims. Currently, decision makers appears to be making important choices based on experience and intuition with little or no support from quantitative approaches because they do not exist. This research proposes a paradigm and offers two supporting models that will assist decision makers regarding the routing of materials during the first week of a disaster. It explicitly includes information regarding the victims’ needs and the degree to which routes are available in a quantitative way that allows updating as information improves. The paradigm involves …

Go Niche Or Go Home: Influence Maximization In The Presence Of Strong Opponent, Long Foong Liow

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In hotly contested product categories dominated by a few powerful firms, it is quite common for weaker or late entrants to focus only on particular segments of the whole market. The rationale for such strategy is intuitive: to avoid direct confrontation with heavy-weight firms, and to concentrate in segments where these weaker firms have comparative advantages. In marketing, this is what people called “go niche or go home”. The niche-building strategy may rely on “homophily”, which implies that consumers in a particular market segment might possess certain set of attributes that cause them to appreciate certain products better (in other …

Robust Material Handling System Design Based On The Risk Versus Cost Tradeoff, Marc Goetschalckx, Edward Huang, Pratik Mital

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

The design and planning of major material handling systems belongs to the class of systems design problems under uncertainty. The overall structure of the system is decided during the current design stage, while the values of the future conditions and the future planning decisions are not known with certainty. Typically the future uncertainty is modeled through a number of scenarios and each scenario has an individual timediscounted total system cost. The overall performance of the material handling system is characterized by the distribution of these scenario costs. The central tendency of the cost distribution is almost always computed as the …

Column Generation For The Container Relocation Problem, Elisabeth Zehendner, Dominique Feillet

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

Container terminals offer transfer facilities to move containers from vessels to trucks, trains and barges and vice versa. Within the terminal the container yard serves as a temporary buffer where incoming containers are piled up in stacks. Only the topmost container of each stack can be accessed. If another container has to be retrieved, containers stored above it must be relocated first. Containers need to be transported to a ship or to trucks in a predefined sequence as fast as possible. Generally, this sequence does not match the stacking order within the yard. Therefore, a sequence of retrieval and relocation …

An Unstable Balance: Exploration, Exploitation, And Innovation Decline During Development, Craig Randall

2012

he ability to innovate is considered central to firm performance and the consensus is that firms should balance exploration and exploitation innovation to succeed. Studies using an exploration/exploitation perspective have gained increasing interest, and have generally concluded that exploration innovation rates are too low. Researchers have concentrated on the early aspects of the innovation planning process: the Search, Portfolio Selection, and Design Phase, and have also studied the benefits of pursuing a serial or parallel pursuit of exploration and exploitation. Largely missing from exploration/exploitation innovation literature, however, is the development phase—which is among the longest and resource intensive phases of …

Collaborative Freight Transportation To Improve Efficiency And Sustainability, Kimberly P. Ellis, Steven Roesch, Russell D. Meller

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

Collaborative distribution offers the potential for substantial improvements in freight transportation. As collaboration increases, more loads are available for sharing among transportation service providers, leading to more fully loaded trailers that travel fewer miles and reduce the cost per load on average. In this study, we develop approaches to analyze improvements in key performance measures as collaboration increases in freight transportation. For the data sets analyzed, improvements include a 34% increase in trailer fullness, a 29% reduction in average costs per load, and a 25% decrease in average miles per load. Based on this analysis, collaboration provides substantial improvements for …

Using Buffers And Work-Sharing For Minimizing Makespan Of Small Batches In Assembly Lines Under Learning Effects, Yossi Bukchin, Efrat Wexler

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

The effect of workers’ learning curve on production rate in manual assembly lines is significant when producing relatively small batches of different products. This research analyzes this effect and suggests applying work-sharing among the workers in such an environment to improve the time to complete the batch, namely, the makespan. Work-sharing refers to a situation where adjacent workers help each other in order to reduce idle times caused by blockage and starvation. The effect of work-sharing and existence of buffers on the makespan is examined and compared to a baseline situation, with no work-sharing and buffers. We present mixedinteger linear-programing …

A Study On Storage Allocation In An Automated Semiconductor Manufacturing Facility, St´Ephane Dauz`Ere-P´Er`Es, Claude Yugma, Ahmed Ben Chaabane, Ahmed Ben Chaabane, Lionel Rulli`Ere, Gilles Lamiable

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

This paper deals with the allocation of storage capacity in the automated material handling environment of a semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility. The impact of the allocation of stokers to machines in semiconductor fabrication facilities (fabs) is very little studied, although it significantly impacts the efficiency of the Automated Material Handling System (AMHS). After motivating and describing the problem of allocating unitary stokers to machines, a first local approach is discussed. We then propose a Mixed Integer linear Programming model to solve the global problem with two objectives: Minimizing the total maximum travel distance of vehicles and balancing the utilization of …

Estimating Travel Distances And Optimizing Product Placement For Dedicated Warehouses With Manual Picking, Uday Venkatadri, Sachin Kubasad

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

This paper looks at the problem of estimating travel distances for rectangular warehouse sections with manual picking. This study was motivated by a real-life case in the food and beverage industry where case picking occurred in a rectangular section of the warehouse In particular, we are interested in estimating the distance travelled by an order picker whose picking route begins and ends at a single depot. One of the assumptions in many distance approximation papers is that any location is equally likely to be picked. However, this assumption is unrealistic in the case of dedicated warehouse layout, where products are …

Economic Modeling & Optimization Of A Region Specific Multi-Feedstock Biorefinery Supply Chain, William H. Faulkner

Theses and Dissertations--Manufacturing Systems Engineering

The objective of this thesis is to include strategic and tactical level decisions into the biorefinery supply chain design for a specific region while comparing multiple conversion technologies and biomass feedstocks. The allocation of biomass feedstocks, products, and the respective supply chain configuration locations are determined while ensuring the regions monthly biomass availability and product market demand constraints are met. This research considers all actions required to bring the bio-based products to market from harvesting, storing, and processing the biomass to market distribution. Two different conversion technologies are chosen for comparison: one advanced conversion technology and one conventional technology. Potential …

Factors Impacting Technology Transfer: The Maquiladora Industry In Yucatan, Mexico, Ana Maria Canto, Carlos Blanco, Pilar Pazos

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Technology transfer and knowledge transfer are the building blocks for innovation, efficiency and increased competitiveness. The topic of technology transfer in the context of multinational companies has been the focus of technology management researchers for well over two decades. Developing countries housing twin plans have been exposed to technology transfer from very diverse countries with different approaches to the technology transfer process and different levels of success. This cultural and national diversity adds an additional level of complexity to the technology transfer domain that has been largely unexplored. This paper will explore critical factors that had an impact in successful …

Securing Access To Lower-Cost Talent Globally: The Dynamics Of Active Embedding And Field Structuration, Stephan Manning, Joerg Sydow, Arnold Windeler

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This article examines how multinational corporations (MNCs) shape institutional conditions in emerging economies to secure access to high-skilled, yet lower-cost science and engineering talent. Based on two in-depth case studies of engineering offshoring projects of German automotive suppliers in Romania and China we analyze how MNCs engage in ‘active embedding’ by aligning local institutional conditions with global offshoring strategies and operational needs. MNCs thereby contribute to the structuration of field relations and practices of sourcing knowledge-intensive work from globally dispersed locations.Our findings stress the importance of institutional processes across geographic boundaries that regulate and get shaped by MNC activities.

A Multi-Objective Optimization Approach For Designing Automated Warehouses, Tone Lerher, Matej Borovinšek, Iztok Potrč, Matjaž Šraml

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

A multi objective optimization of automated warehouses is discussed and evaluated in present paper. Since most of researchers in material handling community had performed optimization of decision variables with single objective function only (usually named with minimum travel time, maximum throughput capacity, minimum cost, etc.), the multi objective optimization (travel time – cost – quality) will be presented. For the optimization of decision variables in objective functions, the method with genetic algorithms is used. To find the Pareto optimal solutions, the NSGA II genetic algorithm was used. The main objective of our contribution is to determine the performance of the …

Functional Design Of Physical Internet Facilities: A Road-Rail Hub, Eric Ballot, Benoit Montreuil, Collin Thivierge

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

As part of the 2010 IMHRC, Montreuil, Meller and Ballot enumerated the type of facilities that would be necessary to operate a Physical Internet (PI, π), which they termed, “π-nodes.” This paper is part of a three-paper series for the 2012 IMHRC where the authors provide functional designs of three PI facilities. This paper covers a PI road-rail hub. The purpose of a PI road-rail node is to enable the transfer of PI containers from their inbound to outbound destinations. Therefore, a road-rail π-hub provides a mechanism to transfer π-containers from a train to another one or a truck or …

Design & Modeling Of A Single Machine Flow Rack As/Rs, Zaki Sari, Nadir Hakim Bessenouci

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

In this paper, we aim to introduce a new variation of the flow rack automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) using a single machine for storage and retrieval operations instead of two machines. Also, analytical expressions are derived for expected single and dual cycle times of the storage and retrieval machine. For that, randomized storage assignment, and Tchebychev travel are assumed. Two dwell point positions are investigated and compared to determine the best one. Finally an experimental validation using simulation is conducted to verify the quality of the developed.

How To Choose An Order-Picking System, Marita Ellinger, Tim Geißen, Detlef Spee

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

Order-Picking-Systems are the parts of material flow systems, which have the largest variance of deployment alternatives. Since a long time there have been many attempts to systematize the way of identification of the order-picking- ystem that the “correct” solution can be found. The previous methods could not be enforced universally. Thus nearly all the material handling system suppliers have their own approach to find the right system, as it turned out at a market analysis of Fraunhofer IML. With the presented concept of finding a solution, a structured, fast method for system identification shall be presented. A stepwise approach to …

Multi-Party Multi-Period Supply Chain Coordination, Thin Yin Leong, Michelle Lee Fong Cheong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We apply combinatorial auction as a coordination mechanism to smooth demands placed on suppliers' limited production capacities, allowing several manufacturers to share common suppliers effectively. Products are bidders bidding for parts from suppliers, consuming their capacities in different time periods. The fourth party logistic (4PL) provider acts as the auctioneer to coordinate bids and perform price iterations. We leverage on the strong links between the Lagrangian relaxation method and combinatorial auction, where the Lagrange multipliers serve as the supply capacity reserve prices, to balance the demand and supply of capacities. To prevent cyclic behaviour and to increase convergence speed, we …

A Sentiment Analysis Of Singapore Presidential Election 2011 Using Twitter Data With Census Correction, Murphy Junyu Choy, Michelle Lee Fong Cheong, Nang Laik Ma, Ping Shung Koo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Sentiment analysis is a new area in text analytics where it focuses on the analysis and understanding of the human emotions from the text patterns. This new form of analysis has been widely adopted in customer relationship management especially in the context of complaint management. However, sentiment analysis using Twitter data has remained extremely difficult to manage due to sampling biasness. In this paper, we will discuss about the application of reweighting techniques in conjunction with online sentiment divisions to predict the vote percentage that individual presidential candidate in Singapore will receive in the Presidential Election 2011. There will be …

Robust Distributed Scheduling Via Time Period Aggregation, Shih-Fen Cheng, John Tajan, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we evaluate whether the robustness of a market mechanism that allocates complementary resources could be improved through the aggregation of time periods in which resources are consumed. In particular, we study a multi-round combinatorial auction that is built on a general equilibrium framework. We adopt the general equilibrium framework and the particular combinatorial auction design from the literature, and we investigate the benefits and the limitation of time-period aggregation when demand-side uncertainties are introduced. By using simulation experiments on a real-life resource allocation problem from a container port, we show that, under stochastic conditions, the performance variation …

Robust Design Of Public Storage Warehouses, Yeming Yale Gong, Rene De Koster

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

We apply robust optimization and revenue management in public storage warehouses. We optimize the expected revenue of public storage warehouses against the worst cases with a max-min revenue objective, and the decision variables are mainly the number of storage units for each storage type. With the robust design, we can observe worst-case revenue improvement.

Evaluation Of Environmental Benefits Of Che Emerging Technologies By Using Lca, Nenad Zrnić, Andrija Vujičić

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

In the era of climate change combat transport industry is recognized as a sector with one of the largest environmental footprints. A part of transport industry is container shipping and handling division, which is currently growing with the fastest rate. This massive growth of container sector is due to containers pouring from Asia, mainly from China. Thus, container port operations are also experiencing significant increase in port emissions. This fact puts port authorities in position to find a way to reduce environmental impact of port operations and at the same time withhold increase in number containers being handled. In response …

Optimal Design Of Container Terminal Layout, Debjit Roy, Ren´E De Koster

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

Due to rapid growth in foreign trade using sea vessels, there is a growing focus in improving the infrastructure and operational efficiencies at the container terminals. Particularly, the operational responsiveness of loading and unloading of containers, affects the vessel idle times and profitability of the shipping liners. In this research, we deter- mine optimal stack layout design, which minimizes the container unload times using Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). To analyze alternate stack layout designs, we develop integrated queuing network models that capture the stochastic interactions among the container terminal processes (quayside, vehicle transport, and stack side), and provides realistic estimates …

Understanding And Modeling Sustainability Issues In Facility Logistics, Brett A. Peters, Astrid Garcia Ramos

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

Environmental issues have been the focus of much discussion and debate. In light of environmental concerns, many companies have focused on creating sustainable products and systems. While there is still much disagreement about what is “sustainable,” there is a lot of on-going activity cover a wide range of areas and topics. However, relatively speaking, there is much less attention and activity within a facility logistics context. In this paper, sustainability issues related to facility logistics are explored. An overview of existing related research across a range of areas is provided. Major issues of concern for facility logistics will be discussed …

Functional Design Of Physical Internet Facilities: A Road-Based Crossdocking Hub, Russell D. Meller, Benoit Montreuil, Collin Thivierge, Zachary Montreuil

12th IMHRC Proceedings (Gardanne, France – 2012)

As part of the 2010 IMHRC, Montreuil, Meller and Ballot proposed a set of facility types that would be necessary to operate a Physical Internet (PI, π), which they termed nodes. This paper is part of a three-paper series for the 2012 IMHRC where the authors provide functional designs of three PI facilities. This paper covers a unimodal road-based crossdocking hub designed specifically to exploit the characteristics of Physical Internet modular containers so as to enable the efficient and sustainable transhipment of each of them from its inbound truck to its outbound truck. The objective of the paper is to …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 53 Number 3, Winter 2012, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

18 - MY FIGHT, MY FAITH By Steven Boyd Saum. As head of the CIA, Leon Panetta '60, J.D. '63 restored confidence in the agency and oversaw the mission to find Osama bin Laden. Now, as secretary of defense in an age of budget austerity, he has to make sure the Pentagon doesn't break the bank-and that the nation doesn't break faith with the men and women who serve.

24 - GENERAL JOE By Sam Scott '96. When Joseph Peterson '72 signed up for ROTC as an undergrad, he planned to complete his military service and then move on. Nearly …

Identification And Implementation Of Patterns Towards A Model Of Environmental Sustainability, S. Jimmy Gandhi, Santiago Perez, Danial Rushton, Robert Cloutier, Ipek Bozkurt, C. Ariel Pinto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Much like the Quality Revolution did in the 1980's, corporate sustainability has the potential to drive significant changes in the processes and structure of various organizations in the coming decade. With a rapidly growing global population and an ever increasing global demand for resources (Population-Resource-Center, 2012). Sustainability has emerged as one of the primary challenges that organizations will have to deal with in the 21st century. An increasing realization among business executives that profitability by itself is not enough as a measure of success is also driving the increased adoption of sustainable practices in the corporate world (Lowitt and Grimsley, …

Agile Knowledge Management: A Review, Reconceptualization, And Extension To Military Applications, Dogan Ozturk, Rafael E. Landaeta, Resit Unal, Cesar Ariel Pinto, Gokay Sursal

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This study contributes to the literature by integrating agility in knowledge management (KM) operations, especially in military environments via major findings of (a) introducing a new approach to KM with integration of 'agility'; (b) articulating the application of an enhanced process of Agile Knowledge Management (AKM) across the military. The purpose of the study is to explore the conceptual background of agility in KM, re-conceptualize it and extend it to military applications with a special focus on counterinsurgency (COIN). An initial qualitative exploration of agility in KM was performed. Three different concepts and their interrelationships were analyzed: (a) KM, (b) …