Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Optimizing Block-Stacking Operations With Relocation, Hueon Lee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The focus of the dissertation is developing the optimization problem of finding the minimum-cost operational plan of block stacking with relocation as well as devising a solution procedure to solve practical-sized instances of the problem. Assuming changeable row depth instead of permanent row depth, this research is distinguished from conventional block stacking studies.

The first contribution of the dissertation is the development of the optimization problem under the assumption of deterministic demand. The problem is modeled using integer programming as a variation of the unsplittable multi-commodity flow problem. To find a good feasible solution of practical-sized instances in reasonable time, …

Optimal Trading Of A Storable Commodity Via Forward Markets, Behzad Ghafouri

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A commodity market participant trading via her inventory has access to both spot and forward markets. To liquidate her inventory, she can sell at the spot price, take a short forward position, or do a combination of both. A trade is proposed in which there is always a hedging forward contract, which can be considered a dynamic cash and carry arbitrage. The trader can adjust the maturity of the forward contract dynamically until the inventory is depleted or a time constraint is reached. In the first setup, the storage contract (to carry inventory) is assumed to have a constant cost …

Product Development Resilience Through Set-Based Design, Stephen H. Rapp

Wayne State University Dissertations

Often during a system Product Development program external factors or requirements change, forcing system design change. This uncertainty adversely affects program outcome, adding to development time and cost, production cost, and compromise to system performance. We present a development approach that minimizes the impacts, by considering the possibility of changes in the external factors and the implications of mid-course design changes. The approach considers the set of alternative designs and the burdens of a mid-course change from one design to another in determining the relative value of a specific design. The approach considers and plans parallel development of alternative designs …

Optimization Of Healthcare Delivery System Under Uncertainty: Schedule Elective Surgery In An Ambulatory Surgical Center And Schedule Appointment In An Outpatient Clinic, Zhaoxia Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

This work investigates two types of scheduling problems in the healthcare industry. One is the elective surgery scheduling problem in an ambulatory center, and the other is the appointment scheduling problem in an outpatient clinic.

The ambulatory surgical center is usually equipped with an intake area, several operating rooms (ORs), and a recovery area. The set of surgeries to be scheduled are known in advance. Besides the surgery itself, the sequence-dependent setup time and the surgery recovery are also considered when making the scheduling decision. The scheduling decisions depend on the availability of the ORs, surgeons, and the recovery beds. …