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Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons™

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Operational Research

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2018

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Articles 1 - 30 of 43

Full-Text Articles in Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering

Cost Benefit Analysis Of Led Vs Florescent Lighting, Kurtis Clark, Phillip Humphrey Nov 2018

Cost Benefit Analysis Of Led Vs Florescent Lighting, Kurtis Clark, Phillip Humphrey

Student Research

Over the last few years, the state of Oklahoma has been looking at ways to reduce expenses to address concerns about a budget deficit. There have been efforts made to reduce expenses due to the use of energy. It has been said, when the lights are on, work is getting done. Running lights is therefore the cost of doing business. Our research examines the question, “is there a way to provide better lighting while operating at a lower cost.” This research examines the current lighting at Southwestern State University, primarily fluorescent lighting (FL), and a cost benefit analysis of switching …

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A Mathematical Framework On Machine Learning: Theory And Application, Bin Shi Nov 2018

A Mathematical Framework On Machine Learning: Theory And Application, Bin Shi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation addresses the research topics of machine learning outlined below. We developed the theory about traditional first-order algorithms from convex opti- mization and provide new insights in nonconvex objective functions from machine learning. Based on the theory analysis, we designed and developed new algorithms to overcome the difficulty of nonconvex objective and to accelerate the speed to obtain the desired result. In this thesis, we answer the two questions: (1) How to design a step size for gradient descent with random initialization? (2) Can we accelerate the current convex optimization algorithms and improve them into nonconvex objective? For application, …

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Economic Model Predictive Control Design Via Nonlinear Model Identification, Laura Giuliani, Helen Durand Aug 2018

Economic Model Predictive Control Design Via Nonlinear Model Identification, Laura Giuliani, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Increasing pushes toward next-generation/smart manufacturing motivate the development of economic model predictive control (EMPC) designs which can be practically deployed. For EMPC, the constraints, objective function, and accuracy of the state predictions would benefit from process models that describe the process physics. However, obtaining first- principles models of chemical process systems can be time-consuming or challenging such that it is preferable to develop physics-based process models automatically from process operating data. In this work, we take initial steps in this direction by suggesting that because experiments that are used to characterize first-principles models often target specific types of data, an …

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Data-Based Nonlinear Model Identification In Economic Model Predictive Control, Laura Giuliani, Helen Durand Jul 2018

Data-Based Nonlinear Model Identification In Economic Model Predictive Control, Laura Giuliani, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Many chemical/petrochemical processes in industry are not completely modeled from a first-principles perspective because of the complexity of the underlying physico-chemical phenomena and the cost of obtaining more accurate, physically relevant models. System identification methods have been utilized successfully for developing empirical, though not necessarily physical, models for advanced model-based control designs such as model predictive control (MPC) for decades. However, a fairly recent development in MPC is economic model predictive control (EMPC), which is an MPC formulated with an economics-based objective function that may operate a process in a dynamic (i.e., off steady-state) fashion, in which case the details …

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Pricing Policies For A Dual-Channel Retailer With Cross-Channel Returns, Mohannad Hassan Radhi, Guoqing Zhang May 2018

Pricing Policies For A Dual-Channel Retailer With Cross-Channel Returns, Mohannad Hassan Radhi, Guoqing Zhang

Mechanical, Automotive & Materials Engineering Publications

Many retailers are adopting a dual-channel retailing strategy (DCRS) in which products are offered through two channels: physical stores and online stores. Due to regulations or competitive measures, such a strategy allows customers who find a purchase unsatisfactory to obtain a full refund through a same-channel return or a cross-channel return. No papers have collectively studied the aforementioned types of customer returns in a dual-channel context. This paper studies optimal pricing policies for a centralized and decentralized dual-channel retailer (DCR) with same- and cross-channel returns. How dual-channel pricing behavior is impacted by customer preference and rates of customer returns is …

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Implementing A Total Productive Maintenance Approach Into An Improvement At S Company, Xiaomeng Sun Apr 2018

Implementing A Total Productive Maintenance Approach Into An Improvement At S Company, Xiaomeng Sun

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The study improved the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of machines and processes through the implementation of a total productive maintenance (TPM) approach at Company S over a three-month period. By comparing the OEE of equipment before and after the implementation of autonomous maintenance, this study concluded that autonomous maintenance improves OEE. The target of this study was one general product line at a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) plant. Due to time limitations, the study only applied autonomous maintenance to operational activities. This research involved machine and processes selection, condition assessment, baseline OEE assessment, operator training, execution of autonomous maintenance, and OEE measurement. …

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Repeatability Case Study Of The 3d Printer In The School Of Engineering And Applied Science Lab, Naif Faleh S. Albaiji Apr 2018

Repeatability Case Study Of The 3d Printer In The School Of Engineering And Applied Science Lab, Naif Faleh S. Albaiji

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

3DP (three-dimensional printing) technologies have become more than just a tool to help companies with prototyping and designing in the pre-production stage. Some firms have already implemented 3DP technology to produce parts and end-use products. However, there are several challenges and barriers that this technology must overcome to replace traditional manufacturing methods. One of the most significant obstacles associated with 3D printing is its low level of accuracy in variable repeatability when it comes to making separate batches of the same product. There are several arguable reasons behind this variation. Some of the factors that can influence repeatability are the …

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Dual-Channel Warehouse And Inventory Management With Stochastic Demand, Fawzat Alawneh, Guoqing Zhang Feb 2018

Dual-Channel Warehouse And Inventory Management With Stochastic Demand, Fawzat Alawneh, Guoqing Zhang

Mechanical, Automotive & Materials Engineering Publications

This study examines the inventory policy for the emerging dual-channel warehouse, which has a unique structure where the warehouse is divided into two areas: one for fulfilling online orders and the other for storing products and fulfilling offline orders. A multi-item inventory model was developed considering the warehouse capacity constraint, demand, and lead time uncertainty. Solution methods are provided for both uniform and normal distributions. Adopting the proposed inventory policy for a dual warehouse is cost effective and adds flexibility to the warehouse and supply chain. The study also offers managerial insights on some critical issues faced by companies operating …

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Shift Scheduling Optimization For Psu Library, Aayushi Gupta, Anju Babu, Lipishree Vrushabhendra, Shivani Purwar, Shravankumar Doosa Jan 2018

Shift Scheduling Optimization For Psu Library, Aayushi Gupta, Anju Babu, Lipishree Vrushabhendra, Shivani Purwar, Shravankumar Doosa

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Scheduling is important in any business as it creates an order and flow ensuring that all the tasks are covered at appropriate times. According to experts, scheduling determines the economics of a job, the quality of the team, and the skill-building and motivation of professionals doing the work. Therefore, it is essential to have optimized staff schedules to meet the requirements of staff availability, tasks coverage, shift equity and staff preferences. Though staff scheduling is of such prime importance, it is mostly implemented in traditional ways of manually creating spreadsheets and web calendars proving to be laborious and often leaving …

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Minimizing Commute Distance For Small Groups: A Linear Programming Approach, Kevin Payne, Kritika Kumari, Levi Huddleston, Rabi Hassan Jan 2018

Minimizing Commute Distance For Small Groups: A Linear Programming Approach, Kevin Payne, Kritika Kumari, Levi Huddleston, Rabi Hassan

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

This paper aims to minimize total drive time between members and their respective group leader. Given a limit on group size and days available, how can a formulation of a group occur such that the sum of the total drive time is minimized. To accomplish this task a Linear Program (LP) is implemented that includes three sets of binary decisions variables summing to 4100 variables and a variety of constraints summing between 4200 and 4341 depending on the constraints enforced. For 200 members and 15 leaders the minimized average commuting time was found to be between 4.99 and 5.36 minutes …

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Stochastic Bi-Level Optimization Models For Efficient Operating Room Planning, Amin Abedini, Wei Li, Honghan Ye Jan 2018

Stochastic Bi-Level Optimization Models For Efficient Operating Room Planning, Amin Abedini, Wei Li, Honghan Ye

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Within a hospital, the operating room (OR) department has the largest cost and revenue. Because of the aging population, the demand for surgical services has been increasing sharply in recent years. At the other hand, the rate of OR capacity expansion is lower than the rate of increasing demand. As a result, OR managers must leverage their resources by efficient OR planning. OR planning is challenging because of multiple competing\conflicting objectives such cost minimization and throughput maximization. Inherent uncertainty in the surgical procedures and patients arrivals complicate the decision making process. This increases the risk of non-realization of the system …

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A Design Methodology To Optimize Supply Chain Network Performance, Dheeraporn Nippaya, J. David Porter Jan 2018

A Design Methodology To Optimize Supply Chain Network Performance, Dheeraporn Nippaya, J. David Porter

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Organizations are constantly looking for new ways to reduce costs while still providing high customer service levels to face stringent competitive environments and the ever- increasing market globalization. An alternative these organizations can pursue to respond to these challenges and to gain a competitive differentiation is to optimize their supply chain network (SCN). This research aims to develop an effective SCN design strategy to locate facilities (i.e., plants and distribution centers) and to balance the allocation of customers to these facilities to satisfy capacity limitations and customer demands with minimum total cost and maximum level of service. It is anticipated …

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On The Unique Features And Benefits Of On-Demand Distribution Models, Jennifer A. Pazour, Kaan Unnu Jan 2018

On The Unique Features And Benefits Of On-Demand Distribution Models, Jennifer A. Pazour, Kaan Unnu

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

To close the gap between current distribution operations and today’s customer expectations, firms need to think differently about how resources are acquired, managed and allocated to fulfill customer requests. Rather than optimize planned resource capacity acquired through ownership or long- term partnerships, this work focuses on a specific supply-side innovation – on-demand distribution platforms. On-demand distribution systems move, store, and fulfill goods by matching autonomous suppliers' resources (warehouse space, fulfillment capacity, truck space, delivery services) to requests on-demand. On-demand warehousing systems can provide resource elasticity by allowing capacity decisions to be made at a finer granularity (at the pallet-level) and …

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A Space Syntax Analysis Of The Relationship Between Function And Form In Facility Layout, Alejandro Teran-Somohano, Alice E. Smith Jan 2018

A Space Syntax Analysis Of The Relationship Between Function And Form In Facility Layout, Alejandro Teran-Somohano, Alice E. Smith

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

This paper explores the relationship between a facility’s operation and its form using quantitative techniques provided by Space Syntax. Space Syntax provides quantitative metrics for characterizing the spatial traits of the locations within a facility which can then be related to operational metrics. Instances of the quadratic assignment problem are used to perform spatial and operational analyses on different flow matrices to study the resulting layouts. The effects of different objective functions on facility shapes are also studied.

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Synthetic Order Data Generator For Picking Data, Mohammadnaser Ansari, Behnam Rasoolian, Jeffrey S. Smith Jan 2018

Synthetic Order Data Generator For Picking Data, Mohammadnaser Ansari, Behnam Rasoolian, Jeffrey S. Smith

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Sample data are in high demand for testing and benchmarking purposes. Like many other fields, warehousing and specifically order picking process are not exempt from the need for sample data. Sample data are used in order picking pro- cesses as a way of testing new methodologies such as new routing and new storage allocation approaches. Unfortunately, access to real order picking data is limited because of confidentiality and privacy issues which make it difficult to obtain practical results from the new methodologies. On the other hand, order data follows a highly complex and correlated structure that cannot be easily extracted …

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A Practical Collaborative Material Handling Strategy For Cross-Docks, Hector J. Carlo, Stephanie Santiago-Montano Jan 2018

A Practical Collaborative Material Handling Strategy For Cross-Docks, Hector J. Carlo, Stephanie Santiago-Montano

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

The current operational paradigm at less-than- truckload (LTL) cross-dock industry (i.e., dedicated strategy) is to assign one material handler (MH) per inbound trailer. As a consequence, each loaded trip performed by a MH to move a load from the assigned inbound door to the loads’ corresponding outbound door is followed by an identical empty trip to return to the inbound door. This paper introduces the monomaniacal strategy as a practical rule-based material handling collaborative strategy for LTLs designed to minimize the total empty travel. In the monomaniacal strategy, after delivering a load to an outbound door, MHs travel counterclockwise to …

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Improving The Environmental Sustainability Of Pallet Logistics Through Preemptive Remanufacturing: An Integer Linear Optimization Model, Fabiana Tornese, Jennifer Pazour, Andres L. Carrano, Brian K. Thorn Jan 2018

Improving The Environmental Sustainability Of Pallet Logistics Through Preemptive Remanufacturing: An Integer Linear Optimization Model, Fabiana Tornese, Jennifer Pazour, Andres L. Carrano, Brian K. Thorn

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

The use of pallets is crucial in handling and transportation processes and wooden pallet represent the most common packaging type in the US and in Europe. This work focuses on the environmental impact of wooden pallet reverse logistics, exploring the advantages of preemptive remanufacturing policies. Preemptive schedules allow the service provider to allocate transportation emissions across multiple pallet components, increasing the environmental efficiency of the transportation process. This advantage has to be compared to the lost opportunity of repairing a usable component earlier than required. An integer linear optimization model analyzes this trade-off and the benefits of a preemptive remanufacturing …

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Integrated Intermodal Network Design With Nonlinear Inter-Hub Movement Costs, Mohammad Ghane-Ezabadi, Hector A. Vergara Jan 2018

Integrated Intermodal Network Design With Nonlinear Inter-Hub Movement Costs, Mohammad Ghane-Ezabadi, Hector A. Vergara

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

In this research, transportation mode and load route selection problems are integrated with the hub location problem in a single mathematical formulation to find the optimal design of intermodal transportation networks. Economies of scale are modeled utilizing a stepwise function that relates the per container transportation cost to the amount of flow between two nodes. A heuristic method combining a genetic algorithm and the shortest path algorithm was developed to solve this integrated planning problem. Computational experiments were completed to evaluate the performance of the proposed heuristic for different problem instances. At the end, conclusions are presented and future research …

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An Integrated Network Modeling Framework For Analysis Of Multi-Line Order Pick Systems, Debjit Roy, Vishal Bansal Jan 2018

An Integrated Network Modeling Framework For Analysis Of Multi-Line Order Pick Systems, Debjit Roy, Vishal Bansal

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Due to demanding service levels in E-commerce order fulfillment, modeling and analysis of order picking processes in warehouses deserve special attention. With a particular focus on multi-line E-commerce orders, we develop modeling tools that are necessary to analyze the order consolidation delays in the downstream pick stations. We develop a queuing network modeling framework for integrated analysis of upstream (storage system) and downstream (pick system). We apply our modeling approach to an integrated order-pick system that includes a shuttle-based storage and retrieval system, and a single pick station. Using simulations, we test the effect of the storage system configuration on …

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Managing The Order Picking Process In For Click And Collect In Grocery Stores, Dale T. Masel, Akhilesh Mesa Jan 2018

Managing The Order Picking Process In For Click And Collect In Grocery Stores, Dale T. Masel, Akhilesh Mesa

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Many grocery stores offering a service called “Click and Collect,” where customers can submit an order online and pick up the order at the store or have it delivered. To offer this service in an efficient way while still meeting customer expectations, stores can adapt methods used in warehouse order picking. Once strategy is the method used to group the orders into batches as they are received. We have examined two strategies for batching: order-based batching and time-based batching. From testing these two approaches, time-based batching produces a slightly lower average picking time, but order-based batching has orders ready for …

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Deployment Of An Distributed Strategic Material Flow Control For Automated Material Flow Systems Consisting Of Autonomous Modules, Christian Lieberoth-Leden, Johannes Fottner Jan 2018

Deployment Of An Distributed Strategic Material Flow Control For Automated Material Flow Systems Consisting Of Autonomous Modules, Christian Lieberoth-Leden, Johannes Fottner

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

The modularisation of hardware and software is one approach to handle the demand for increasing flexibility and changeability of automated material flow systems that are, for example, utilised in flexible production systems. In such automated material flow systems, autonomous modules communicate with each other to coordinate and execute transport tasks. In this paper a strategic material flow control is introduced, which is distributed on several modules realised with a multi-agent system. The strategic material flow control agent coordinates transport tasks with advanced logistical requirements, such as sequencing. A transport task states for a transport unit the system source and sink …

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Shuttle-Based Storage And Retrieval Systems With Robotic Order-Picking Shuttle Carrier, Tone Lerher Jan 2018

Shuttle-Based Storage And Retrieval Systems With Robotic Order-Picking Shuttle Carrier, Tone Lerher

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Shuttle-based storage and retrieval systems with robotic order picking shuttle carrier are relatively new systems not yet address in automated storage system research. The objective of this research paper is to propose analytical model for robotic order picking shuttle carriers. Analytical expressions for the calculation of multi cycle have been determined by assuming uniform distributed order-picking locations and the probability theory. The proposed model enables the calculation of the expected travel (cycle) time for multiple command cycles of the robotic order picking shuttle carrier, from which the throughput performance can be evaluated.

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Optimization Of A Fast-Pick Area In A Cosmetics Distribution Center, Mario C. Velez-Gallego, Alice E. Smith Jan 2018

Optimization Of A Fast-Pick Area In A Cosmetics Distribution Center, Mario C. Velez-Gallego, Alice E. Smith

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Fast-pick areas are commonly used in order picking warehouses to improve labor efficiency by concentrating picking activities within a compact area, thus minimizing the distance traveled by the pickers. One problem that must be solved when a fast-pick area is to be implemented is the so-called assignment-allocation problem. This deals with deciding which products should be assigned to the fast-pick area, and how much space should be allocated to these products. This research was motivated by the picking operation of a cosmetics distribution center where several fast-pick areas are in place. A mixed integer linear programming formulation is proposed for …

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Home Inventory Management And Last-Mile Logistics, Bhagyalakshmi V. Shrikrishna, Bharat Kulkarni, Michael G. Kay Jan 2018

Home Inventory Management And Last-Mile Logistics, Bhagyalakshmi V. Shrikrishna, Bharat Kulkarni, Michael G. Kay

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

A study of the functioning of last-mile logistics in home inventory management is described. Different patterns of the household consumptions are studied and assumed in the interim. These consumption patterns then form the automatic grocery ordering system leading to what we would refer as a “home inventory management system.” In the futuristic world. This paper focuses on the impact of driverless delivery vehicles and drone delivery to satisfy the demand of the customers in a future scenario where orders are placed automatically by a home inventory management system.

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Pull-Driven Order Fulfillment In Distribution Centers, Dima Nazzal, Shankar Shanmugasundaram, Sung Kim, Russell D. Meller Jan 2018

Pull-Driven Order Fulfillment In Distribution Centers, Dima Nazzal, Shankar Shanmugasundaram, Sung Kim, Russell D. Meller

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

One of the challenges facing e-commerce fulfillment is the rigidity of the wave management system that often dictates a fixed batch size that must be processed before the next wave of orders is released. As a result, operation managers usually push multiple waves, which lead to accumulation at bottleneck resources, and poor synchronization at sortation engines. We demonstrate the power of operating an order fulfillment engine using the “pull” paradigm. We hypothesize that a pull-driven order fulfillment can meet the same throughput requirements achieved by the push-driven wave-based order fulfillment, but with higher speed, higher service levels, more level resource …

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A Framework For Modeling Material Handling With Decentralized Control, Kai Furmans, Kevin R. Gue Jan 2018

A Framework For Modeling Material Handling With Decentralized Control, Kai Furmans, Kevin R. Gue

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Despite decades of research in material handling, the academic community still has no accepted way of describing material handling requirements in a way that machines and algorithms can process them. Such a “way of describing” requires a language with which to describe requirements, objects, relationships between objects, and so on. We propose a modeling framework that differs from existing research in two ways: First, we address material handling modeling from the bottom up rather than from the top down, meaning we define a set of elementary functions and then combine them into processes and more complex relationships that allow us …

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Digital Design Of Intralogistics Systems: Flexible And Agile Solution To Short-Cyclic Fluctuations, Anike Murrenhoff, Christoph Pott, Moritz Wernecke, Philipp-Akira Burger Jan 2018

Digital Design Of Intralogistics Systems: Flexible And Agile Solution To Short-Cyclic Fluctuations, Anike Murrenhoff, Christoph Pott, Moritz Wernecke, Philipp-Akira Burger

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

In times of fast-paced, fluctuating and individual markets, intralogistics systems, such as warehouses, have to adapt to the resulting volatile performance demands dynamically. Hybrid systems, in which humans and machines work together efficiently and communicate in socio-technical networks, can be the answer to manage these high-frequency markets. Hybrid systems of the future need to adapt frequently and permanent change becomes the “new normal”. A one-time planning of warehousing systems upon first installation becomes obsolete. This results in the question of how to design and implement processes for future logistics systems in an agile way in order to exploit the flexibility …

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Urban Parcel Logistics Hub And Network Design: The Impact Of Modularity And Hyperconnectivity, Benoit Montreuil, Shannon Buckley, Louis Faugere, Reem Khir, Shahab Derhami Jan 2018

Urban Parcel Logistics Hub And Network Design: The Impact Of Modularity And Hyperconnectivity, Benoit Montreuil, Shannon Buckley, Louis Faugere, Reem Khir, Shahab Derhami

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

This paper examines how exploiting the hyperconnectivity and modularity concepts underpinning the Physical Internet enables the parcel logistics industry to meet the worldwide challenges to efficiently and sustainably offer faster and more precise deliveries across urban agglomerations, notably across the world’s megacities. It emphasizes disruptive transformations of package logistics hubs and networks, such as multi-tier world pixelization, multi-plane parcel logistics web, smart dynamic parcel routing and hub-based consolidation, and modular parcel containerization.

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Collaborative Bots In Distribution Centers, Russell D. Meller, Dima Nazzal, Lisa M. Thomas Jan 2018

Collaborative Bots In Distribution Centers, Russell D. Meller, Dima Nazzal, Lisa M. Thomas

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

This research investigates the business case for using autonomous collaborative robots (“bots”) in warehouses. Bots are designed to work collaboratively with human workers in warehouses to fill orders, primarily in e-commerce environments. In order-picking applications, a bot knows the location of every item in the warehouse, and when an item needs to be picked for an order, the bot navigates to that item and waits. Human workers are assigned to patrol specific zones, and when they see a bot waiting, the worker walks to the bot, reads the instructions off the screen, executes the task, and moves on. The bot …

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Economic And Performance Analysis Of Dual-Bay Vertical Lift Modules, Fabio Sgarbossa, Martina Calzavara, Alessandro Persona Jan 2018

Economic And Performance Analysis Of Dual-Bay Vertical Lift Modules, Fabio Sgarbossa, Martina Calzavara, Alessandro Persona

15th IMHRC Proceedings (Savannah, Georgia. USA – 2018)

Warehouse picking is one of the most time and cost consuming activities in a warehouse, often requiring the presence of human operators, who travel within the aisles to retrieve the items needed by the customers. Several studies demonstrate that the travelling activity can represent even the 50% of the total picking time, with a subsequent creation of a separate storage and picking area for small objects. In the last years, new solutions for order picking systems have been developed, especially for small items. One of these solutions requires Vertical Lift Modules (VLMs), storage columns with extractable trays. In this paper, …

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