Operational Research Commons^™

Privacy And The Information Age: A Longitudinal View, Charles E. Downing

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

As information systems and data storage capacity become increasingly sophisticated, an important ethical question for organizations is “What can/will/should be done with the personal information that has been and can be collected?” Individuals’ privacy is certainly important, but so is less costly and more targeted business processes. As this conflict intensifies, consumers, managers and policy makers are left wondering: What privacy principles are important to guide organizations in self-regulation? For example, do consumers view the five rights originally stated in the European Data Protection Directive as important? Comprehensive? Is there a product discount point where consumers would forsake these principles? …

An Empirical Investigation On Ceo Turnover In It Firms And Firm Performance, Peiqin Zhang, David Wierschem, Francis A. Mendez Mediavilla, Keejae P. Hong

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Drawn upon upper echelon theory and organizational theory, this research proposes to examine the impact of CEO turnover in IT firms on firm performance in terms of both sustainable accounting performance and market performance. We find that CEO turnover is a significant determinant of firm performance, especially in IT firms. This paper contributes to the IS literature by investigating the CEO turnover impact in IT firms compared to other industries. This study also has practical implications by providing the guideline for IT firms on the CEO turnover policy. Such firms should place additional emphasis on their succession planning efforts.

Facebook Use Among African American And Hispanic Students: An Exploratory Investigation Of Perceived Academic Impact, Sathasivam Mathiyalakan, Sharon D. White, Jorge O. Brusa

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Facebook is one of the world’s leading social networking sites. It is pervasive in students’ lives and can impact their academic careers in a variety of ways. However, little research exists evaluating the use of Facebook in minority academic settings. An early step in this direction is to gain an understanding of how different student demographic groups use Facebook. An interest in further assessment of Facebook’s role in diverse segments of academia motivates the collection and analysis of Facebook-related data from minority serving institutions such as Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). This study presents …

Crowdsourcing Management Education Assessment, Owen P. Hall Jr, Charla Griffy-Brown

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Assessment is now at the center of the new business education zeitgeist. This focus is the direct result of feedback from the business community regarding the growing gap between their needs and graduates from many business schools. Recently this divide has fallen under even closer scrutiny because of increasing student debt and the growing controversy over return-on- investment. Today business leaders are looking for web-savvy, problem-solving graduates. To this end, AACSB and regional accrediting bodies are calling for the adoption of comprehensive collaborative learning strategies to better align graduates’ skill sets with the real needs of business. Crowdsourcing, which is …

Towards A Taxonomy Of Challenges In An Integrated It Governance Framework Implementation, Mathew Nicho, Suadad Muamaar

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The rapid adoption of IT governance (ITG) frameworks in organizations worldwide, along with the subsequent need to select and integrate overlapping ITG frameworks has presented practitioners with challenges in choice and integration of frameworks. In this respect, the purpose of this study was to explore the ITG frameworks integration (ITGFI) challenges faced by organizations worldwide; develop and test a theory-based integrated ITG challenges (IIC) taxonomy model created from extant literature; and validate and compare these with those empirically extracted from three case studies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The results present the audience with a taxonomy of a prioritized …

Comparative Empirical Analysis On Computer Software Piracy Behaviors Between China And The United States: An Exploratory Study, Xiang Fang, Sooun Lee

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Using the data collected from several universities in China and the United States, which have drastically different piracy rates, economic development stages, income levels, and national cultures, this study aims to identify which demographic factors affect software piracy significantly. Totally, the dataset includes 600 valid responses. Multivariate data analysis, supported by Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Turkey’s test, reveals that among various factors, country difference and gender most significantly influence software piracy. In addition, this study offers recommendations on how to curb software piracy effectively.

An Advanced Tabu Search Approach To The Dynamic Airlift Loading Problem, August G. Roesener, J. Wesley Barnes

Faculty Publications

This research effort presents a tabu search algorithm to solve the dynamic airlift loading problem. Given a set of palletized cargo items which require transportation from an aerial port of embarkation to an aerial port of debarkation within a pre-specified time frame, the dynamic airlift loading problem seeks to partition the pallets into aircraft loads, select an efficient and effective subset of aircraft from available aircraft, and assign the pallets to allowable positions on those aircraft. The dynamic airlift loading problem differs from many partitioning and packing problems described in the literature because, in addition to spatial constraints, factors such …

Modeling Supply Chain Resiliency, Jeff A. Hazel

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Engineered Resilient Systems (ERS) is a Department of Defense (DoD) program focusing on the effective and efficient design and development of complex engineered systems throughout their life cycle. There is a growing literature with qualitative definitions of resilience and quantitative models for systems with one performance measure. This paper uses a quantitative resilience framework (the Framework for ERS) that includes system design options, reliability, threats, vulnerabilities, responses, and consequences assessed in multiple system performance measures. The framework assists in establishing a model for any system to evaluate resiliency. This paper applies this framework using Multiple Objective Decision Analysis (MODA) to …

United States Air Force Officer Manpower Planning Problem Via Approximate Dynamic Programming, Amelia E. Bradshaw

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force (USAF) is concerned with managing its officer corps to ensure sufficient personnel for mission readiness. Manpower planning for the USAF is a complex process which requires making decisions about accessions. Uncertainty about officer retention complicates such decisions. We formulate a Markov decision process model of the Air Force officer manpower planning problem (AFO-MPP) and utilize a least squares approximate policy iteration algorithm as an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) technique to attain solutions. Computational experiments are conducted on two AFO-MPP instances to compare the performance of the policy determined with the ADP algorithm to a benchmark …

Application Of Non-Rated Line Officer Attrition Levels And Career Field Stability, Christine L. Zens

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force monitors the strength of its active duty officer force and attempts to achieve the difficult challenge of employing a diversity of talent among career specialties and experience levels. This study completes two objectives, predicting future manning levels for 23 career fields, and providing a statistical framework to assess the stability of these fields. The first part of the study applies regression and survival analysis to subpopulations within the active duty Air Force officer corps, and then aggregates them by year to forecast future personnel levels. Four career fields are considered, including Acquisitions (ACQ), Logistics (LOG), Support (SPT), …

A Simulation Model For Decision Support In Business Continuity Planning, Marissa Anne Mosunich

Master's Theses

Enterprises with a global supply network are at risk of lost revenue as a result of disruptive disasters at supplier locations. Various strategies exist for addressing this risk, and a variety of types of research has been done regarding the identification, assessment and response to the risk of disruption in a supply chain network.

This thesis establishes a decision model to support Business Continuity Planning at the first-tier supplier level. The decision model incorporates discrete-event simulation of supply chain networks (through Simio software), Monte Carlo simulation, and risk index optimization. After modeling disruption vulnerability in a supply chain network, costs …

The Influence Of Operational Resources And Activities On Indirect Personnel Costs: A Multilevel Modeling Approach, Bradley C. Boehmke, Alan W. Johnson, Edward D. White, Jeffery D. Weir, Mark A. Gallagher

Faculty Publications

Indirect activities often represent an underemphasized, yet significant, contributing source of costs for organizations. In order to manage indirect costs, organizations must understand how these costs behave relative to changes in operational resources and activities. This is of particular interest to the Air Force and its sister services, because recent and projected reductions in defense spending are forcing reductions in their operational variables, and insufficient research exists to help them understand how this may influence indirect costs. Furthermore, although academic research on indirect costs has advanced the knowledge behind the modeling and behavior of indirect costs, significant gaps in the …

A Scalable Algorithm For Locating Distribution Centers On Real Road Networks, Saeed Ghanbartehrani, Jose D. Porter

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

The median problem is a type of network location problem that aims at finding a node with the total minimum demand weighted distance to a set of demand nodes in a weighted graph. In this research, an algorithm for solving the median problem on real road networks is proposed. The proposed algorithm, referred to as the multi-threaded Dijkstra’s (MTD) algorithm, is then used to optimally locate Wal-Mart distribution centers on the 28-million node road network of the United States with the objective of minimizing the total demand weighted transportation cost. The resulting optimal location configuration of Wal-Mart distribution centers improves …

Evaluating Transaction Pairing Strategies For Vehicle-Based High-Density Storage Systems, Debjit Roy, Harit Joshie

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

Vehicle-based storage and retrieval systems present an attractive choice for distribution center automation because it provides the flexibility in managing demand fluctuations without affecting transaction throughput times. In this research, we contend that while dual-command cycles can reduce the vehicle travel times for processing transactions, it may not be the best policy for reducing transaction throughput times when transactions arrive at random time instants. We develop stochastic models to test the transaction throughput time performance with multiple pairing strategies and present operational insights.

Continuous Approximation Of Multi Cycle Time For Multi Aisles Automated Storage And Retrieval Systems., Yassine Boudghene Stambouli, Latefa Ghomri

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

Knowing that, in an automated storage and retrieval system, the travel time of the storage/retrieval machine is an important parameter which affects the whole system performances, several works were dedicated to its evaluation and its modeling, in single, dual and multi command. These models were proposed for different configurations of AS/RS; such as unit load, multi-aisles and Mobile Racks. These models are based mainly on a discrete approach and the analytical expressions represent the system functioning exactly. In this paper we present a general approach for analytical modeling of multi command cycle time by giving particularly the modeling of the …

Outsourced Storage And Fulfillment Facility To Enhance The Service Capabilities Of Shopping Mall Tenants, Zachary Montreuil, Mike Ogle

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

This paper proposes development of an Inventory and Fulfillment Center (IFC) that will provide a new range of outsourced, centralized storage and services for shopping mall tenants. The paper describes the competitive issues faced by shopping mall tenants, the requirements and features of a centralized, outsourced storage and fulfillment facility, and development of an agent-based model in AnyLogic® to demonstrate the concept. The range of research and business challenges introduced by this new concept are also presented.

New Design Guidelines For In-Plant Milk-Run Systems, Thorsten Schmidt, Ingolf Meinhardt, Frank Schulze

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

Tugger trains became a popular means of supply in material handling intensive production systems. In contrast to forklift trucks they interlink a supermarket with multiple delivery locations along a transport route in a milk-run. But the efficiency gain (higher transport capacity, reduced labor costs) has its price: Compared to forklift trucks, planning and dimensioning of in-plant milk-run systems is more complicated. The paper discusses features and drawbacks of a recent standardization approach of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) and highlights the variety of technical restrictions which have to be considered when a milkrun system is designed. It shows, that …

The Storage Replenishment Problem In Rectangular Warehouses, Haldun Sural, Claudia Archetti, Melih Celik

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

In warehouses, storage replenishment operations involve the transportation of items to capacitated item slots in forward storage area from reserve storage. These items are later picked from these slots as their demand arises. While order picking constitutes the majority of warehouse operating costs, replenishment operations might be as costly in warehouses where pick lists generally consist of only a few lines (e.g., order fulfillment warehouses). In this study, we consider the storage replenishment problem in a parallel-aisle warehouse, where replenishment and order picking operations are carried out in successive waves with time limits. The aim is to determine the item …

Performance Comparison Of Automated Warehouses Using Simulation, Nand Kishore Agrawal, Sunderesh S. Heragu, Chinnatat Methapatra

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of two types of warehouses, both of which use autonomous vehicles (AVs). One warehouse uses movable racks (MR) for storing mini-loads, whereas the other uses fixed racks (FR). In general, warehouse automation not only increases the speed of the fulfillment process but also makes the picking process more accurate. We simulate three scenarios for the MR and FR systems using Simio. Four performance measures are considered for the comparison – the average order processing time (WR), the average utilization of AVs (U), the average order processing queue length (Nq) and …

Job Sequencing In A Miniload System, Lennart Baardman, Kees Jan Roodbergen

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

More and more warehouses shift towards the use of automated systems. One such system is a miniload system. In this system, a crane retrieves bins from their storage locations and brings the bins to the picking station, where a worker takes the requested products from the retrieved bins. After a product has been picked, the bin is put back by the crane in its original location. A buffer is present at the picking station to absorb fluctuations in speed between the picker and the crane. The problem of scheduling jobs in this system has received little attention in the literature. …

Dual-Tray Vertical Lift Modules For Fast Order Picking, Daria Battini, Martina Calzavara, Alessandro Persona, Fabio Sgarbossa

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

In the last years, new solutions for order picking systems have been developed both from industry and academics, especially for small items. They include innovative flexible automatic parts-to-picker systems and optimized picker-to-parts ones. One of these solutions consists in the use of Vertical Lift Modules (VLMs), a storage column in which small items are stored in extractable trays. In this paper, we study a new system composed by dual-tray VLMs where the operators perform picking and sorting activities. We propose several actions in order to improve the productivity of the entire system: 1) class based storage assignment of items inside …

Throughput Rate Of A Two-Worker Stochastic Bucket Brigade, Yossi Bukchin, Eran Hanany, Eugene Khmelnitsky

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

Work-sharing in production systems is a modern approach that improves throughput rate. Work is shifted between cross-trained workers in order to better balance the material now in the system. When a serial system is concerned, a common work-sharing approach is the Bucket-Brigade (BB), by which downstream workers sequentially take over items from adjacent upstream work- ers. When the workers are located from slowest-to-fastest and their speeds are deterministic, it is known that the line does not suffer from blockage or starvation, and achieves the maximal theoretical throughput rate (TR). Very little is known in the literature on stochastic self-balancing systems …

A Performance Measurement Framework And Solution Approach For The Integrated Facility Layout Problem With Uncertain Demand, Melih Celik, Begun Efeoglu, Haldun Sural

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

The integrated facility layout problem (IFLP) focuses on the simultaneous determination of the relative locations of multiple copies of capacitated equip- ment or machinery in a facility, as well as the material ow between these units. In this paper, we consider the IFLP in the existence of uncertain demand for the products of the facility. Motivated by the framework for next generation facility layouts by Benjaafar et al. (2002), we extend the approaches in the lit- erature for distributed facility layouts to the case of dynamic demand and the possibility of relayouts, and propose a heuristic solution approach to minimize …

Transport Items And Physical Internet Handling Boxes: A Comparison Framework Across Supply Chains, Eric Ballot, Benoit Montreuil

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

Pallets, cardboard boxes, and plastic crates are widely used tools to operate supply chains. As such they have many impacts on handling effort, shipment protection, transport mean utilization as well as repositioning and recycling efforts and they represent billions of assets spread all over the world. The historical and local origins of the designs and the sharing among many stakeholders do not ensure at all any kind of global optimization. The purpose of this paper is to define and explain a research effort to better measure and evaluate the efficiencies and inefficiencies for supply chain stakeholders for themselves and globally. …

Energy And Cycle Time Efficient Warehouse Design For Autonomous Vehicle-Based Storage And Retrieval System, Banu Yetkin Ekren, Tone Lerher

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

This study explores the best warehouse design for an autonomous vehicle based storage and retrieval system (AVS/RS) minimizing average energy consumption per transaction and average cycle time per transaction, simultaneously. In the design concept, we consider, rack design in terms of number of bays, number of tiers, number of aisles; number of resources, namely number of autonomous vehicles and lifts and; velocity profiles of lifts and autonomous vehicles in the AVS/RS. We completed 1,296 number of experiments in simulation to obtain Pareto solutions representing the “average energy consumption per transaction” and “average cycle time per transaction” trade-offs based on designs …

Determination Of Cycle Times For Double Deep Storage Systems Using A Dual Capacity Handling Device, Katharina Dorr

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

Double deep storage is an efficient method to improve space utilization in warehouses. Contrary to intuition, it also can be efficient when considering retrieval times, since the aisles of a warehouse with double deep storage may be shorter than comparable warehouses with single deep storage. AS/RS-machines equipped with two load-handling units might further improve the situation, since two storage units (for instance pallets or cases) can be stored and retrieved, effectively allowing quadruple command cycles, bringing in total two storage units into the aisle and retrieving two storage units at the same time. In this paper, we present a method …

A Simulation Model To Evaluate The Layout For Block Stacking Warehouses, Shahab Derhami, Jeffrey S. Smith, Kevin R. Gue

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

Storing pallets of Stock Keeping Units (SKU's) on top of another in lanes on a warehouse floor is known as block stacking. This storage system is widely used in manufactoring systems and distribution centers. The arrangement of lanes in the layout of this system significantly impacts utilization of the storage space and transportation costs. Existing research that studies the layout for this system focuses exclusively on determining the optimal lane depth with respect to space utilization and ignores transportation costs. In this study, we develop a stimulation model that computes several performance metrics to evaluate both of these objectives for …

A Novel Approach To Analyze Inventory Allocation Decisions In Robotic Mobile Fulfillment Systems, Tim Lamballais, Debjit Roy, M.B.M De Koster

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

The Robotic Mobile Fulfillment System is a newly developed automated, parts-to-picker material handling system. Storage shelves, also known as inventory pods, are moved by robots between the storage area and the workstations, which means that they can be continually repositioned during operations. This paper develops a queueing model for optimizing three key decision variables: (1) the number of pods per product (2) the ratio of the number of pick to the number of replenishment stations, and (3) the replenishment level per pod. We show that too few or too many pods per product leads to unnecessarily long order throughput times, …

Simulation-Based Energy And Cycle Time Analysis Of Shuttle-Based Storage And Retrieval System, Tone Lerher, Banu Yetkin Ekren, Anil Akpunar

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

This study explores the best warehouse design for shuttle-based storage and retrieval system (SBS/RS) minimizing average energy consumption per transaction and average cycle time per transaction, simultaneously. For that we provided average energy consumption per transaction versus average cycle time per transaction graphs, for different design scenarios of the studied SBS/RS warehouse. In the design concept, we considered, rack design in terms of number of bays, number of tiers, number of aisles, as well as velocity profiles of lifts in the system. We completed 144 number of experiments by simulation to see the trade-offs based on the design scenarios and …

Non-Traditional Aisle Design For A Manufacturing Facility Layout, Dale T. Masel, Dean Marinchek

14th IMHRC Proceedings (Karlsruhe, Germany – 2016)

Methods for designing a facility layout typically assume that the aisles for interdepartmental travel will be parallel to the exterior walls of the facility. However, by putting aisles at an angle to the exterior walls, more direct routes between departments can be created, reducing travel distance. This paper describes a method to create a facility layout that does not have orthogonal aisles and testing of the resulting layouts shows that travel distance is reduced.