Supply Chain Network Analysis for Outboard Motors at Motor Boaters USA

Motor Boaters USA found themselves possibly spending too much on their current network distribution of small and large outboard motors and requested new distribution alternatives for the U.S. Through past network distribution data analysis, the team devised 3 scenarios it believed would provide one or more cost effective distribution networks applicable to the request. Through what-if analysis, the teams\u27 calculations produced solid results, which were then presented to Motor Boaters USA for reflection and possible implementation

Algorithms for bundling and pricing trucking services: Deterministic and stochastic approaches

Bundling and pricing trucking services is an important strategic decision for carriers. This is helpful when they consider the incorporation of new businesses to their networks, look for economic and optimal operations, and develop revenue management strategies. Reverse combinatorial auctions for trucking services are real-world examples that illustrate the necessity of such strategies. In these auctions, a shipper asks carriers for quotes to serve combinations of lanes and the carriers have to bundle demand and price it properly. This dissertation explores several dimensions of the problem employing state-of-the-art analytical tools. These dimensions include: Truckload (TL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) operations, behavioral attributes driving the selection of trucking services, and consideration of deterministic and stochastic demand. Analytical tools include: advanced econometrics, network modeling, statistical network analysis, combinatorial optimization, and stochastic optimization. The dissertation is organized as follows. Chapter 1 introduces the problem and related concepts. Chapter 2 studies the attributes driving the selection of trucking services and proposes an econometric model to quantify the shipper willingness to pay using data from a discrete choice experiment. Chapter 3 proposes an algorithm for demand clustering in freight logistics networks using historical data from TL carriers. Chapter 4 develops an algorithmic approach for pricing and demand segmentation of bundles in TL combinatorial auctions. Chapter 5 expands the latter framework to consider stochastic demand. Chapter 6 uses an analytical approach to demonstrate the benefits of in-vehicle consolidation for LTL carriers. Finally, Chapter 7 proposes an algorithm for pricing and demand segmentation of bundles in LTL combinatorial auctions that accounts for stochastic demand. This research provides meaningful negotiation guidance for shippers and carriers, which is supported by quantitative methods. Likewise, numerical experiments demonstrate the benefits and efficiencies of the proposed algorithms, which are transportation modeling contributions

Transport mode and network architecture : carbon footprint as a new decision metric

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-133).This thesis examines the tradeoffs between carbon footprint, cost, time and risk across three case studies of United States' perishable or consumer packaged goods firms and their transportation partners. Building upon previous research, and utilizing an Institute of Management and Administration (IOMA) and MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) survey of supply chain professionals, the goal of this thesis is to better understand the decision process and motivations of our case study companies with regard to carbon footprint and implications for transport mode and network architecture, and the tradeoffs involved in making these decisions. We examine: (1) An expedited refrigerated rail service providing coast-to-coast shipment of produce for a major retailer, in lieu of its prior trucking arrangement; (2) A dairy producer which with the help of its trucking partner switched from less-than-truckload (LTL) to full truckload (FTL) and currently explore the possibility to re-organize its distribution network; and (3) A bottled water firm which created an additional container shipping route to reduce the volume of water it ships via truck. Comparisons and contrasts are made between case study firms. Findings from these case studies are used to make forward-looking recommendations for companies interested in altering transport mode and/or network architecture as a means of reducing the carbon footprint of their operations.by Nelly Andrieu and Lee Weiss.M.Eng.in Logistic

Information technology and efficiency in trucking

In this paper, we develop an econometric model to estimate the impacts of Electronic Vehicle Management Systems (EVMS) on the load factor (LF) of heavy trucks using data at the operational level. This technology is supposed to improve capacity utilization by reducing coordination costs between demand and supply. The model is estimated on a subsample of the 1999 National Roadside Survey, covering heavy trucks travelling in the province of Quebec. The LF is explained as a function of truck, trip and carrier characteristics. We show that the use of EVMS results in a 16 percentage points increase of LF on backhaul trips. However, we also find that the LF of equipped trucks is reduced by about 7.6 percentage points on fronthaul movements. This last effect could be explained by a rebound effect: higher expected LF on the returns lead carriers to accept shipments with lower fronthaul LF. Overall, we find that this technology has increased the tonne-kilometers transported of equipped trucks by 6.3% and their fuel efficiency by 5%.Information and Communication Technology, Efficiency, Load factor, Trucking, Energy Efficiency

Information technology and efficiency in trucking.

In this paper, we develop an econometric model to estimate the impacts of Electronic Vehicle Management Systems (EVMS) on the load factor (LF) of heavy trucks using data at the operational level. This technology is supposed to improve capacity utilization by reducing coordination costs between demand and supply. The model is estimated on a subsample of the 1999 National Roadside Survey, covering heavy trucks travelling in the province of Quebec. The LF is explained as a function of truck, trip and carrier characteristics. We show that the use of EVMS results in a 16 percentage points increase of LF on backhaul trips. However, we also find that the LF of equipped trucks is reduced by about 7.6 percentage points on fronthaul movements. This last effect could be explained by a rebound effect: higher expected LF on the returns lead carriers to accept shipments with lower fronthaul LF. Overall, we find that this technology has increased the tonne-kilometers transported of equipped trucks by 6.3% and their fuel efficiency by 5%.

Transportation service procurement using combinatorial auctions

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-40).Auction is a mechanism of selling distinct assets that can be both physical objects and virtual objects. Examples of virtual objects are the rights to use assets like airport time slots and FCC spectrum, or to service truckload delivery routes in a transportation network. Under some situations bidding on combinations of objects can render lower total price compare with bidding the objects one at a time, and the auction that allows bidders to bid on combinations of different assets are called combinatorial auctions. With shipper being the auctioneer and carriers being the bidders, combinatorial auction has become increasingly important in the transportation service procurement domain, due to its mechanism to align shipper s procurement interest with carrier transportation service cost structure, which in turn lowers shippers total procurement cost. The thesis provides a comprehensive review of the use of conditional bidding within a transportation combinatorial auction framework. The thesis first describes the general forms of the transportation services available, and discusses the economics of motor carriers that provide LTL and TL services. It then illustrates the basic optimization technique of conditional bidding for TL service procurement and discusses the information technologies that enable the optimization-based procurement and the actual application of the method in the real world.by XiaoPing Chen.M.Eng.in Logistic

Truckload freight transportation utilizing relay points to improve the driving job

We propose a relay point based approach on a highway transportation network to obtain robust solutions for the truck driver turnover and driver retention problem. We exploit the characteristics of the driver routing problem and truckload freight moved over a highway transportation network and introduce a new approach to route drivers over shorter distances and to move trailers continuously while holistically considering important performance measures as related to the truck driver, transportation carrier, and customer. The amount of time drivers spend driving and the time spent at home are exploited to determine a balance between driver home time and driver pay. A mathematical program is introduced to determine where relay points should be more optimally located to exchange equipment, perform equipment maintenance, access resting facilities, etc. while considering important costs related to transporting truckload freight. The intention is to propose a method to improve the truckload driving job but not at the expense of the transportation carrier and customer. We discuss some of the desirable characteristics of this approach and also investigate the sensitivity of the solutions via a numerical experiment

Utilizing Relay Points to Improve the Truckload Driving Job

We propose a relay point based approach on a highway transportation network to obtain robust solutions for the truck driver turnover and driver retention problem. We exploit the characteristics of the driver routing problem and truckload freight moved over a highway transportation network and introduce a new approach to route drivers over shorter distances and to move trailers continuously while considering important performance measures as related to the truck driver, transportation carrier, and customer. The amount of time drivers spend driving and the time spent at home are exploited to determine a balance between driver home time and driver pay. A mixed integer quadratic program is introduced to determine where relay points should be more optimally located to exchange equipment, perform equipment maintenance, access resting facilities, etc. while considering important costs related to transporting truckload freight. The intention is to propose a method to improve the truckload driving job but not at the expense of the transportation carrier and customer. We discuss some of the desirable characteristics of this approach and also investigate the solutions via a numerical case study

Optimization Models and Algorithms for Truckload Relay Network Design

Driver turnover is a significant problem for full truckload (TL) carriers that operate using point-to-point (PtP) dispatching. The low quality of life of drivers due to the long periods of time they spend away from home is usually identified as one of the main reasons for the high turnover. In contrast, driver turnover is not as significant for less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers that use hub-and-spoke transportation networks which allow drivers to return home more frequently. Based on the differences between TL and LTL, the use of a relay network (RN) has been proposed as an alternative dispatching method for TL transportation in order to improve driver retention. In a RN, a truckload visits one or more relay points (RPs) where drivers and trailers are exchanged while the truckload continues its movement to the final destination. In this research, we propose a new composite variable model (CVM) to address the strategic TL relay network design (TLRND) problem. With this approach, we capture operational considerations implicitly within the variable definition instead of adding them as constraints in our model. Our composites represent feasible routes for the truckloads through the RN that satisfy limitations on circuity, number of RPs visited, and distances between RPs and between a RP and origin-destination nodes. Given a strict limitation on the number of RPs allowed to be visited, we developed a methodology to generate feasible routes using predefined templates. This methodology was preferred over an exact feasible path enumeration algorithm that was also developed to generate valid routes. The proposed approach was successfully used to obtain high quality solutions to largely-sized problem instances of TLRND. Furthermore extending the original CVM formulation, we incorporate mixed fleet dispatching decisions into the design of the RN. This alternative system allows routing some truckloads through the RN while the remaining truckloads are dispatched PtP. We analyze the performance of our models and the solutions obtained for TLRND problems through extensive computational testing. Finally, we conclude with a description of directions for future research