Logistics Outsourcing and 3PL Challenges

Logistics has been an important part of every economy and every business entity. The worldwide trend in globalization has led to many companies outsourcing their logistics function to Third-Party Logistics (3PL) companies, so as to focus on their core competencies. This paper attempts to broadly identify and categorize the challenges faced by 3PL companies and discover potential gaps for future research. Some of the challenges will be related with the experience and information collected from interviews with two 3PL companies.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Coordination mechanisms with mathematical programming models for decentralized decision-making, a literature review

[EN] The increase in the complexity of supply chains requires greater efforts to align the activities of all its members in order to improve the creation of value of their products or services offered to customers. In general, the information is asymmetric; each member has its own objective and limitations that may be in conflict with other members. Operations managements face the challenge of coordinating activities in such a way that the supply chain as a whole remains competitive, while each member improves by cooperating. This document aims to offer a systematic review of the collaborative planning in the last decade on the mechanisms of coordination in mathematical programming models that allow us to position existing concepts and identify areas where more research is needed.Rius-Sorolla, G.; Maheut, J.; Estelles Miguel, S.; García Sabater, JP. (2020). Coordination mechanisms with mathematical programming models for decentralized decision-making, a literature review. 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Global supply chain design: A literature review and critique

In this paper, we review decision support models for the design of global supply chains, and assess the fit between the research literature in this area and the practical issues of global supply chain design. The classification scheme for this review is based on ongoing and emerging issues in global supply chain management and includes review dimensions for (1) decisions addressed in the model, (2) performance metrics, (3) the degree to which the model supports integrated decision processes, and (4) globalization considerations. We conclude that although most models resolve a difficult feature associated with globalization, few models address the practical global supply chain design problem in its entirety. We close the paper with recommendations for future research in global supply chain modeling that is both forward-looking and practically oriented

Approximation Algorithms for Resource Allocation

This thesis is devoted to designing new techniques and algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems arising in various applications of resource allocation. Resource allocation refers to a class of problems where scarce resources must be distributed among competing agents maintaining certain optimization criteria. Examples include scheduling jobs on one/multiple machines maintaining system performance; assigning advertisements to bidders, or items to people maximizing profit/social fairness; allocating servers or channels satisfying networking requirements etc. Altogether they comprise a wide variety of combinatorial optimization problems. However, a majority of these problems are NP-hard in nature and therefore, the goal herein is to develop approximation algorithms that approximate the optimal solution as best as possible in polynomial time. The thesis addresses two main directions. First, we develop several new techniques, predominantly, a new linear programming rounding methodology and a constructive aspect of a well-known probabilistic method, the Lov\'{a}sz Local Lemma (LLL). Second, we employ these techniques to applications of resource allocation obtaining substantial improvements over known results. Our research also spurs new direction of study; we introduce new models for achieving energy efficiency in scheduling and a novel framework for assigning advertisements in cellular networks. Both of these lead to a variety of interesting questions. Our linear programming rounding methodology is a significant generalization of two major rounding approaches in the theory of approximation algorithms, namely the dependent rounding and the iterative relaxation procedure. Our constructive version of LLL leads to first algorithmic results for many combinatorial problems. In addition, it settles a major open question of obtaining a constant factor approximation algorithm for the Santa Claus problem. The Santa Claus problem is a $NP$-hard resource allocation problem that received much attention in the last several years. Through out this thesis, we study a number of applications related to scheduling jobs on unrelated parallel machines, such as provisionally shutting down machines to save energy, selectively dropping outliers to improve system performance, handling machines with hard capacity bounds on the number of jobs they can process etc. Hard capacity constraints arise naturally in many other applications and often render a hitherto simple combinatorial optimization problem difficult. In this thesis, we encounter many such instances of hard capacity constraints, namely in budgeted allocation of advertisements for cellular networks, overlay network design, and in classical problems like vertex cover, set cover and k-median

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L'Internet Physique (IP) est une initiative qui identifie plusieurs symptômes d'inefficacité et non-durabilité des systèmes logistiques et les traite en proposant un nouveau paradigme appelé logistique hyperconnectée. Semblable à l'Internet Digital, qui relie des milliers de réseaux d'ordinateurs personnels et locaux, IP permettra de relier les systèmes logistiques fragmentés actuels. Le but principal étant d'améliorer la performance des systèmes logistiques des points de vue économique, environnemental et social. Se concentrant spécifiquement sur les systèmes de distribution, cette thèse remet en question l'ordre de magnitude du gain de performances en exploitant la distribution hyperconnectée habilitée par IP. Elle concerne également la caractérisation de la planification de la distribution hyperconnectée. Pour répondre à la première question, une approche de la recherche exploratoire basée sur la modélisation de l'optimisation est appliquée, où les systèmes de distribution actuels et potentiels sont modélisés. Ensuite, un ensemble d'échantillons d'affaires réalistes sont créé, et leurs performances économique et environnementale sont évaluées en ciblant de multiples performances sociales. Un cadre conceptuel de planification, incluant la modélisation mathématique est proposé pour l’aide à la prise de décision dans des systèmes de distribution hyperconnectée. Partant des résultats obtenus par notre étude, nous avons démontré qu’un gain substantiel peut être obtenu en migrant vers la distribution hyperconnectée. Nous avons également démontré que l'ampleur du gain varie en fonction des caractéristiques des activités et des performances sociales ciblées. Puisque l'Internet physique est un sujet nouveau, le Chapitre 1 présente brièvement l’IP et hyper connectivité. Le Chapitre 2 discute les fondements, l'objectif et la méthodologie de la recherche. Les défis relevés au cours de cette recherche sont décrits et le type de contributions visés est mis en évidence. Le Chapitre 3 présente les modèles d'optimisation. Influencés par les caractéristiques des systèmes de distribution actuels et potentiels, trois modèles fondés sur le système de distribution sont développés. Chapitre 4 traite la caractérisation des échantillons d’affaires ainsi que la modélisation et le calibrage des paramètres employés dans les modèles. Les résultats de la recherche exploratoire sont présentés au Chapitre 5. Le Chapitre 6 décrit le cadre conceptuel de planification de la distribution hyperconnectée. Le chapitre 7 résume le contenu de la thèse et met en évidence les contributions principales. En outre, il identifie les limites de la recherche et les avenues potentielles de recherches futures.The Physical Internet (PI) is an initiative that identifies several symptoms of logistics systems unsustainability and inefficiency and tackles them by proposing a novel paradigm called Hyperconnected Logistics. Similar to the Digital Internet, which connects thousands of personal and local computer networks, PI will connect the fragmented logistics systems of today. The main purpose is to enhance the performance of logistics systems from economic, environmental and social perspectives. Focusing specifically on the distribution system, this thesis questions the order of magnitude of the performance gain by exploiting the PI-enabled hyperconnected distribution. It is also concerned by the characterization of the hyperconnected distribution planning. To address the first question, an exploratory research approach based on optimization modeling is applied; first, the current and prospective distribution systems are modeled. Then, a set of realistic business samples are created, and their economic and environmental performance by targeting multiple social performances are assessed. A conceptual planning framework is proposed to support the decision making in the hyperconnected distribution system. Based on the results obtained by our investigation, it can be argued that a substantial gain can be achieved by shifting toward Hyperconnected Distribution. It is also revealed that the magnitude of the gain varies by business characteristics and the targeted social performance. Since the Physical Internet is a novel topic, chapter 1 briefly introduces PI and Hyperconnected Logistics. Chapter 2 discusses the research foundations, goal and methodology. It also describes the challenges of conducting this research and highlights the type of contributions aimed for. Chapter 3 presents the optimization models including a core distribution network design modeling approach. Influenced by the characteristics of the current and prospective distribution systems, three distribution system-driven models are developed. Chapter 4 engages with the characterization of the business samples, the modeling and calibration of the parameter that are employed in the models. The exploratory investigation results are presented in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 describes the hyperconnected distribution planning framework. Chapter 7 summarizes the content of the thesis and highlights the main contributions. Moreover, it identifies the research limitations and potential future research avenues

Risk Assessment and Collaborative Information Awareness for Plan Execution

Joint organizational planning and plan execution in risk-prone environment, has seen renewed research interest given its potential for agility and cost reduction. The participants are often asked to quickly plan and execute tasks in partially known or hostile environments. This requires advanced decision support systems for situational response whereby state-of-the-art technologies can be used to handle issues such as plan risk assessment, appropriate information exchange, asset localization and adaptive planning with risk mitigation. Toward this end, this thesis contributes innovative approaches to address these issues, focusing on logistic support over risk-prone transport network as many organizational plans have key logistic components. Plan risk assessment involves property evaluation for vehicle risk exposure, cost bounds and contingency options assessment. Appropriate information exchange involves participant specific shared information awareness under unreliable communication. Asset localization mandates efficient sensor network management. Adaptive planning with risk mitigation entails limited risk exposure replanning, factoring potential vehicle and cargo loss. In this pursuit, this thesis first investigates risk assessment for asset movement and contingency valuation using probabilistic model-checking and decision trees, followed by elaborating a gossip based protocol for hierarchy-aware shared information awareness, also assessed via probabilistic model-checking. Then, the thesis proposes an evolutionary learning heuristic for efficiently managing sensor networks constrained in terms of sensor range, capacity and energy use. Finally, the thesis presents a learning based heuristic for cost effective adaptive logistic planning with risk mitigation. Instructive case studies are also provided for each contribution along with benchmark results evaluating the performance of the proposed heuristic techniques

Simheuristics to support efficient and sustainable freight transportation in smart city logistics

La logística urbana intel·ligent constitueix un factor crucial en la creació de sistemes de transport urbà eficients i sostenibles. Entre altres factors, aquests sistemes es centren en la incorporació de dades en temps real i en la creació de models de negoci col·laboratius en el transport urbà de mercaderies, considerant l’augment dels habitants en les ciutats, la creixent complexitat de les demandes dels clients i els mercats altament competitius. Això permet als que planifiquen el transport minimitzar els costos monetaris i ambientals del transport de mercaderies a les àrees metropolitanes. Molts problemes de presa de decisions en aquest context es poden formular com a problemes d’optimació combinatòria. Tot i que hi ha diferents enfocaments de resolució exacta per a trobar solucions òptimes a aquests problemes, la seva complexitat i grandària, a més de la necessitat de prendre decisions instantànies pel que fa a l’encaminament de vehicles, la programació o la situació d’instal·lacions, fa que aquestes metodologies no s’apliquin a la pràctica. A causa de la seva capacitat per a trobar solucions pseudoòptimes en gairebé temps real, els algorismes metaheurístics reben una atenció creixent dels investigadors i professionals com a alternatives eficients i fiables per a resoldre nombrosos problemes d’optimació en la creació de la logística de les ciutats intel·ligents. Malgrat el seu èxit, les tècniques metaheurístiques tradicionals no representen plenament la complexitat dels sistemes més realistes. En assumir entrades (inputs) i restriccions de problemes deterministes, la incertesa i el dinamisme experimentats en els escenaris de transport urbà queden sense explicar. Els algorismes simheurístics persegueixen superar aquests inconvenients mitjançant la integració de qualsevol tipus de simulació en processos metaheurístics per a explicar la incertesa inherent a la majoria de les aplicacions de la vida real. Aquesta tesi defineix i investiga l’ús d’algorismes simheurístics com el mètode més adequat per a resoldre problemes d’optimació derivats de la logística de les ciutats. Alguns algorismes simheurístics s’apliquen a una sèrie de problemes complexos, com la recollida de residus urbans, els problemes de disseny de la cadena de subministrament integrada i els models de transport innovadors relacionats amb la col·laboració horitzontal entre els socis de la cadena de subministrament. A més de les discussions metodològiques i la comparació d’algorismes desenvolupats amb els referents de la bibliografia acadèmica, es mostra l’aplicabilitat i l’eficiència dels algorismes simheurístics en diferents casos de gran escala.Las actividades de logística en ciudades inteligentes constituyen un factor crucial en la creación de sistemas de transporte urbano eficientes y sostenibles. Entre otros factores, estos sistemas se centran en la incorporación de datos en tiempo real y la creación de modelos empresariales colaborativos en el transporte urbano de mercancías, al tiempo que consideran el aumento del número de habitantes en las ciudades, la creciente complejidad de las demandas de los clientes y los mercados altamente competitivos. Esto permite minimizar los costes monetarios y ambientales del transporte de mercancías en las áreas metropolitanas. Muchos de los problemas de toma de decisiones en este contexto se pueden formular como problemas de optimización combinatoria. Si bien existen diferentes enfoques de resolución exacta para encontrar soluciones óptimas a tales problemas, su complejidad y tamaño, además de la necesidad de tomar decisiones instantáneas con respecto al enrutamiento, la programación o la ubicación de las instalaciones, hacen que dichas metodologías sean inaplicables en la práctica. Debido a su capacidad para encontrar soluciones pseudoóptimas casi en tiempo real, los algoritmos metaheurísticos reciben cada vez más atención por parte de investigadores y profesionales como alternativas eficientes y fiables para resolver numerosos problemas de optimización en la creación de la logística de ciudades inteligentes. A pesar de su éxito, las técnicas metaheurísticas tradicionales no representan completamente la complejidad de los sistemas más realistas. Al asumir insumos y restricciones de problemas deterministas, se ignora la incertidumbre y el dinamismo experimentados en los escenarios de transporte urbano. Los algoritmos simheurísticos persiguen superar estos inconvenientes integrando cualquier tipo de simulación en procesos metaheurísticos con el fin de considerar la incertidumbre inherente en la mayoría de las aplicaciones de la vida real. Esta tesis define e investiga el uso de algoritmos simheurísticos como método adecuado para resolver problemas de optimización que surgen en la logística de ciudades inteligentes. Se aplican algoritmos simheurísticos a una variedad de problemas complejos, incluyendo la recolección de residuos urbanos, problemas de diseño de la cadena de suministro integrada y modelos de transporte innovadores relacionados con la colaboración horizontal entre los socios de la cadena de suministro. Además de las discusiones metodológicas y la comparación de los algoritmos desarrollados con los de referencia de la bibliografía académica, se muestra la aplicabilidad y la eficiencia de los algoritmos simheurísticos en diferentes estudios de casos a gran escala.Smart city logistics are a crucial factor in the creation of efficient and sustainable urban transportation systems. Among other factors, they focus on incorporating real-time data and creating collaborative business models in urban freight transportation concepts, whilst also considering rising urban population numbers, increasingly complex customer demands, and highly competitive markets. This allows transportation planners to minimize the monetary and environmental costs of freight transportation in metropolitan areas. Many decision-making problems faced in this context can be formulated as combinatorial optimization problems. While different exact solving approaches exist to find optimal solutions to such problems, their complexity and size, in addition to the need for instantaneous decision-making regarding vehicle routing, scheduling, or facility location, make such methodologies inapplicable in practice. Due to their ability to find pseudo-optimal solutions in almost real time, metaheuristic algorithms have received increasing attention from researchers and practitioners as efficient and reliable alternatives in solving numerous optimization problems in the creation of smart city logistics. Despite their success, traditional metaheuristic techniques fail to fully represent the complexity of most realistic systems. By assuming deterministic problem inputs and constraints, the uncertainty and dynamism experienced in urban transportation scenarios are left unaccounted for. Simheuristic frameworks try to overcome these drawbacks by integrating any type of simulation into metaheuristic-driven processes to account for the inherent uncertainty in most real-life applications. This thesis defines and investigates the use of simheuristics as a method of first resort for solving optimization problems arising in smart city logistics concepts. Simheuristic algorithms are applied to a range of complex problem settings including urban waste collection, integrated supply chain design, and innovative transportation models related to horizontal collaboration among supply chain partners. In addition to methodological discussions and the comparison of developed algorithms to state-of-the-art benchmarks found in the academic literature, the applicability and efficiency of simheuristic frameworks in different large-scaled case studies are shown

A review of network location theory and models

Cataloged from PDF version of article.In this study, we review the existing literature on network location problems. The study has a broad scope that includes problems featuring desirable and undesirable facilities, point facilities and extensive facilities, monopolistic and competitive markets, and single or multiple objectives. Deterministic and stochastic models as well as robust models are covered. Demand data aggregation is also discussed. More than 500 papers in this area are reviewed and critical issues, research directions, and problem extensions are emphasized.Erdoğan, Damla SelinM.S