Capability engineering -an analysis of perspectives

The terms "capability" and "capability engineering" are now widely used across industry and in government procurement, but it is clear that different communities use the terms with similar, but distinctly different meanings. Using a soft systems methodological approach, an INCOSE UK working group has identified eight perspectives of capability, which have been related to Ring"s value cycle and the Hitchins" five layer model of systems engineering. It is asserted that capability is the ability to do something and that capability engineering is the overarching approach that links value, purpose, and solution of a systems problem. It is equivalent to layers 1-4 of Hitchins" Five Layer Model and is equivalent to an holistic perspective of systems engineering. There are significant practice and examples of capability engineering from (at least) the UK rail provision, defence, and Information Services and it is the view of the working group that further INCOSE guidance may be needed to ensure engineers are properly equipped to deal with capability and capability engineering.©2011 by Michael Henshaw, Duncan Kemp, Peter Lister, Andrew Daw, Alan Harding, Andrew Farncombe, Malcolm Touchin. Published and used by INCOSE with permission

Risk-Based Optimal Scheduling for the Predictive Maintenance of Railway Infrastructure

In this thesis a risk-based decision support system to schedule the predictive maintenance activities, is proposed. The model deals with the maintenance planning of a railway infrastructure in which the due-dates are defined via failure risk analysis.The novelty of the approach consists of the risk concept introduction in railway maintenance scheduling, according to ISO 55000 guidelines, thus implying that the maintenance priorities are based on asset criticality, determined taking into account the relevant failure probability, related to asset degradation conditions, and the consequent damages

An autonomous rail-road amphibious robotic system for railway maintenance using sensor fusion and mobile manipulator

The current maintenance of railway infrastructure replies heavily on human involvement, requiring possession of the track section during maintenance, resulting in high costs and inefficient execution. This paper proposes an autonomous rail-road amphibious robotic system for railway inspection and maintenance tasks. By virtue of its road and rail-autonomous mobility, it is able to execute the complete maintenance execution flow in multiple phases. The system provides flexible track job location access, low-cost maintenance execution, and reduced track network possession. The payload mobile manipulator and sensor fusion enhance the system's capabilities for multiple types of inspection and repair. The design of a command and control system was guided by a rule-based expert system strategy to enable remote operation of the whole system. The developed demonstrator of a track wheel accompanied unmanned ground vehicle was integrated and demonstrated in both operational and realistic track environments with multiple testing activities of remote operation, navigation, accurate job detection, inspection, and repair, confirming effective job completion and logical human interaction. The proposed method produces an outstanding hardware-software integrated robotic inspection and repair system with a high level of technological readiness for autonomous railway maintenance and intelligent railway asset management

Business perspectives for freight transportation management The SYNCHRO-NET project

Nowadays, the eects of globalization impacted on the international trade that is growing faster. To conrm this trend, the volume of world trade continued to grow in the 2015, according to the estimates provided by the World trade Organization. In this context, the challenge for transportation is to overcome the complexities related to higher service quality, time-sensitive delivery, the increasing distances and the vulnerability of the supply chain. To these issues are added those concerning the economical end environmental sustainability of the logistics operations. In fulllment of the Horizon 2020 programme, dierent projects and research eorts are addressed to de-stressing the supply chain, introducing ICT-based solutions (e.g., e-Freight tools) and slow steaming concepts. The paper presents the SYNCHRO-modal supply chain eco-NET (SYNCHRO-NET) project, which has the aim to demonstrate the eectiveness of slow streaming combined with the synchro-modality, to reduce the externalities of the supply chain (i.e., costs and emissions) and to improve the reliability, the sustainability and the optimization planning process. This project takes into account the results obtained by the previous successful projects in the same eld, but introduces a further layer of innovation that extends the current state-of-the-art. In fact, the SYNCHRO-NET implementation is not strictly focused on the ICT solution, but it combines operational models with a business perspective and includes a stakeholder-driven approach

Railway management : an evaluation of management cybernetics in a public enterprise

Two are the objectives of this thesis: To identify structural and cultural causes of ineffectiveness in a state-owned railway enterprise in the light of the management cybernetics area of knowledge. To assess the capacity of this area of knowledge, especially in its abstract and coded form (Beer's Model of the Viable System), to provide adequate explanations of organizational performance and organizational failure. The objectives are sought in the analysis of an actual enterprise, the Greek Railways Organization (OSE). An 'ethnographic type' pilot study is initially undertaken, to highlight organizational problems under a management cybernetics perspective. The study, though demonstrating structural problems associated with a certain organizational culture, is assumed in itself inadequate, as it reflects a subjective interpretation of reality. A 'survey within the case study' is therefore undertaken aiming at deriving the real dimensions of organizational problems from an analysis of managerial responses. Responses are designed to provide a picture of both the actual way in which the enterprise organizes in the pursuit of its tasks, and the organizational culture. The first subtheme (organizational structure) is examined in terms of the cybernetic model of the viable organization. The findings, in general, validate the assumptions of the ethnographic study. Numerous structural problems are identified. The second subtheme (culture) is examined in terms of managerial cohesiveness, defined as the agreement between managers on key issues of the identity of the enterprise. The overall conclusion is that though managers are, in general, in agreement, the content of this agreement tends rather to reflect a shared pessimistic view of the future than cohesiveness facilitating viability and development. The conclusion, as regards the enterprise, is, that though many problems are reflected in the organizational structure, proper modifications of this structure may not suffice to guarantee improved performance, unless considerable attention is paid in the building of a relevant organizational culture, quite difficult under the specific circumstances. The conclusion, as regards the adopted methodology, is that though Beer's model of the viable system assists in a diagnosis of many organizational deficiencies, it may not suffice to promote organizational change, especially when narrowly perceived, i. e., when results to a concentration on structural arrangements in the expense of the building of a corporate culture. Certain methodologies should develop, which, while making use of the advantages of the model, will not underestimate other significant aspects of organizational reality

Civilian Specialists at War:Britain's Transport Experts and the First World War

The war of 1914–18 was the first great conflict to be fought between highly industrial societies able to manufacture and transport immense quantities of goods to the field of battle. In Civilian Specialists at War, Christopher Phillips examines the manner in which Britain’s industrial society influenced the character and conduct of industrial warfare. This book analyses the multiple connections between the military, the government and the senior executives of some of pre-war Britain’s largest companies. It illustrates the British army’s evolving response to the First World War and the role to be played by non-military expertise in the prosecution of such a conflict. This study demonstrates that pre-existing professional relationships between the army, the government and private enterprise were exploited throughout the conflict. It details how civilian technologies facilitated the prosecution of war on an unprecedented scale, while showing how British experts were constrained by the political and military demands of coalition warfare. Civilian Specialists at War reveals that Britain’s transport experts were a key component in the country’s conduct of the First World War

Mathematical programming models to design and analyse efficient and robust raiway freight transport networks

(English) Searching to achieve an ambitious reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the European Union has set as a goal a modal shift in freight transport of 30\% by rail or waterborne for the near future. The increasing efforts of many governments to intensify rail freight transport often must face the difficulties involved in improving both infrastructure and rail operations. Moreover, infrastructure management and business operations usually correspond to different entities with highly contradictory economic interests. Making progress on the reliability of the railway network is one of the main factors to be considered to make the use of the train more attractive as a means of transport for industry. Also, focusing on shippers' response to road and rail competition and the role of different rail undertakings competing with each other may help boost the use of rail for freight transport. Seeking to reinforce these two goals, this thesis introduces two independent mathematical optimisation models, which may also be complementary, and which have been developed under a common conceptual framework of data structures and variables to guarantee their compatibility. The first model is a mathematical programming-based design model for evaluating the impact on a mixed railway network from proposals for infrastructure improvement and capacity expansion that are oriented mainly toward increasing freight transportation. The model has been applied to extend elements of an existing mixed railway network, perform relatively less costly actions on the network, and enhance capacity by adding new blocking/control systems at specific locations. These aspects are usually not considered in models for regional planning. Rather than a model whose sole focus is on railway capacity expansion, this approach combines capacity-expansion with network design. Because the way investments generate returns to the freight transportation system is of utmost relevance for these types of problems, this model is based on the efficient frontier between investment and operating costs. The second model is a combined model for jointly evaluating the modal split road-rail, and the resulting railway freight flows on the railway network. This combined modal split-traffic assignment model is addressed to the case when a modal split based on a random utility model is available, and some of its coefficients may present a non-negligible variability. To this end, after the initial deterministic formulation, a robust counterpart of the model is developed. The model, formulated as a non-linear integer programming problem, is oriented to a multi-carrier environment and includes constraints to consider the interactions between the different types of flows on the railway network, allowing a detailed evaluation of the cost types of the carriers and the network capacity. An algorithmic solution based on the outer approximation method is shown to provide accurate solutions in a reasonable computational time for the robust and non-robust versions of the model. Examples centred on a section of the Trans-European Transport Network, the TEN-T Core network corridors, are reported to test the applicability of the models. Results show the effectiveness of both models. The design model can be a helpful tool for analysing the impact infrastructure investments may have on operating costs, where (implicit) capacity limitations in the scenarios to be evaluated may necessarily be taken into account. At the same time, it can be complemented with the combined modal split-traffic assignment model by assessing the possible shippers' response to the different railway carriers' services competing with each other and the road.(Español) Tratando de lograr una significativa y ambiciosa reducción de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero, la Unión Europea se ha marcado como objetivo que los modos de transporte de mercancías alternativos a la carretera, como el ferrocarril o la navegación fluvial, alcancen una cuota del 30% sobre el total de mercancías transportadas por tierra en Europa en los próximos años. Los crecientes esfuerzos que llevan a cabo los diferentes gobiernos se enfrentan con demasiada frecuencia con las dificultades que suponen mejorar de forma simultánea infraestructura y operaciones ferroviarias, habitualmente gestionados por entes diferentes con intereses económicos enfrentados. Mejorar la fiabilidad de la red ferroviaria es uno de los principales factores a tener en cuenta para hacer más atractivo el uso del tren como medio de transporte para la industria. Por otro lado, centrarse en los criterios que pueden llevar a las empresas a elegir entre carretera o tren, y en el papel que juegan las diferentes compañías ferroviarias en esta elección, compitiendo entre sí, puede ayudar a incrementar el uso del tren para el transporte de mercancías. Con la idea de reforzar estos dos objetivos, este trabajo de tesis presenta dos modelos matemáticos de optimización, independientes pero a la vez complementarios, y desarrollados bajo un marco conceptual de estructuras de datos y variables común para garantizar su compatibilidad. El primer modelo es un modelo de diseño basado en programación matemática para evaluar el impacto que pueden tener, sobre una red ferroviaria de uso mixto, propuestas de mejora de la infraestructura y de ampliación de la capacidad dirigidas principalmente a incrementar el uso del tren para el transporte de mercancías. El modelo se ha orientado a la modificación de elementos de una red ferroviaria de uso mixto existente, proponiendo intervenciones en la red relativamente poco costosas, y aumentando la capacidad añadiendo nuevos sistemas de bloqueo y control en ubicaciones específicas. Para este tipo de problemas, es de la máxima relevancia la manera en que las inversiones generan retornos al sistema de transporte ferroviario. Por eso, este modelo está basado en el óptimo equilibrio entre la inversión y los costes de operación. El segundo modelo es un modelo combinado para evaluar de forma conjunta el reparto modal entre carretera y tren, y los flujos de mercancías en la red ferroviaria resultantes. Este modelo está enfocado hacia aquellas situaciones en que hay un modelo de utilidad aleatoria disponible, pero algunos de sus coeficientes pueden presentar una variabilidad que no debe ser ignorada. Con esta finalidad, tras la formulación inicial del modelo determinístico se presenta una versión robusta de la formulación. El modelo, formulado como un problema de programación no lineal entera, está enfocado hacia un entorno en el que conviven (y compiten) diferentes compañías ferroviarias. Se detalla un algoritmo para resolver el modelo, basado en el método de aproximaciones externas, que permite obtener soluciones precisas con un tiempo computacional razonable, tanto para la versión determinística como para la versión robusta. Ejemplos basados en una sección de la Red Trans-Europea de Transporte (TEN-T por sus siglas en inglés) permiten validar la aplicabilidad y eficacia de los modelos. El modelo de diseño puede ser una herramienta útil para analizar el impacto que las inversiones en infraestructura pueden tener en los costes de operación, teniendo en cuenta las limitaciones de capacidad que existen en los escenarios evaluados. De la misma forma, se puede complementar este análisis con el modelo combinado de reparto modal y asignación de flujos, en el que se puede comprobar la posible respuesta de las empresas que requieren transportar sus productos ante los diferentes servicios ofrecidos por las compañías ferroviarias compitiendo entre si, y compitiendo con la carretera.Estadística i investigació operativ

Mathematical programming models to design and analyse efficient and robust raiway freight transport networks

(English) Searching to achieve an ambitious reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the European Union has set as a goal a modal shift in freight transport of 30\% by rail or waterborne for the near future. The increasing efforts of many governments to intensify rail freight transport often must face the difficulties involved in improving both infrastructure and rail operations. Moreover, infrastructure management and business operations usually correspond to different entities with highly contradictory economic interests. Making progress on the reliability of the railway network is one of the main factors to be considered to make the use of the train more attractive as a means of transport for industry. Also, focusing on shippers' response to road and rail competition and the role of different rail undertakings competing with each other may help boost the use of rail for freight transport. Seeking to reinforce these two goals, this thesis introduces two independent mathematical optimisation models, which may also be complementary, and which have been developed under a common conceptual framework of data structures and variables to guarantee their compatibility. The first model is a mathematical programming-based design model for evaluating the impact on a mixed railway network from proposals for infrastructure improvement and capacity expansion that are oriented mainly toward increasing freight transportation. The model has been applied to extend elements of an existing mixed railway network, perform relatively less costly actions on the network, and enhance capacity by adding new blocking/control systems at specific locations. These aspects are usually not considered in models for regional planning. Rather than a model whose sole focus is on railway capacity expansion, this approach combines capacity-expansion with network design. Because the way investments generate returns to the freight transportation system is of utmost relevance for these types of problems, this model is based on the efficient frontier between investment and operating costs. The second model is a combined model for jointly evaluating the modal split road-rail, and the resulting railway freight flows on the railway network. This combined modal split-traffic assignment model is addressed to the case when a modal split based on a random utility model is available, and some of its coefficients may present a non-negligible variability. To this end, after the initial deterministic formulation, a robust counterpart of the model is developed. The model, formulated as a non-linear integer programming problem, is oriented to a multi-carrier environment and includes constraints to consider the interactions between the different types of flows on the railway network, allowing a detailed evaluation of the cost types of the carriers and the network capacity. An algorithmic solution based on the outer approximation method is shown to provide accurate solutions in a reasonable computational time for the robust and non-robust versions of the model. Examples centred on a section of the Trans-European Transport Network, the TEN-T Core network corridors, are reported to test the applicability of the models. Results show the effectiveness of both models. The design model can be a helpful tool for analysing the impact infrastructure investments may have on operating costs, where (implicit) capacity limitations in the scenarios to be evaluated may necessarily be taken into account. At the same time, it can be complemented with the combined modal split-traffic assignment model by assessing the possible shippers' response to the different railway carriers' services competing with each other and the road.(Español) Tratando de lograr una significativa y ambiciosa reducción de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero, la Unión Europea se ha marcado como objetivo que los modos de transporte de mercancías alternativos a la carretera, como el ferrocarril o la navegación fluvial, alcancen una cuota del 30% sobre el total de mercancías transportadas por tierra en Europa en los próximos años. Los crecientes esfuerzos que llevan a cabo los diferentes gobiernos se enfrentan con demasiada frecuencia con las dificultades que suponen mejorar de forma simultánea infraestructura y operaciones ferroviarias, habitualmente gestionados por entes diferentes con intereses económicos enfrentados. Mejorar la fiabilidad de la red ferroviaria es uno de los principales factores a tener en cuenta para hacer más atractivo el uso del tren como medio de transporte para la industria. Por otro lado, centrarse en los criterios que pueden llevar a las empresas a elegir entre carretera o tren, y en el papel que juegan las diferentes compañías ferroviarias en esta elección, compitiendo entre sí, puede ayudar a incrementar el uso del tren para el transporte de mercancías. Con la idea de reforzar estos dos objetivos, este trabajo de tesis presenta dos modelos matemáticos de optimización, independientes pero a la vez complementarios, y desarrollados bajo un marco conceptual de estructuras de datos y variables común para garantizar su compatibilidad. El primer modelo es un modelo de diseño basado en programación matemática para evaluar el impacto que pueden tener, sobre una red ferroviaria de uso mixto, propuestas de mejora de la infraestructura y de ampliación de la capacidad dirigidas principalmente a incrementar el uso del tren para el transporte de mercancías. El modelo se ha orientado a la modificación de elementos de una red ferroviaria de uso mixto existente, proponiendo intervenciones en la red relativamente poco costosas, y aumentando la capacidad añadiendo nuevos sistemas de bloqueo y control en ubicaciones específicas. Para este tipo de problemas, es de la máxima relevancia la manera en que las inversiones generan retornos al sistema de transporte ferroviario. Por eso, este modelo está basado en el óptimo equilibrio entre la inversión y los costes de operación. El segundo modelo es un modelo combinado para evaluar de forma conjunta el reparto modal entre carretera y tren, y los flujos de mercancías en la red ferroviaria resultantes. Este modelo está enfocado hacia aquellas situaciones en que hay un modelo de utilidad aleatoria disponible, pero algunos de sus coeficientes pueden presentar una variabilidad que no debe ser ignorada. Con esta finalidad, tras la formulación inicial del modelo determinístico se presenta una versión robusta de la formulación. El modelo, formulado como un problema de programación no lineal entera, está enfocado hacia un entorno en el que conviven (y compiten) diferentes compañías ferroviarias. Se detalla un algoritmo para resolver el modelo, basado en el método de aproximaciones externas, que permite obtener soluciones precisas con un tiempo computacional razonable, tanto para la versión determinística como para la versión robusta. Ejemplos basados en una sección de la Red Trans-Europea de Transporte (TEN-T por sus siglas en inglés) permiten validar la aplicabilidad y eficacia de los modelos. El modelo de diseño puede ser una herramienta útil para analizar el impacto que las inversiones en infraestructura pueden tener en los costes de operación, teniendo en cuenta las limitaciones de capacidad que existen en los escenarios evaluados. De la misma forma, se puede complementar este análisis con el modelo combinado de reparto modal y asignación de flujos, en el que se puede comprobar la posible respuesta de las empresas que requieren transportar sus productos ante los diferentes servicios ofrecidos por las compañías ferroviarias compitiendo entre si, y compitiendo con la carretera.Postprint (published version

Managing Armageddon: The science of transportation and the British Expeditionary Force, 1900-1918

At its most fundamental level, the First World War in northern Europe was fought between two competing industrial systems. The efficient production and delivery of materials from the factory to the front lines played a critical role in deciding the outcome of the conflict. This thesis examines the management of the second of those factors, the provision of a flexible, effective logistics organization in the rear of the British Expeditionary Force [BEF] on the Western Front. The thesis draws upon war diaries generated by the administrative departments, and the personal papers of individuals concerned with maintaining the supply lines of the BEF and ensuring that the BEF’s ‘tail’ continued to wag. It reverses historiographical trends which have stressed the influence of the war upon the societies which fought it, to instead emphasize the manner in which highly-skilled experts from some of Britain’s largest and most complex businesses were able to contribute recognizable industrial techniques and working methods to improve the efficiency of the BEF’s transportation infrastructure and the operations systems employed upon it. This thesis rejects post-war claims, most vociferously asserted by David Lloyd George, as to the obstinacy and insularity of the British Army as an institution. The administrative success of the BEF was the result of civil-military combination and cooperation. The most famous manifestation of this process, the appointment by Lloyd George of Sir Eric Geddes to the position of Director-General of Military Railways during the Battle of the Somme, was not unique. This thesis argues that the British Army actively sought out and engaged with transport experts both prior to and during the war, a practice which consolidated a longstanding, triangular, working relationship between the British Army, the State, and the prominent railway companies of late-Victorian and Edwardian Britain