The optimal allocation of buffers in serial production systems is one of the oldest and most researched problems in Industrial Engineering. In general, there are three main approaches to the buffer allocation problem when the objective is to maximize throughput. The first is basically a systematic trial and error procedure...
Facility location-allocation decisions and inventory stocking decisions are very important in spare parts logistics. Both sets of decisions affect total costs in the system and the service levels that can be achieved by establishing distances between customers and distribution centers (DCs) in facility location-allocation, and by determining the availability of...
Humanitarian logistics in the post-disaster phase of an earthquake requires detailed planning about the relief distribution network including assigning available distribution centers (DCs) to the affected areas, distribution of the relief commodities demanded by the affected population, and efficient allocation of the available vehicle fleet for the distribution in a...
Modern supply chains have grown to be far more complex than their predecessors, as global trade and accessibility have opened avenues of trade that were previously impossible. As such, the inherent risk of internal and/or external disruptions impacting the performance of a supply chain has also grown due to the...
After a mobile communication device (MCD), such as a smartphone or tablet, has been sold to the public, the customer may find that there is a defect. Each MCD is sold with a warranty that covers the repair of manufacturing defects and is supported by the MCD manufacturer. A third...
On a paced mixed-model assembly line various product variants are assembled in the same sequence of serially arranged workstations that make up the line. The goal is to assemble the products with the lowest cost possible while meeting demand requirements. Since the work content of product variants may differ at...
Small organizations may face several management challenges, such as developing non-centralized management structures, knowledge retention in rapid turnover environments, complex operations, and diverse stakeholder requirements. Many methodologies exist to address such management challenges, including viable system model, knowledge management, and Toyota production system, or lean manufacturing. Each of these methodologies...
Ecoroofs have become more prominent in recent years. However, there is currently no enforceable standard or building code for the design and construction of ecoroofs across the United States (Kraupa, 2014). Further research is needed to determine how ecoroofs respond to roof motion and to develop an appropriate design standard.The...
Moving mixed-model assembly lines are used by many companies to assemble multiple model types of a particular product. A moving assembly line consists of a material movement system that moves jobs at a constant velocity across a series of workstations. The variation in the work content of jobs at workstations...
Wildfires are a recurring disaster that threatens communities living close to forests and result in significant financial losses along with negative environmental effects, especially with the increase of wildfire season length and intensity due to climate change and increasing urbanization. Wildfire events can also have a significant impact on the...
High early strength concrete (HESC) allows for faster construction with less impact on traffic, thus reducing the indirect costs associated with a project. There are multiple methods for achieving early strength, such as alternative cements like calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) or chemically accelerated portland cements. The standard criteria for an HESC...
The performance of transit networks must be measured on a regular basis to understand how well these complex systems fulfill their intended purpose and to identify potential opportunities for improvement. Measuring transit network performance is only achievable by defining a specific set of transit network performance indicators (TNPIs). Different schemes...
In the past two decades, the advancement in data collection and storage have led to the accumulation of complex datasets. Consequently, various industries have sought data-driven solutions to predict and detect anomalies. Temporal patterns have emerged as potential features in prediction models that could improve the performance of the identification...
Changes in the global climate and forest management practices have given rise to increasing numbers and severity of wildfires. More than five million acres burned in the United States in 2017, while in Canada 7.4 million acres burned. In particular, an increasing amount of dead woody biomass is a key...
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant transformations in global mobility patterns, primarily driven by stay-at-home orders and economic shutdowns. These measures resulted in a substantial decline in travel activities worldwide. In the United States, there was a notable reduction in travel demand, with a corresponding decrease in...
This study focused on the potential water and energy savings from implementing a revised schedule of a recirculation pump connected to a condensing gas tankless water heater located in a study home in Portland, Oregon. The existing recirculation pump activation schedule was studied for its impact on the overall water...
Simulated Annealing and Threshold Accepting are two stochastic search algorithms that have been successfully used on a variety of complex and difficult problem sets. Due to their stochastic nature they are not guaranteed to produce the same result for each run. This means that these techniques actually produce a distribution...
To address several challenges faced in healthcare, the Triple Aim (3A) was targeted by institutions to improve health outcomes and patient experience while reducing the costs of health. Process improvement techniques in manufacturing, such as Lean systems, were applied as tools to achieve the 3A framework. Unfortunately, the high level...
Creating schedules for the job shop manufacturing system is an extremely difficult task. Although researchers have devoted a lot of attention to generating optimal solutions, these solutions are static, thus they do not update as random events occur that disrupt the system. As smart manufacturing has grown, researchers have been...
Highway work zones are extremely dangerous environments due to the presence of workers near high-speed traveling vehicles. This dynamic environment results in a disproportionate number of accidents that cause injury and casualty to both drivers and workers due primarily to vehicular intrusions into work zones. Several emerging work zone intrusion...