Optimizing the Trade-Off Between Batching and Waiting: Subadditive Dispatching

Motivated by applications in e-commerce logistics where orders or items arrive at different times and must be dispatched or processed in batches, we propose the subadditive dispatching problem (SAD), a strongly NP-hard problem defined by a set of orders with release times and a non-decreasing subadditive dispatch time function. A single uncapacitated vehicle must dispatch … Read more

Minimizing earliness-tardiness costs in supplier networks – A Just-in-time Truck Routing Problem

We consider a routing problem where orders are transported just-in-time from several suppliers to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). This implies that shipments cannot be picked up before their release date when they are ready at the supplier and should be delivered as close as possible to their due date to the OEM. Every shipment … Read more

Adjusted Distributionally Robust Bounds on Expected Loss Functions

Optimization problems in operations and finance often include a cost that is proportional to the expected amount by which a random variable exceeds some fixed quantity, known as the expected loss function. Representation of this function often leads to computational challenges, depending on the distribution of the random variable of interest. Moreover, in practice, a … Read more

An Exact Approach for Solving Pickup-and-Delivery Traveling Salesman Problems with Neighborhoods

This paper studies a variant of the traveling salesman problem called the pickup-and-delivery traveling salesman problem with neighborhoods that combines traditional pickup and delivery requirements with the flexibility of visiting the customers at locations within compact neighborhoods of arbitrary shape. We derive two optimality conditions for the problem, a local condition that verifies whether a … Read more

Models for two- and three-stage two-dimensional cutting stock problems with a limited number of open stacks

We address three variants of the two-dimensional cutting stock problem in which the guillotine cutting of large objects produces a set of demanded items. The characteristics of the variants are: the rectangular shape of the objects and items; the number of two or three orthogonal guillotine stages; and, a sequencing constraint that limits the number … Read more

Courier satisfaction in rapid delivery systems using dynamic operating regions

Rapid delivery systems where an order is delivered to a customer from a local distribution point within minutes or hours have experienced rapid growth recently and often rely on gig economy couriers. The prime example is a meal delivery system. During an operating day, couriers in such a system are used to deliver orders placed … Read more

Efficient Formulations for Multiple Allocation Hub Network Interdiction Problems

In this paper, we study a network interdiction problem on a multiple allocation, uncapacitated hub network. The problem is formulated as a bilevel Stackelberg game between an attacker and a defender, where the attacker identifies r out of p hubs to interdict so as to maximize the worst-case post-interdiction performance of the system with the … Read more

Who Has Access to E-Commerce and When? Time-Varying Service Regions in Same-Day Delivery

Motivated by access and equity issues in e-commerce, we study the design of same-day delivery (SDD) systems under the assumption that service regions are allowed to vary over the course of the day; equivalently, that customers in different locations may have access to SDD for different lengths of time over the service day or may … Read more

Dynamic courier capacity acquisition in rapid delivery systems: a deep Q-learning approach

With the recent boom of the gig economy, urban delivery systems have experienced substantial demand growth. In such systems, orders are delivered to customers from local distribution points respecting a delivery time promise. An important example is a restaurant meal delivery system, where delivery times are expected to be minutes after an order is placed. … Read more

An Efficient Tabu Search Algorithm for the Tool Indexing Problem

In this paper, we look at the tool indexing problem in which a single copy of each tool is allowed in the tool magazine. We develop problem specific methods to search the neighborhood efficiently and design a Tabu Search algorithm based on them. Computational experiments show that our algorithm is competent. Citation Indian Institute of … Read more