Ginger Y. Ke

An integrated multiple criteria preference ranking approach to the Canadian west coast port congestion conflict

Highlights? The Canadian west coast is facing increasing port congestion problems. ? An AHP based preference ranking method is incorporated into conflict resolution. ? Our analysis provides structural insights from a third-party perspective. An integrative conflict analysis approach, incorporating an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based preference ranking method into the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR), is employed to investigate the Canadian west coast port congestion dispute. The Canadian west coast has historically been an important gateway connecting North America to Asia thanks to its specific geographical and strategic location. Despite successful operations and maintenance of the port facilities to handle international trade during the past few decades, the west coast is now facing increasing congestion problems, resulting in significant delays in transporting goods from the west coast to other parts of Canada and the USA. The strategic analyses carried out in this research suggest potential resolutions in which Canada would expand port facilities at various locations, encouraging traders to continue choosing the Canadian west coast as one of their trade gateways to North America.

The Optimal Quantity Discount that a Supplier Should Offer

Quantity discounts are a useful mechanism for coordination. Here we investigate such discounts from the suppliers perspective, both from a non-cooperative game-theoretical approach and a joint decision model. Taking into account the price elasticity of demand, this analysis aids a sole supplier in establishing an all-unit quantity discount policy in light of the buyers best reaction. The Stackelberg equilibrium and Pareto optimal solution set are derived for the non-cooperative and joint-decision cases, respectively. Our research indicates that channel efficiency can be improved significantly if the quantity discount decision is made jointly rather than non-cooperatively. Moreover, we extend our model in three directions: (1) the product is transported by a private fleet; (2) the buyer may choose to offer her customers a different percentage discount than that she obtained from the supplier; and (3) the case of heterogeneous buyers. Numerical case studies are employed throughout the paper to illustrate the practical applications of the models presented and the sensitivity to model parameters.

Establishment and optimization of an evaluation index system for brownfield redevelopment projects

Brownfield redevelopment has recently become the focus of attention of governments, communities, environmental advocates, scientists, and researchers around the world. The purpose of this study is to provide a framework for establishing and optimizing an evaluation index for brownfield redevelopment projects (BRPs). This framework involves three steps: the initial design, testing and optimization, and verification. With the help of two standard statistical software packages, the reliability and validity of the initialized index system are established, and then the optimization of the initial index system is carried out by means of Factor Analysis. The effectiveness of the optimization of the index system is verified through Structural Equation Modeling. Furthermore, an illustration example is used to show how to apply the established index system in the real world. The paper develops an evaluation index system for brownfield redevelopment projects.The construction is based on an empirical study in China.Main procedure includes initial design, optimization, and verification.An illustration example is used to show the effectiveness and efficiency.

Coordination of transportation and quantity discount decisions, with coalition formation

Although it is an essential link in any supply chain, transportation is often neglected in inventory decisions. In reordering decisions, for example, this omission may well result in unexpected losses, as transportation and quantity discounts can be tricky. In this paper, we study the problem of optimal coordination of these discounts from the perspectives of the parties who offer them, rather than of those who take them. Using a non-cooperative model of a three-party supply chain, we show that cooperation can benefit each member individually, and the supply chain overall. In fact, cooperation can generate a non-empty core – that is, there may be a surplus that can be allocated so that all parties and all coalitions of parties, are induced to continue to cooperate. We provide a detailed algorithm, based on the Shapley value, to allocate the surplus fairly and illustrate it with numerical examples.

A routing and scheduling approach to rail transportation of hazardous materials with demand due dates

This paper investigates the routing and scheduling of rail shipments of hazardous materials (hazmat) in the presence of due dates. In particular, we consider the problem of minimizing the weighted sum of earliness and tardiness for each demand plus the holding cost at each yard, while forcing a risk threshold on each service leg at any time instant. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) accident records, between 1999 and 2013, were analyzed to establish that train speed was the most significant factor in derailment. A mixed-integer programming model and a heuristic-based solution method are proposed for preparing the shipment plan. Finally, the analytical framework is used to study and analyze a number of realistic-sized problem instances generated using the infrastructure of a Class I railroad operator.

An analytical framework for integrated maritime terminal scheduling problems with time windows

Container transport, an integral part of intercontinental trade, has steadily increased over the past few decades. The productivity of such a system, in part, hinges on the efficient allocation of terminal resources such that the container transit time is minimized. This study provides an analytical framework, which entails efficient scheduling of quay and yard cranes, to minimize the time spent by containers at a terminal. A mixed-integer programming model is developed to capture the two-stage multi-processor characteristic of the problem, where each crane has specific time window availability. A genetic algorithm equipped with a novel decoding procedure is developed. The mixed-integer model is tested on a number of problem instances of varying sizes to gain managerial insights.