International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Research

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  This paper deals with minimization of tardiness in single machine scheduling problem when each job has two different due-dates i.e. ordinary due-date and drop dead date. The drop dead date is the date in which jobs’ weights rise sharply or the customer cancels the order. A linear programming formulation is developed for the problem and since the problem is known to be NP-hard, three heuristic algorithms are designed for the problem based on Tabu search mechanism. Extensive numerical experiments were conducted to observe and compare the behavior of the algorithms in solving the problem..

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The ever severe dynamic competitive environment has led to increasing complexity of strategic decision making in giant organizations. Strategy formulation is one of basic processes in achieving long range goals. Since, in ordinary methods considering all factors and their significance in accomplishing individual goals are almost impossible. Here, a new approach based on clustering method is proposed to assist the decision makers in formulating strategies. Having extracted the internal and external factors, after setting long range goals, the factor-goal matrices are generated according to the impact rate of factors on goals. According to created matrices, clusters including goals and factors are formed. By considering individual clusters the strategies are proposed according to the current state of clusters for the organization. By applying this new method the opportunity of considering the impact of all factors and its interactions on goals are not lost. Strategy-factor and strategy-goal matrices are utilized to validate the proposed method. To show the appropriateness and practicality of our approach, particularly in an environment with a large number of interacting goals and factors, we have implemented the approach in Mahmodabad Training Center (MTC) in Iran. The resulting goal-factor, current and dated states of clusters, also, strategy-goal and strategy-factor matrices for model validation and route branch indices for finding out how the organization achieved each goal are reported.

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The existing works considering the flow-based discount factor in the hub and spoke problems, assume that increasing the amount of flow passing through each edge of network continuously decreases the unit flow transportation cost. Although a higher volume of flow allows for using wider links and consequently cheaper transportation, but the unit of flow enjoys more discounts, quite like replacing the current link by a cheaper link type (i.e., increasing the volume of flow without changing the link type would not affects the unit flow transportation cost). Here, we take a new approach, introducing multi-level capacities to design hub and spoke networks, while alternative links with known capacities, installation costs and discount factors are available to be installed on each network edge. The flow transportation cost and link installation cost are calculated according to the type of links installed on the network edges thus, not only the correct optimum hub location and spoke allocation is determined, but also the appropriate link type to be installed on the network edges are specified. The capacitated multiple allocation p-hub median problem (CMApHMP) using the multi-level capacity approach is then formulated as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP). We also present a new MILP for the hub location problem using a similar approach in order to restrict the amount of flow transmitting through the hubs. Defining diseconomies of scale for each hub type, the model is to present congestion at the hubs and balance the transmitting flow between the hubs. Two new formulations are presented for both the p-hub median and the hub location problems which requiring a flow between two non-hub nodes to be transferred directly, when a direct link between the nodes is available. These models are useful for the general cost structure where the costs are not required to satisfy the triangular inequality. Direct links between non-hub nodes are allowed in all the proposed formulations.

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Generally, human resources play an important role in manufacturing systems as they can affect the work environment. One of the most important factors affecting the human resources is being an interactional interest among the workers in the workshops. If the workers in a manufacturing cell have the highest surface of the interactional interest level, it causes a significant raise in coordination and cooperation indicators and in long time periods. In this paper, a new concept of being an interactional interest between workers in a manufacturing cell besides the ability to work with its machines is proposed and a bi-objective mathematical model to carry out this new point of view in cellular manufacturing systems is presented. Applying the ε-constraint method as an optimization tool for multi-objective mathematical programming, a comprehensive numerical example is solved to exhibit the capability of the presented model.

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Disasters can cause many casualties and considerable destruction mainly because of ineffective preventive measures, incomplete preparedness, and weak relief logistics systems. After catastrophic events happen, quick and effective response is of great importance, so as to having an efficient logistic plan for distributing needed relief commodities efficiently and fairly among affected people. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy multi-objective, multi-modal, multi-commodity logistic model in emergency response to disaster occurrence, to assign limited resources equitably to the infected regions in a way to minimize transfer costs of commodities as well as distribution centers activation costs, and maximizing satisfied demand. In the proposed model, we have determined the optimal place of distribution centers among candidate points to receive people donations as well as sending and receiving different kinds of relief commodities. The amount of voluntary donations is not known precisely and is estimated with uncertainty, so we have used fuzzy parameters for them. The number of victims immediately after disaster is vague and is estimated indecisively though we have considered it as a fuzzy demand. A case study has been displayed to test the properties of the optimization problem that shows efficiency of this formulation in experiment.

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In any supply chain, distribution planning of products is of great importance to managers. With effective and flexible distribution planning, mangers can increase the efficiency of time, place, and delivery utility of whole supply chain. In this paper, inventory routing problem (IRP) is applied to distribution planning of perishable products in a supply chain. The studied supply chain is composed of two levels a supplier and customers. Customers’ locations are geographically around the supplier location and their demands are uncertain and follow an independent probability distribution functions. The product has pre-determined fixed life and is to be distributed among customers via a fleet of homogenous vehicles. The supplier uses direct routes for delivering products to customers. The objective is to determine when to deliver to each customer, how much to deliver to them, and how to assign them to vehicle and routes. The mentioned problem is formulated and solved using a stochastic dynamic programming approach. Also, a numerical example is given to illustrate the applicability of proposed approach.

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Nowadays, the necessity of manufacturers’ response to their customers’ needs and their fields of activities have extended widely. The cellular manufacturing systems have adopted reduced costs from mass-production systems and high flexibility from job-shop manufacturing systems, and therefore, they are very popular in modern manufacturing environments. Manufacturing systems, in addition to proper machinery and equipment, workforces and their performance play a critical role.

Staff creativity is an important factor in product development, and their interest in cooperating with each other in the work environment can help the growth and maturity of this factor. In this research, two important aspects of cellular manufacturing take into consideration: Cell formation and workforce planning. Cell formation is a strategic decision, and workforce planning is a tactical decision. Practically, these two sectors cannot be planned simultaneously, and decision making in this regard is decentralized. For this reason, a bi-level mathematical model is proposed. The first level aims to reduce the number of voids and exceptional elements, and the second level tends to promote the sense of interest between the workforces for working together, which will result in synergy and growth of the organization.

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Considering the high costs of the implementation and maintenance of gas distribution networks in urban areas, optimal design of such networks is vital. Today, urban gas networks are implemented within a tree structure. These networks receive gas from City Gate Stations (CGS) and deliver it to the consumers. This study presents a comprehensive model based on Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) for the design of urban gas networks taking into account topological limitations, gas pressure and velocity limitations and environmental limitations. An Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm is presented for solving the problem and the results obtained by an implementation of ACO algorithm are compared with the ones obtained through an iterative method to demonstrate the efficiency of ACO algorithm. A case study of a real situation (gas distribution in Kelardasht, Iran) affirms the efficacy of the proposed approach.
 

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Companies and firms, nowadays, due to mounting competition and product diversity, seek to apply virtual cellular manufacturing systems to reduce production costs and improve quality of the products. In addition, as a result of rapid advancement of technology and the reduction of product life cycle, production systems have turned towards dynamic production environments. Dynamic cellular manufacturing environments examine multi-period planning horizon, with changing demands for the periods. A dynamic virtual cellular manufacturing system is a new production approach to help manufacturers for decision making. Here, due to variability of demand rates in different periods, which turns to flow variability, a mathematical model is presented for dynamic production planning. In this model, we consider virtual cell production conditions and worker flexibility, so that a proper relationship between capital and production parameters (part-machine-worker) is determined by the minimum lost sales of products to customers, a minimal inventory cost, along with a minimal material handling cost. The problems based on the proposed model are solved using LINGO, as well as an epsilon constraint algorithm.

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