This session comprises posters and presentations flagging up issues, developments and case-studies across the academic-practitioner interface. The format is that each presenter will give a 60-second presentation about their poster; there will then be time available to visit posters of interest, discuss with the presenter, and develop contacts. The posters on show are summarised below:
- Issues in Warehouse strategy for Asia's Largest Setup, Sadia Samar Ali
Warehousing Management is essential for Operational Efficiency. With rising customer demand, the need to protect and store products has grown substantially. Companies are channelling their efforts towards developing warehouses and making them their main source of competitive advantage by choosing the right type of operation, process and equipment, understanding and improving performance using appropriate measures and control. A major problem in warehouse operations is maintaining productivity as logistics is a labour-intensive process. The problem is to analyse dock scheduling and route optimization for proper planning, coordination and execution of Asia's largest warehouse by a company having robust supply chain Indian network.
- Psychometrics in credit and marketing applications, Galina Andreeva, Dean Caire, Wendy Johnson
The idea that psychological traits are related to credit repayment performance is not new, yet the studies attempting to link them are scarce due to the difficulty of obtaining credit performance data together with personality measures. It will be of a particular value for credit applicants with little or no credit history. Equally it would be of interest to connect personality with consumer behaviour for marketing applications. The poster will be targeted at a potential industry collaborator and data provider. It will identify the problem, data requirements and potential benefits.
- Estimating Household composition from Electricity Smart Meter Data: A Neural Network Approach, Paula Carroll, John Dunne, Michael Hanley, Tadhg Murphy
New sources of data for the production of official statistics have become a real possibility with the availability of public and open access “Big Data” and emerging data mining techniques. A project conducted in conjunction with the Central Statistics Office of Ireland in response to a planned national rollout of smart metering is described. An investigation into how new data sources might be integrated with official statistics production is outlined. This study specifically explores the use of Neural Networks to determine household composition from electricity smart meter data.
- Volunteer reliability scheduling problem, Joanne Suk Chun Chew
The motivation of this project is to assist non-profit organization (NGO) in their volunteer scheduling problem. NGO relies on volunteers to provide services, but they often face the problem of scheduled volunteers not turning up. In this problem, the reliability of volunteers will be measured based on their past records. The objective of this study is to optimize volunteer schedule reliability for a NGO based in Melbourne. We target potential academics collaboration in solving this problem and also explore new problems arise in this area.
- Solving Nonlinear Programming Problems, Zsolt Csizmadia
Nonlinear optimization allows real world problems to be solved accurately without the need of approximations or discretizations. Solvers are becoming more readily available with focus put on out of the box applicability and performance. Most nonlinear applications yield nonconvex problems having potentially multiple local optimal solutions and evasive feasible regions. We present some of the practical issues facing nonlinear solvers, such as the characterization of local optimality for first order methods, optimality conditions in the lack of constraint qualifications, and desirable modelling techniques. We discuss approaches presently applied to overcome those.
- The Space Limitation Problem of the Container Stacking Yard: Container Hotel as a Solution, Noorul Shaiful Fitri Abdul Rahman
The total number of containers handled by ports almost doubles every year. This creates a problem of accommodating the demand due to the limited size of container yard space owned by some ports. This is a serious issue as the container business is the main source of income to these ports. This poster introduces a new innovation of container stacking storage as a potential solution for overcoming the yard space problem by adopting the Automatic Parking System concept with green technology idea. This model can increase the future efficiency and effectiveness of handling containers, and the profit margin of ports.
- The ‘soft underside of procurement’; soft OR and commissioning for outcomes, David Gilding
Services such as comprehensive sexual health services, obesity and weight management and substance misuse services are commissioned through Local Authority Public Health in England. These services are often procured through open tender, with an emphasis on commissioning for improved individual health outcomes but also a reduction in population level health inequalities and improved health equity. As a result, the conceptual design elements of these processes are complex and varied. This appears to be fertile ground for soft OR techniques and systems thinking but these approaches seem little explored in this context. Can the application of theory help the practice?
- Real-life vehicle routing problems: gaps between theory and practice, Gerben Groenendijk, Leendert Kok
Generating high quality vehicle routes in practice is a challenging task. Customers need rich VRPs to adequately fit their businesses. Meanwhile, problem sizes grow, while the urge for finding solutions faster grows as well. While literature focusses on time window and capacity constraints, other real-life constraints – which highly impact the solution quality - are often ignored. Ignoring restrictions is very costly: infeasible routes require (manual) rework and limited models lead to poor evaluations of (intermediate) VRP solutions. To better serve the customer’s needs, we strive to close the research gap by collaboration between academics and practitioners.
- Robust Optimisation, Andy Harrison
Robust optimisation is an efficient paradigm for modelling optimisation problems under uncertainty. As uncertainty affects most practical problems, there are countless applications of robust optimisation. We outline two practical applications in energy management and production planning and show an example of usage of the Mosel module for describing uncertainty sets and robust problems. Tell us about your uncertain problems. Have you got an optimisation problem that is subject to uncertainty? Can we add our modelling expertise to your domain knowledge and crack your problem? Tell us about it at [email protected]
- Tactical Management of Decentralized Global Supply Chains Superstructures under Uncertainty, Kefah Hjaila, Luis Puigjaner, Antonio Espuña
A decision support tool is developed to optimize decentralized Supply Chain (SC) tactical decisions through win-win negotiations. Different negotiation scenarios are analyzed based on cooperative and non-cooperative cases, considering the risks associated with the third parties, and the uncertain reaction of the other partners as well. The results show that the non-cooperative negotiation scenario leads to higher individual benefits.
- ChemDecide – a MCDA software for the Chemical-Using Industries, Richard Hodgett
ChemDecide is a suite of software tools which incorporates three Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques: Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Multi-Attribute Range Evaluations (MARE) and ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalité trois (ELECTRE III). The software has been used for addressing decisions such as route selection, equipment selection, resource allocation, financial budgeting and project prioritisation by companies such as AstraZeneca, Proctor and Gamble, Pfizer, Fujifilm and GlaxoSmithKline. This poster will showcase the ChemDecide software and illustrate the industrial-academic collaboration which made the software development possible
- Simsbury and Cyberhenge, Ian Mitchell
Using OR for Neighbourhood Planning. Neighbourhood plans offer opportunities for practitioners and academics to exercise their talents in soft and hard techniques whilst benefitting communities. Amesbury is the oldest continuously settled place in the country. It is the home of Stonehenge. The Amesbury History Centre has been used as a case study for an MSc summer project on project and risk management. There are many strategic choices. Come talk to me to find out more.
- Methodological Proposal for Strategic Decision Making at Mining Companies in Chile, based on the ANP and Aspects of Environmental Economics, Alexis Olmedo Navarro
The environmental problem not only affects the interests of individuals and society but also impacts the strategic decisions of organizations, to (Claver & Molina, 2000) environmental problems lead to threats of the environment in which it operates the organization, these threats can be, legislative pressures, market and finance related to respect and conserve the natural environment. The aim of this work is to develop a decision model to estimate the implication of the macro factors affecting the Environmental Economics and should be considered by organizations when designing their strategies from its mission and vision.
- A Scalable Tool for Solving very Large Size Network Design Problems, Cemalettin Ozturk, Alejandro Arbelaez, Deepak Mehta, Barry Osullivan, Luis Quesada
Many network design problems arising in areas like VLSI circuit design, optical networks, QoS routing, traffic engineering, and computational sustainability require connection between pairs of nodes subject to path-length constraints, budget limits, etc. As these networks are vulnerable to a failure, it is often important to provide resiliency by enforcing node/edge disjointness. We have developed a generic and a scalable tool for designing such networks. Our approach can easily scale very large sized networks e.g., nation-wide street networks containing tens of thousands of nodes and links and can generate good quality solutions in a very limited time.
- Reflections on being an academic researcher in residence at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Christina Pagel
I have been embedded as a researcher in residence within the critical care units at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London since November 2013. The timing, type of interaction and nature of my work there have been very different from previous (and ongoing) more traditional collaborations between academia and local hospitals. In this poster I explore some of the key differences and the implications for future closer collaboration between academia and frontline NHS services
- Can we have both efficiency and staff well-being in rostering shift-workers? Jane Parkin, Sanja Petrovic
A major central Government organisation required a method for rostering shift-workers that took into account not only the usual efficiency measures but also staff well-being. The project team that bid for and won the contract comprised practitioners with experience of scheduling and rostering and an academic with a research background in nurse rostering. The outputs from the project included both a report on proposals for improved rostering for the client and an academic paper on incorporating well-being into rostering.
- Waste flow optimization: an Italian success story, Matteo Pozzi
Herambiente is Italy's leading waste disposal company, with around 5.4 million tonnes treated in 2012 and the country's largest plant infrastructure. Optit applied state-of-the-art Operations Research to develop a model to optimize the economic results of the combined logistics+plant system. The decision support system, developed as logistics+enterprise web-based solution operative since 2014, supports strategic, tactical and operations planning and what-if analysis, leading to substantial efficiency and effectiveness solutions.
- Adjusting the Size of a Bank's Branch Network after Mergers and Acquisitions: Contributions from Location Theory, Dídac Ruiz-Hernández
A major problem faced after a merger or acquisition is eliminating redundant branches and adjusting the capacity of the remaining ones. In 2014 we introduced the Capacitated Branch Restructuring Model. It considered closure and long term operations costs, and considered resizing the remaining branches to maintain a constant service level. The model was applied to a real life problem, obtaining reductions of 40% in network size, and annual savings over 45%. We extended the problem to incorporate uncertainty in demand. The results showed important benefits when adjustments in service capacity are carried out after information about market reaction is available.
- My Body Data – personal and data driven healthcare, Ramunė Šabanienė
We talk big data in business. We talk big data to achieve targets more efficiently. Can we talk, not necessarily big, but just “data” to be healthier? The new breed of high-tech self-monitors, measuring heartrate, sleep, temperature, steps per day… might seem targeted at competitive athletes. However measuring and recording even seemingly simplest data about our bodies every day can reveal much more than even our doctors may know. This poster attempts to make a case and explore how each of us can begin collecting data about our bodies and how it can be used to enhance our health.
- Optimization models for the hydrothermal dispatch in Brazil, Reinaldo Castro Souzaa, André Luís Marques Marcatoa, Fernando Luiz Cyrino Oliveirab, Bruno Henriques Diasb
This poster summarizes a 5-year R&D project on long range planning of the Brazilian Electrical System (BES). The BES has some characteristics, such as its continental dimension, interconnection of the 4 geographical regions and most importantly, high hydro generation (around 75% of total supply). The main problem relates to the latter, which introduces large uncertainty due to rainfall regime in various regions of the country. We present an overview of this problem and our main achievements, attained by the stochastic model for the river inflow in the reservoirs and by the dynamic optimization procedure used to generate the optimal dispatch.
- How to solve difficult cutting and packing problems? By semi-infinite optimization! Jan Schwientek et al
Solving cutting and packing problems with items or containers of complicated shape is a challenging task. Gemstone cutting is such a problem: an irregularly shaped raw gem interspersed with inclusions must be cut into blanks such that the total value of the manufacturable precious gems is maximised. We solved this problem successfully by using semi-infinite optimization. We developed new methods and showed that important practical constraints, such as special arrangements of items, space for kerfs, and quality requirements, can be integrated into the model. This work resulted in many publications, a software product and the first fully automated production process.
- OR for Operational Resilience, Maurizio Tomasella, Fernando Moreira, Jamal Ouenniche, Martin Belen-Barragan, Roberto Rossi, Tom Archibald, Dan Black, Davide Mare, Jake Ansell
Resilience’ is defined as a capability to both withstand adversity and to recover quickly from disruption. It is a key issue for all organisations and their supply networks, for communities and entire economies. Actions to enhance short-term efficiency and profitability can sometimes seriously erode resilience, a fact that only becomes apparent when adverse conditions (e.g. natural disasters, financial crises) strike. Novel, more comprehensive whilst practical OR methodologies are needed to foster resilience. In this contribution, we present recent methods and tools for the promotion of resilient decision making at the operational level, from logistics and supply chains to financial services.