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This research focuses on the important tradeoffs between supply chain and freight
transportation system security and productivity. Since benefits of security
measures are often difficult to assess since events are relatively rare, it is
often more important to understand the true productivity impacts of process changes
due to security regulations and mandates, noting that systems usually
are reconfigured given process changes. Operations research approaches that can be
used to optimally or near-optimally reconfigure systems can thus be quite useful
for developing such an understanding.
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The Impact of Temporary Seaport Closures on Freight Supply Chain Costs
Transportation Research Record, 2006.
(w/ B.M. Lewis and C.C. White, III)
Targeted at port operators and regulators, this paper analyzes
the impact of freight transportation disruptions on the inventory
costs accrued in a simple one-to-one supply chain.
Traffic from the supply point to the consumption point must pass
through a single (potential) bottleneck, which is subject to
uncertain closures of unknown duration. When closed, freight
queues up at the bottleneck, and requires multiple periods to
dissipate after reopening. Results indicate that inventory costs
are far more sensitive to closure duration than to closure
likelihood, especially when likelihoods are expected to be rare.
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An Inventory Control Model with Possible Border Disruptions
submitted, 2005.
(w/ B.M. Lewis and C.C. White, III)
This paper develops a quantitative framework for analyzing
the impact of single-bottleneck disruptions on simple
one-to-one supply chains, focusing on the problem of determining
optimal inventory control policies. Disruptions at the bottleneck
lead to freight queues, which require multiple periods to
dissipate. A methodology is developed to determine an appropriate
distribution for the stochastic lead time induced by such systems,
and then to determine optimal average cost inventory control
policies and their costs.
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A Research Agenda for Supply Chain Security and Productivity
NSF Report, 2004.
(w/ C.C. White, III and M.W.P. Savelsbergh)
This report summarizes the findings of an NSF workshop, hosted
by Georgia Tech, investigating the role of operations research
and management science in the emerging area of supply chain and
freight transportation security.
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Transportation Security
Presentation at Spring School on Transportation, 2004.
This presentation provides an overview of some of the challenges
faced by freight transportation providers in an era of
heightened system security, and the potential role of operations
research in the analysis of resultant problems.
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