2023
Autores
Cherri, AC; Cherri, LH; Oliveira, BB; Oliveira, JF; Carravilla, MA;
Publicação
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
Abstract
In cutting processes, one of the strategies to reduce raw material waste is to generate leftovers that are large enough to return to stock for future use. The length of these leftovers is important since waste is expected to be minimal when cutting these objects in the future. However, in several situations, future demand is unknown and evaluating the best length for the leftovers is challenging. Furthermore, it may not be economically feasible to manage a stock of leftovers with multiple lengths that may not result in minimal waste when cut. In this paper, we approached the cutting stock problem with the possibility of generating leftovers as a two-stage stochastic program with recourse. We approximated the demand levels for the different items by employing a finite set of scenarios. Also, we modeled different decisions made before and after uncertainties were revealed. We proposed a mathematical model to represent this problem and developed a column generation approach to solve it. We ran computational experi-ments with randomly generated instances, considering a representative set of scenarios with a varying probability distribution. The results validated the efficiency of the proposed approach and allowed us to derive insights on the value of modeling and tackling uncertainty in this problem. Overall, the results showed that the cutting stock problem with usable leftovers benefits from a modeling approach based on sequential decision-making points and from explicitly considering uncertainty in the model and the solution method. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )
2025
Autores
Ali, S; Ramos, AG; Oliveira, JF;
Publicação
COMPUTERS & OPERATIONS RESEARCH
Abstract
In online three-dimensional packing problems where items are received one by one and require immediate packing decisions without prior knowledge of upcoming items, considering the static stability constraint is crucial for safely packing each arriving item in real time. Unstable loading patterns can result in risks of potential damage to items, containers, and operators during loading/unloading operations. Nevertheless, static stability constraints have often been neglected or oversimplified in existing online heuristic methods in the literature, undermining the practical implementation of these methods in real-world scenarios. In this study, we analyze how different static stability constraints affect solutions' efficiency and cargo stability, aiming to provide valuable insights and develop heuristic algorithms for real-world online problems, thus increasing the applicability of this research field. To this end, we embedded four distinct static stability constraints in online heuristics, including full-base support, partial-base support, center-of-gravity polygon support, and novel partial-base polygon support. Evaluating the impact of these constraints on the efficiency of a wide range of heuristic methods on real instances showed that regarding the number of used bins, heuristics with polygon- based stabilities have superior performance against those under full-base and partial-base support stabilities. The static mechanical equilibriumapproach offers a necessary and sufficient condition for the cargo static stability, and we employed it as a benchmark in our study to assess the quality of the four studied stability constraints. Knowing the number of stable items under each of these constraints provides valuable managerial insight for decision-making in real-world online packing scenarios.
2025
Autores
Leloup, E; Paquay, C; Pironet, T; Oliveira, JF;
Publicação
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
Abstract
In a survey of Belgian logistics service providers, the efficiency of first-mile pickup operations was identified as a key area for improvement, given the increasing number of returns in e-commerce, which has a significant impact on traffic congestion, carbon emissions, energy consumption and operational costs. However, the complexity of first-mile pickup operations, resulting from the small number of parcels to be collected at each pickup location, customer time windows, and the need to efficiently accommodate the highly heterogeneous cargo inside the vans, has hindered the development of real-world solution approaches. This article tackles this operational problem as a vehicle routing problem with time windows, time-dependent travel durations, and split pickups and integrates practical 3D container loading constraints such as vertical and horizontal stability as well as amore realistic reachability constraint to replace the classical Last In First Out (LIFO) constraint. To solve it, we propose a three-phase heuristic based on a savings constructive heuristic, an extreme point concept for the loading aspect and a General Variable Neighborhood Search as an improvement phase for both routing and packing. Numerical experiments are conducted to assess the performance of the algorithm on benchmark instances and new instances are tested to validate the positive managerial impacts oncost when allowing split pickups and on driver working duration when extending customer time windows. In addition, we show the impacts of considering the reachability constraint oncost and of the variation of speed during peak hours on schedule feasibility.
2025
Autores
Granado, I; Silva, E; Carravilla, MA; Oliveira, JF; Hernando, L; Fernandes-Salvador, JA;
Publicação
COMPUTERS & OPERATIONS RESEARCH
Abstract
Nowadays, the world's fishing fleet uses 20% more fuel to catch the same amount offish compared to 30 years ago. Addressing this negative environmental and economic performance is crucial due to stricter emission regulations, rising fuel costs, and predicted declines in fish biomass and body sizes due to climate change. Investment in more efficient engines, larger ships and better fuel has been the main response, but this is only feasible in the long term at high infrastructure cost. An alternative is to optimize operations such as the routing of a fleet, which is an extremely complex problem due to its dynamic (time-dependent) moving target characteristics. To date, no other scientific work has approached this problem in its full complexity, i.e., as a dynamic vehicle routing problem with multiple time windows and moving targets. In this paper, two bi-objective mixed linear integer programming (MIP) models are presented, one for the static variant and another for the time-dependent variant. The bi-objective approaches allow to trade off the economic (e.g., probability of high catches) and environmental (e.g., fuel consumption) objectives. To overcome the limitations of exact solutions of the MIP models, a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure for the multi-objective problem (MO-GRASP) is proposed. The computational experiments demonstrate the good performance of the MO-GRASP algorithm with clearly different results when the importance of each objective is varied. In addition, computational experiments conducted on historical data prove the feasibility of applying the MO-GRASP algorithm in a real context and explore the benefits of joint planning (collaborative approach) compared to a non-collaborative strategy. Collaborative approaches enable the definition of better routes that may select slightly worse fishing and planting areas (2.9%), but in exchange fora significant reduction in fuel consumption (17.3%) and time at sea (10.1%) compared to non-collaborative strategies. The final experiment examines the importance of the collaborative approach when the number of available drifting fishing aggregation devices (dFADs) per vessel is reduced.
2024
Autores
Golalikhani, M; Oliveira, BB; Correia, GHD; Oliveira, JF; Carravilla, MA;
Publicação
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART E-LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION REVIEW
Abstract
One of the main challenges of one-way carsharing systems is to maximize profit by attracting potential customers and utilizing the fleet efficiently. Pricing plans are mid or long-term decisions that affect customers' decision to join a carsharing system and may also be used to influence their travel behavior to increase fleet utilization e.g., favoring rentals on off-peak hours. These plans contain different attributes, such as registration fee, travel distance fee, and rental time fee, to attract various customer segments, considering their travel habits. This paper aims to bridge a gap between business practice and state of the art, moving from unique single-tariff plan assumptions to a realistic market offer of multi-attribute plans. To fill this gap, we develop a mixed-integer linear programming model and a solving method to optimize the value of plans' attributes that maximize carsharing operators' profit. Customer preferences are incorporated into the model through a discrete choice model, and the Brooklyn taxi trip dataset is used to identify specific customer segments, validate the model's results, and deliver relevant managerial insights. The results show that developing customized plans with time- and location-dependent rates allows the operators to increase profit compared to fixed-rate plans. Sensitivity analysis reveals how key parameters impact customer choices, pricing plans, and overall profit.
2023
Autores
Almeida, JP; Geraldes, CS; Lopes, IC; Moniz, S; Oliveira, JF; Pinto, AA;
Publicação
Springer Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics
Abstract
[No abstract available]
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