This dissertation delivers a framework to diagnose the Bull-Whip Effect (BWE) in supply chains and then identify methods to minimize it. Such a framework is needed because in spite of the significant amount of literature discussing the bull-whip effect, many companies continue to experience the...

In this thesis, we identify the critical operational characteristics for various distribution strategies, and then develop integrated distribution network design models by taking into account those operational factors. The first part of this thesis presents a crossdocking network design problem...