In this paper, we consider the problem of cell-formation in cellular manufacturing systems with the objective of maximising the grouping efficacy. We propose an Ant-Colony Optimisation (ACO) algorithm to obtain machine-cells and part-families. The Proposed ACO (PACO) algorithm is tested by using...

Determination of fleet size of locomotives and of a policy to deadhead them are tactical issues that influence the level of customer service in a rail network. This paper considers a railroad system in which a priori freight train schedule does not exist. A simulation-based approach is proposed...

Aviation authorities such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provide stringent guidelines for aircraft maintenance, with violations leading to significant penalties for airlines. Moreover, poorly maintained aircraft can lead to mass cancellation of flights, causing tremendous...

Tourism represents a service industry replete with unique complexities since a tourist's overall experience is modulated by multiple stakeholders, e.g., immigration officials at airports, policy makers responsible for investment in transportation infrastructure and managers at various tourist...

In many countries, freight trains have to share a rail network with passenger trains. In this paper, we consider a situation where passenger trains must adhere to a strict published schedule, whereas freight train movements can be inserted at any convenient time, without disrupting scheduled...

This paper presents branch-and-bound algorithms developed for an m-machine permutation flowshop to minimise the maximum weighted flowtime/maximum weighted tardiness/maximum sum of weighted flowtime and weighted tardiness/maximum sum of weighted flowtime, weighted tardiness and weighted earliness...

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a key strategic approach for increasing organisational effectiveness and the realisation of organisational goals. Effectively selecting and evaluating suppliers and managing their involvement in the supply chain are some of the capabilities that enable Original...

The Economic Lot Scheduling Problem (ELSP) on a single facility (or machine) with the time-varying lot-sizes approach and with sequence-independent/sequence-dependent setup times of parts or products is studied in this paper. The objective is to minimise the long-run average inventory carrying...