For nearly two decades, ocean carriers have been locked in an arms race for capacity, which has led to huge losses for many and even bankruptcy for some. We investigate the nature of this investment race by studying a long-term capacity investment problem in a duopoly under demand uncertainty....

An upward line extension is a new improved product within an existing product category for the high end of the market. Many firms pursue line-extension strategies, but such strategies carry risks due to uncertain consumer taste, the internal competition between products, and the external...

In this article we focus on product return handling and warehousingissues. In some businesses return rates can be well over 20% andreturns can be especially costly when not handled properly. In spiteof this, many managers have handled returns extemporarily. The factthat quantitative methods...

This paper studies the performance of static and real-time scheduling approaches in vehicle-based internal transport (VBIT) systems, which can be found in manufacturing and warehouse facilities. We propose three heuristic approaches for static VBIT problems (insertion, combined and column...

In this paper, we consider a newly-designed compact three-dimensional automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS). The system consists of an automated crane taking care of movements in the horizontal and vertical direction. A gravity conveying mechanism takes care of the depth movement. Our...

Compact, multi-deep (3D) automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) are becoming increasingly popular for storing products with relatively low turnover on a compact area. An automated storage/retrieval crane takes care of movements in the horizontal and vertical direction in the rack, and a...

Japanese companies value service and quality highly and they put much effort in realising this. However, survey research carried out in 2001 among senior managers of Japanese logistics companies in the Netherlands, indicated that these efforts do not result in significant performance differences...

Puzzle-based storage systems (PBSs) can achieve very high utilization of expensive and scarce storage space coupled with fully automated storage and retrieval of unit loads. A PBS system with one empty cell is comparable to the well-known 15-puzzle, in which 15 tiles slide in a 4×4 grid. This...

Warehouse operations are rapidly becoming more robotized to increase performance and cut costs. One important new way of working is in collaboration between humans and robots. However, even though humans and their behavior remain essential for operational performance, human factors in...