Course name: Freight Transportation
Credits: 5 ECTS
Level: PhD
Lecturer:
NSERC
Industrial Research Chair in Logistics Management
and<= o:p>
Dire=
ctor,
Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab.
Cent=
er
for Research on Transportation
Objective: To learn about quantitative models in freight
transportation.
Content: Transportation and logistics are vital
activities for the development, organizati=
on,
and operation of human society. Most
social and economic activities involve transportation and depend upon the
efficient and timely movement of people, goods, and information. Logistics
focuses on the planning and coordination of the flows of materials and
information within an organization as well as between a firm and its partne=
rs.
Freight transportation is thus an important component of any logistic syste=
m.
Industrial and academic circles are increasingly adopting
“logistics” as an integrative, transversal approach to planning=
and
managing the activities of the firm.
Many factors contribute to the observed significant increase in the
demand for transportation, including the explosion of Internet-based electr=
onic
exchanges, the globalization of the economy, the evolution toward
customer-driven production and distribution networks, and the increased
environmental awareness of citizens and politicians alike. The same factors
also result in the need for transportation and logistic systems to reduce
costs, plan and operate efficient, timely, reliable, and “green”=
; services,
and react rapidly to new customer requests, emerging or shifting business
opportunities, changes in the political, economic, and regulatory environme=
nt,
and so on.
These requirements call for increasingly efficient, powerful, and intelligent, analysis, planning, =
and
operation management methods and techniques. Operations research is =
at
the core of this intelligence. Operations research models and methods, imbe=
dded
into decision-support systems integrated to the information management syst=
ems
of the organization, process and transform data into timely and meaningful
information and advice for advanced planning and management processes. Ther=
e is
a long and honoured tradition of scientific cross-fertilization between
operations research, transportation, and logistics that is continuing stron=
gly:
old models and methods need to be revisited and new ones need to be develop=
ed
to address the challenges of today’s systems.
We focus on long-haul transportation of goods from both a modal R=
11;
mainly rail and motor carrier transportation – and an intermodal
perspective. The main issues of interest are the system and service design =
of
such systems, the planning of operations, and the management of resources.
Issues related to the integrated design of logistic systems are also addres=
sed.
The general objective of this doctoral seminar is to examine these
issues and the main models proposed to address them. Algorithmic issues will
also be addressed. Indeed, most of the problems considered are difficult and
yield large-scale combinatorial formulations. Meta-heuristics and parallel
computation are often therefore the solution methodology of choice.
The seminar will be constructed around a series of lectures,
complemented by student presentation and analysis of selected papers from t=
he
literature, and open discussions on selected topics. Student participation =
and
interaction is strongly encouraged throughout the seminar.
Evaluation: Obligatory participation a=
nd a
paper handed in after the course.
Grades<=
/b>: Pass/fail