A small chain of gas stations in Brazil intends to expand to new retail locations. Which factors should it consider when locating new stations, in order to better leverage a combination of product prices and transportation costs? This work develops a Linear Optimization network design model in order to identify...
Climate catastrophes (i.e. tornadoes, hail, hurricanes, etc.) have a significant economic and operational impact on the operation of call centers. It was found that catastrophe events such as hurricanes critically impact the operation of the affected location for a period of two months after the hurricane has occurred. A sudden...
The transportation sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions; hence, it is desirable to lower carbon emissions from this sector, especially with the expected growth in transportation needs from e-commerce. Since a particular vehicle type may exhibit different emissions characteristics when operating in different regions, determining which vehicle...
Companies trading cementitious materials face an increasingly volatile economic environment and continuous challenges to ensure the availability of strategic raw materials. In this context, the ability to globally source slag represents a competitive advantage for cement companies because of the limited availability of the material, its importance in the cement...
A large majority of companies in Latin America are micro or small firms, making them an important part of the region’s economy. These firms are a relevant source of jobs, but a lack of managerial skills and resources threatens their survival. In this study, we analyze a set of supply...
Millions of mom-and-pop stores represent 40-70% of the market share of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies. Many of these stores are located in megacities in developing countries, cities over 10 million people, where characteristics such as traffic congestion and a dense population make the last-mile delivery process very complex. Therefore...
In manufacturing companies, production strategies prioritize maximizing line efficiency which favors large lot sizes and few setups. On the other hand, logistics strategies prioritize minimizing inventory costs which favors smaller lot sizes and more setups. This thesis provides a new mixed integer linear model formulation that optimizes lot sizes such...
Many businesses struggle to optimize the flow of inventory and finished goods through existing plants and facilities. The integration of inventory costs, organizational processes, and changing business dynamics make it difficult to determine the optimal flow. This thesis examines the flow of raw materials and finished goods through the supply...
