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IEOR E4418
Logistics and Transportation Management

Syllabus

in black : emphasis on operations research models and techniques
in purple : emphasis on industry practice and insights
in blue : case studies

Lecture 1: Introduction

  • Overview of the course
  • A micro perspective: Helping logistics companies
  • A macro perspective: Logistics end-games
  • Challenges of long life assets

    • Lecture 2: Airline Schedule Planning
  • Airline operations planning - Role of OR
  • Schedule design
  • Fleet assignment problem
  • Maintenance routing
  • Crew scheduling
  • Integrated models

    • Lecture 3: Revenue Management in the Service Industry
  • Overview of the field of revenue management
  • Static single-leg problem
  • Static network problem and bid-price control
  • Dynamic single-leg and network problems
  • Extensions

    • Lecture 4: Dynamic Pricing in Logistics Systems
  • Practice of dynamic pricing
  • Case study: Pricing under competition: myopic and multi-period pricing
  • Case study: Application of dynamic pricing to gasoline retail
  • Case study: Application of dynamic pricing to a supplier-retailer relationship
  • An MPEC approach to joint pricing and demand learning
  • A Fluid dynamics approach to pricing in make-to-stock manufacturing systems

    • Lectures 5 and 6: Static Traffic Equilibrium
  • Assignment principles
  • Braess paradox
  • User vs. system optimization
  • Non-linear programming and variational inequality techniques in transportation
  • Solution methods (Franck-Wolfe and Newton methods)
  • Extensions (Elastic demand, non-separable link performance functions, toll pricing)
  • Other applications (spatial equilibrium and pure exchange equilibrium)

    • Lecture 7: Dynamic Traffic Assignment
  • Hydrodynamic theory of traffic flow
  • Dynamic network loading
  • Dynamic traffic assignment
  • Other applications (supply chain management)

    • Lecture 8: Anticipatory Route Guidance (after Spring break)
  • ITS, ATIS and ATMS
  • Fixed-point and equilibrium formulations
  • Fundamental existence result
  • Computational results

    • Lecture 10: Railway Networks
  • Overview of the railway sector in the U.S. and Europe
  • Passenger vs. cargo rail
  • Effect of deregulation and privatization
  • Network scheduling
  • Fleet asset decisions
  • Ticket control methods
  • Design and principles of rail command centers
  • Effective branding in rail
  • Case study: U.S. rail industry
  • Case study: Russian railway system
  • Case study: United Kingdom and Sweden rail industries

    • Lecture 11: Third-Party Logistics
  • Convergence in air express
  • Battle for the U.S. residential last mile
  • Case study: DHL Worldwide Express
  • Case study: Merging 18 companies into Europe’s leading parcel network

    • Lecture 12: Postal Services
  • Substitution, changing regulation, evolving competition and changing customers requirements
  • Direct mail opportunity
  • E-commerce opportunities and challenges
  • Pick-up and delivery systems
  • Case study: change management at USPS

    • Lecture 13: Group Projects Presentations in Class