Title: A hybrid of a LP and statistics approach to evaluate a transportation model for a ready concrete company

Authors: Dimitrios Loukanidis, Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Miltiadis Syntakis

Addresses: Loukanidis' Liberal Studies, 136, Egnatia st, 546 22 Thessaloniki, Greece. ' Computer Science Department, CITY Liberal Studies-affiliated institution of the University of Sheffield, 3 Tsimiski st., 54624 Thessaloniki, Greece. ' Department of Business Administration and Economics, CITY Liberal Studies-affiliated institution of the University of Sheffield, SEERC Building, 13 Tsimiski Str., 546 24, Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract: The majority of the Greek companies which are actively participating in the logistics sector of the economy create transportation/distribution plans which are nowhere near the optimal one. We solve a typical transportation problem, but in order to create the optimal distribution plan we conduct statistical analysis of uncertainty, in just the way it is used in Project Management. We use the statistical analysis outputs as an input data in order to create the optimal distribution plan by using queuing theory techniques. We found a specific time schedule in distributing concrete with the minimal transportation cost.

Keywords: optimisation; distribution planning; transportation planning; simplex method; sensitivity analysis; opportunity costs; degenerate variables; Greece; ready concrete; uncertainty; queuing theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2009.023285

International Journal of Operational Research, 2009 Vol.4 No.3, pp.268 - 295

Published online: 17 Feb 2009 *

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