Title: Review of models and methodology for scheduling problems in USPS mail processing and distribution centres

Authors: Arvind Chakravarthy, Qun Gu, Xinhui Zhang

Addresses: Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USA. ' Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USA. ' Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USA

Abstract: This paper gives a comprehensive presentation of the scheduling problems to the management equipment and workforce in the United State Postal Service (USPS) mail processing and distribution centres in an effort to cut cost and increase efficiency as well as detailed discussions on some of the kernel models. These research studies advance the research frontier and have brought millions of dollars in savings to the USPS. The study of these models not only presents a successful application of operations research in the public service area, but also offers much technical and managerial insight that could be beneficial to other industries.

Keywords: postal operations; optimisation; equipment scheduling; staff scheduling; overtime management; integer programming; mail processing; mail distribution centres; USPS; cost reduction; efficiency improvement; workforce scheduling; operational research; public services.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2009.025703

International Journal of Operational Research, 2009 Vol.5 No.4, pp.445 - 467

Published online: 23 May 2009 *

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