JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL
Year:2012 | Volume:8 | Issue:8|Papers Count:5

The paper examines the application of semi-Markov models to the phenomenon of earthquakes in Tehran province. Generally, earthquakes are not independent of each other, and time and place of earthquakes are related to previous earthquakes, moreover, the time between earthquakes affects the pattern of their occurrence; thus, this occurrence can be likened to semi-Markov models. In our work, we divided the province of Tehran into six regions and grouped the earthquakes regarding their magnitude into three classes. Using a semi-Markov model, it proceeds to predict the likelihood of the time and place of occurrence of earthquakes in the province.

Many real projects complete through the realization of one and only one path of various possible network paths.Here, these networks are called alternative stochastic networks (ASNs). It is supposed that the nodes of considered network are probabilistic with exclusive-or receiver and exclusive-or emitter. First, an analytical approach is proposed to simplify the structure of the network. This approach transforms the network into a simpler equivalent one. This paper discusses the constrained consumable resource allocation problem in an ASN. Many recent researchers apply heuristic and simulation methods to solve the constrained resource allocation in these problems. In this paper, we propose an analytical approach based on multi-objective modeling. The objective functions of this model are the cumulative distribution function of the completion time of ASN paths. These functions must be maximized within the desired network completion time. Lexicographic method is used to solve the proposed multi-objective model.The proposed method is illustrated by an example.

This paper extends the proposed method by Jahanshahloo et al. (2004) (a method for generating all the efficient solutions of a 0–1 multi-objective linear programming problem, Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research). This paper considers the recession direction for a multi-objective integer linear programming (MOILP) problem and presents necessary and sufficient conditions to have unbounded feasible region and infinite optimal values for objective functions of MOILP problems. If the number of efficient solution is finite, the proposed method finds all of them without generating all feasible solutions of MOILP or concluding that there is no efficient solution. In any iteration of the proposed algorithm, a single objective integer linear programming problem, constrained problem, is solved. We will show that the optimal solutions of these single objective integer linear programming problems are efficient solutions of an MOILP problem. The algorithm can also give subsets of efficient solutions that can be useful for designing interactive procedures for large, real-life problems. The applicability of the proposed method is illustrated by using some numerical examples.

Cutting stock problems are within knapsack optimization problems and are considered as a non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP) -hard problem. In this paper, two-dimensional cutting stock problems were presented in which items and stocks were rectangular and cuttings were guillotine. First, a new, practical, rapid, and heuristic method was proposed for such problems. Then, the software implementation and architecture specifications were explained in order to solve guillotine cutting stock problems. This software was implemented by C++language in a way that, while running the program, the operation report of all the functions was recorded and, at the end, the user had access to all the information related to cutting which included order, dimension and number of cutting pieces, dimension and number of waste pieces, and waste percentage. Finally, the proposed method was evaluated using examples and methods available in the literature. The results showed that the calculation speed of the proposed method was better than that of the other methods and, in some cases, it was much faster. Moreover, it was observed that increasing the size of problems did not cause a considerable increase in calculation time.In another section of the paper, the matter of selecting the appropriate size of sheets was investigated; this subject has been less considered by far. In the solved example, it was observed that incorrect selection from among the available options increased the amount of waste by more than four times. Therefore, it can be concluded that correct selection of stocks for a set of received orders plays a significant role in reducing waste.

The characteristics of today's competitive environment, such as the speed with which products are designed, manufactured, and distributed, and the need for higher responsiveness and lower operational cost, are forcing companies to search for innovative ways to do business. The concept of agile manufacturing has been proposed in response to these challenges for companies. This paper copes with the strategic and tactical level decisions in agile supply chain network design. An efficient mixed-integer linear programming model that is able to consider the key characteristics of agile supply chain such as direct shipments, outsourcing, different transportation modes, discount, alliance (process and information integration) between opened facilities, and maximum waiting time of customers for deliveries is developed. In addition, in the proposed model, the capacity of facilities is determined as decision variables, which are often assumed to be fixed. Computational results illustrate that the proposed model can be applied as a power tool in agile supply chain network design as well as in the integration of strategic decisions with tactical decisions.