Graduation Semester and Year

2012

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering

Department

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering

First Advisor

Jamie Rogers

Abstract

The selection of an effective transportation network for the transport of container freight is one of the most important factors in supply chain and logistics planning. The current transport networks, hub-and-spoke and point-to-point, although optimal in many aspects are still plagued with issues in route optimization, empty travel, and bad intermodal synchronization. The trucking industry, the most utilized of all modes, offers unsustainable components in its current state that continually introduce negative impacts to an ever evolving supply chain network. This research investigates a third potentially more sustainable distributed multi-segment transportation network. This network will be compared to the traditional hub-and-spoke and point-to-point networks by use of a hybrid decision support system containing Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and the Analytical Network Process (ANP). Through an exhaustive literature review of recent surveys conducted by public and private stakeholders of the transportation industry, seven measures have been identified to assess performance: energy, safety, environmental, accessibility, costs, time and quality of life. For each measure, specific metrics have been captured to evaluate the networks to ensure they meet the goals of stakeholders as well as address several sustainability issues discussed in this study. In addition to the use of a methodological analysis, an empirical quantitative study using a well traveled interstate corridor is conducted for the three networks and their identified performance measures. Each transport network configuration is modeled individually and a simulation of the route is performed from a predetermined point of origin to destination. The resulting output of both analysis methods suggests that the distributed multi-segment network is a viable alternative but has tradeoffs with economic challenges that may make it difficult to implement.

Disciplines

Engineering | Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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