A NESTED PARTITIONS FRAMEWORK FOR SOLVING LARGE-SCALE MULTICOMMODITY FACILITY LOCATION PROBLEMS

Large-scale multicommodity facility location problems are generally intractable with respect to standard mixed-integer programming (MIP) tools such as the direct application of general-purpose Branch & Cut (BC) commercial solvers i.e. CPLEX. In this paper, the authors investigate a nested partitions (NP) framework that combines meta-heuristics with MIP tools (including branch-and-cut). We also consider a variety of alternative formulations and decomposition methods for this problem class. Our results show that our NP framework is capable of efficiently producing very high quality solutions to multicommodity facility location problems. For large-scale problems in this class, this approach is significantly faster and generates better feasible solutions than either CPLEX (applied directly to the given MIP) or the iterative Lagrangian-based methods that have generally been regarded as the most effective structure-based techniques for optimization of these problems. We also briefly discuss some other large-scale MIP problem classes for which this approach is expected to be very effective. This work is supported partly by the National Science Foundation under grant DMI-0100220, DMI-0217924, by the Air Force of Scientific Research under grant F49620-01-1-0222, by Rockwell Automation, and by John Deere Horicon Works. Leyuan Shi is a Professor of the Department of Industrial Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in 1992, her M.S. in Engineering from Harvard University in 1990, her M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Tsinghua University in 1985, and her B.S. in Mathematics from Nanjing Normal University in 1982. Dr. Shi has been involved in undergraduate and graduate teaching, as well as research and professional service. Dr. Shi’s research is devoted to the theory and applications of large-scale optimization algorithms, discrete event simulation and modeling and analysis of discrete dynamic systems. She has published many papers in these areas. Her work has appeared in Discrete Event Dynamic Systems, Operations Research, Management Science, IEEE Trans., and, IIE Trans. She is currently a member of the editorial board for Journal of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, is an Associate Editor of Journal of Discrete Event Dynamic Systems, and an Associate Editor of INFORMS Journal on Computing. Dr. Shi is a member of IEEE and INFORMS. Robert R. Meyer received a B.S. in Mathematics from Caltech and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently Professor of Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has been on the faculty since 1973. He has co-edited six volumes of optimization conference proceedings and written more than 80 articles focusing on areas such as nonlinear network optimization, parallel decomposition algorithms for large-scale optimization, genetic algorithms, and theory and applications of discrete optimization. Mehmet Bozbay is a research assistant in the Department of Industrial Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently working towards his Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering. He received M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering and Computer Sciences from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a B.S. degree in Mathematics from Beloit College. He has been dealing with real-life supply chain optimization problems for the last 4 years. He is a member of INFORMS. Andrew J. Miller is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999, his M.S. in Operations Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996, and his B.S. in Mathematics from Furman University in 1994. Dr. Miller has been involved in research, undergraduate and graduate teaching, and professional service, as well as in some software prototyping and development. Dr. Miller’s research focuses on theoretical and computational aspects of mixed integer programming, and on its application to areas in production planning, supply chain design, and other fields. He has published several papers in these areas, including articles in Mathematical Programming, Operations Research, and European Journal of Operations Research. He has refereed numerous articles for the journals mentioned above, as well as for Management Science, Annals of Operations Research, and others. Dr. Miller is a member of INFORMS and of the Mathematical Programming Society.     

后方交会方法精度分析与运用——CASIO计算器在工程施工中的运用

建设工程施工中测量施工人员在外业测绘工作时经常会遇到已知控制点之间不通视或已知控制点与需要放样的点不通视的情况,需要重新建立新控制点给施工带来不便。通过理论知识学习和现场实践发现后方交会测量方法能很好的解决这一难题。但后方交会有多种方法,各种方法观测方式不同精度也不同,如何对它们进行精度分析;在满足精度要求的前提下选用哪种后方交会方法即经济又实用,需要深入进行研究。CASIO计算器是测量人员在工程施工过程中要经常使用的一种计算工具,如果能将后方交会方法与CASIO计算器有机结合,并根据施工中不同情况灵活运用,必将给施工带来事半功倍的效果。     

让卖场留住顾客

在业界曾听到这样一种说法：沃尔玛把仓库变成卖场，但是摩托车经销商却把卖场变成仓库。这种说法虽然有点绕口，但是很形象很直接的点出了目前摩托车卖场的关于商品陈列的弊病：摩托车经销商将原本用来展示商品推销商品的卖场变成了堆放产品的仓库!其实经销商应该明白，摩托车卖场并不只是一个单纯摆放车辆的场所，作为卖场，它应该担负起诸多责任，比如通过户外的广告吸引、区域的有效设置，     

大型物流仓库自动喷水灭火系统设计的几点思考

针对大型物流仓库自动喷水灭火系统设计中涉及的系统选型、设计参数、喷淋泵的选择及报警阀的设置等提出了自己的看法和设计思路。     

论战争中的后方

本文是苏联军队一个上校 Col.V.Kondahav 所著,其中关于法西斯国家在挑动世界大战时后方工业动员的巨大需要,有着很重要的暴露。他指出法西斯国家在向外侵略时,很难维持一个安定的后方。由此他更证明了世界各民主国家若能采取集体的经济制裁行动,是可以阻止法西斯侵略者的战争狂的。不久以前「纽约时报」驻捷克记者指出希特勒的军队开入奥国时,由于物质上的缺乏,组织并不完善;许多德国军官都承认「汽油、粮食与其他战争必需资源,非常缺少。同时该记者表示捷克军队是全欧洲最好的一个,因为这民主国家的军队,是得到人民百分之百的拥护的。在我们对于侵略者的抗战中,这当是最好的参考资料。——译者     

一次飑线过程的双多普勒雷达风场反演分析

为揭示飑线发生过程中内部中尺度风场的演变特征,利用江苏连云港和盐城的多普勒雷达资料,采用双多普勒雷达风场反演技术,对2012年5月16日江苏中北部的一次弱弓形飑线过程进行了综合分析。结果表明:飑线后方入流最早出现在系统后部的层状区中,在飑线中段的中尺度涡旋对和地面冷池的共同作用下,后方入流向前延伸并穿过对流区下沉到达地面;飑线后方入流把云外干冷环境空气带到系统内,加剧降水粒子的蒸发冷却过程,促使地面冷池及其外流的加强;后方入流与地面冷池外流的耦合是地面大风生成的主要原因。     

仓库管理系统在物流课程中的应用

现代职业教育中,为适应中高职学生的实际情况,教师必须对物流课程进行相应的改革,通过加强课程中的实际操作流程环节,提高学生学习的主动性。该文主要阐述了仓库管理系统在物流课程中的实际应用。     

最佳调配方案

正【题目】如图1所示,A、B、C、D、E是五个仓库,其中B、D、E分别存货9吨、5吨和2吨。现在要从这三个仓库给A站调入8吨货,给C站调入7吨货。已知1吨货物每千米的运费是10元。按照最合理的调配方案,总运费最少是多少钱?【分析与解答】最合理的调配方案,就是要让运费最少,所以A、C两个仓库应尽量分别从最近的仓库调货。根据这个思路,观察上面的路线图可以发现:与A仓库相邻的是B、E两个仓库,其中离它最近的是E仓库,所以先把E仓库的2吨货物运到A仓库,那么还差8-2=6(吨)货;再从B仓库调入6吨货到A仓库,那么B仓库还剩下9-6=3(吨)货。     

EIQ在仓库管理中的应用分析研究

在现代制造业中,仓库管理是制造业供应链管理的重要组成部分,仓库管理的效率直接影响到企业供应链运营的效益．在仓库管理中,仓库布局规划的合理性、科学性直接影响仓库管理．EIQ方法对仓库系统的布局及优化具有重大的指导作用．着重介绍了EIQ分析的方法及EQ／IQ／EN／IK等不同分析曲线对仓库平面规划布局、自动化程度、出入库设备能力规划等的影响,为仓库规划设计及管理提供了科学的依据．     

一个基于工作流的公文流转系统

在综合分析了现有公文流转系统的基础上,设计构建一个基于工作流的公文流转业务模板仓库,并针对该仓库和标准公文业务流程设计了专门的解释与执行组件,较好地解决了公文处理过程与实际脱钩的问题。在公文流程中建立了跟踪机制,并嵌入了一些成熟的文字处理软件如Word,Excel等,严格工作人员权限管理,使之符合国内的机关人员工作习惯。