We study a special case of a structured mixed integer programming model that arises in a number of applications. For the most general case of the model, called PI, we have earlier analyzed the polyhedral structure (Miller et al. [2000a]), including identifying facet-defining valid inequalities....

In this paper we consider a labor constrained scheduling problem (LCSP) which is a simplification of a practical problem arising in industry. Jobs are subject to precedence constraints and have specified processing times. Moreover, for each job the labor requirement varies as the job is...

Home delivery services require the attendance of the customer during delivery. Hence, retailers and customers mutually agree on a delivery time window in the booking process. However, when a customer requests a time window, it is not clear how much accepting the ongoing request significantly...

Attended home deliveries are one of the most challenging logistics services with different customer expectations and challenges in urban and rural areas. For different demand densities, retailers must strike a balance between providing excellent customer service and optimizing routing...

In this paper, we explain how Internet retailers can learn from proven revenue management concepts and use them to reduce costs and enhance service. We focus on attended deliveries as these provide the greatest opportunities and challenges. The key driver is service differentiation. Revenue...

In the competitive world of online retail, customers can choose from a selection of delivery time windows on a retailer's website. Creating a set of suitable and cost-efficient delivery time windows is challenging, since customers want short time windows, but short time windows can increase...

The majority of stochastic vehicle routing models consider travel times to be independent. However, in reality, travel times are often stochastic and correlated, such as in urban areas. We examine a vehicle routing problem with a makespan objective incorporating both stochastic and correlated...

In this paper, we investigate a two-tier delivery network with robots operating on the second tier. We determine the optimal number of local robot hubs as well as the optimal number of robots to service all customers and compare the resulting operational cost to conventional truck-based...

In the challenging environment of attended home deliveries, pricing of different delivery options can play a crucial role to ensure profitability and service quality of retailers. To differentiate between standard and premium delivery options, many retailers include time windows of various...

In this paper, we examine a vehicle routing problem with a makespan objective incorporating both stochastic and correlated travel times, which is usually not considered in routing problems. As an alternative to simulation, we develop an approach based on extreme-value theory to estimate the...