The last decades have seen a considerable move forward regarding integrated vehicle and crew scheduling in various realms (airline industry, public transport). With the continuous improvement of information and communication technology as well as general solvers it has become possible to...

We consider a semi-open queueing network (SOQN), where one resource from a resource pool is needed to serve a customer. If on arrival of a customer some resource is available, the resource is forwarded to an inner network to complete the customer’s order. If no resource is available, the new...

In a new type of automated parts-to-picker warehouse system - a Robotic Mobile Fulfillment System (RMFS) - robots are sent to transport pods (movable shelves) to human operators at stations to pick/put items from/to pods. There are many operational decision problems in such a system, and some of...

This paper deals with a new type of warehousing system, Robotic Mobile Fulfillment Systems (RMFS). In such systems, robots are sent to carry storage units, so-called 'pods,' from the inventory and bring them to human operators working at stations. At the stations, the items are picked according...

Social media enable companies to assess consumers' opinions, complaints and needs. The systematic and data-driven analysis of social media to generate business value is summarized under the term Social Media Analytics which includes statistical, network-based and language-based approaches. We...

Initialization of metaheuristics is a crucial topic that lacks a comprehensive and systematic review of the state of the art. Providing such a review requires in‐depth study and knowledge of the advances and challenges in the broader field of metaheuristics, especially with regard to...

We propose an option contract model for the leasing of containers. In an option contract, the shipping company commits to order a quantity of containers from the leasing company and has the right to modify its order at a later stage, according to its actual requirement. Under this scheme, the...

The use of shipping containers for the transport of goods has become indispensable and a crucial factor for globalization by providing inexpensive and safe transport opportunities. It is expected that the number of globally operating containers will increase in the near future. Despite a high...

Real-world experiences prove that supply chains may suffer great losses or even complete break downs after catastrophic events. However, extra costs after great disasters are usually not incorporated in the supply chain costs in the existing literature. The aim of this study is to design a...

In this paper, we present a solution method for the multidimensional knapsack problem (MKP) and the knapsack problem with forfeit sets (KPFS) using a population-based matheuristic approach. Specifically, the learning mechanism of the fixed set search (FSS) metaheuristic is combined with the use...