The purpose of a cost model is to provide designers and decision-makers with accurate cost information to assess and compare multiple alternatives for obtaining the optimal solution and controlling cost. The cost models developed in the design phases are the most important and the most difficult...

A System Dynamics Approach Linking Employee Health, Quality Culture and Organizational EffectivenessRina SadiaAbstractThe purpose of this research is to investigate the interactions between organizational effectiveness, quality culture, and employee health. The system dynamics modeling approach...

The less-than-truckload (LTL) industry is highly competitive, with recent average profit margins less than 3%. LTL shipments are routed through a network of service centers and hubs. The performance of the entire LTL distribution network is highly dependent on the speed and accuracy of the hub...

Air transportation offers both passenger and freight services that are essential for economic growth and development. In a highly competitive environment, airline companies have to control their operating costs by managing their flights, aircraft, and crews effectively. This motivates the...

This dissertation provides three essays. In the first essay, a model with two linguistic variables is built to demonstrate the joint effect of multiple linguistic variables in a dynamic modeling context. Triangular membership function is used to represent the linguistic variables and the joint...

Determining the best way for evaluating organizational performance is a complex problem as it involves assessment of indicators in multiple dimensions. In the case of nonprofit social service provision this evaluation needs to consider also the outcomes of the service. This research develops a...

We study the optimal resource portfolio for a price-setter firm under a consumer choice model with supply and demand risks. The firm sells two products that are vertically differentiated, and has the option to invest in both dedicated and flexible resources. Our objective is to understand the...

This research explores the effect of proposed management policies and related structures on the dynamics of value streams, particularly under demand instability. It relies on methods from the systems thinking and modeling literature and was designed to fulfill three main objectives. Objective...

Two important areas of decision-making in distribution system design involve facility loca-tion and inventory policy determination. Facility location analyzes questions such as howmany facilities should be opened, where they should be located, and which customers shouldbe assigned to which DCs....

In many situations, different consumers have different degrees of willingness to wait to get delivery of a product. So, consumers can be segregated based upon the demand lead time they are providing. In this paper, two types of consumers have been considered. The first category needs immediate...