A less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier typically delivers shipments less than 10,000 pounds (classified as LTL shipment). The size of the shipment in LTL networks provides ample opportunities for consolidation. LTL carriers have focused on hub-and-spoke based consolidation to realize economies of scale. Generally, hub-and-spoke systems work as follows: the shipment is picked up from the shipper and brought to an origin terminal, which is the entry point into the hub-and-spoke system. From the terminal, the freight is sent to the first hub, where it is sorted and consolidated with other shipments, and then sent on to a second hub. It is finally sent from the second hub to the destination terminal, which is the exit point of the hub-and-spoke system. However, the flow of shipments is often more complicated in practice. In an attempt to reduce sorting costs, load planners sometimes take this hub-and-spoke infrastructure and modify it considerably to maximize their truck utilization while satisfying service constraints. Decisions made by a load planner may have a cascading effect on load building throughout the network. As a result, decentralized load planning may result in expensive global solutions. Academic as well as industrial researchers have adapted a hierarchical approach to design the hub-and-spoke networks: generate the hub-and-spoke network, route shipments within this hub-and-spoke network (generate a load plan) and finally, balance the empty trailers. We present mathematical models and heuristics for each of the steps involved in the design of the hub-and-spoke network. The heuristics are implemented in a user-friendly graphical tool that can help understand patterns of freight flow and provide insights into the design of the hub-and-spoke network. We also solved the load planning sub-problem in a parallel computation environment to achieve significant speed-ups. Because of the quick solution times, the tool lays the foundation to address pressing further research questions such as deciding location and number of hubs. We have used data provided by Roadway Parcel Services, Inc. (RPS), now FedEx Ground, as a case-study for the heuristics. Our solutions rival the existing industry solutions which have been a product of expensive commercial software and knowledge acquired by the network designers in the industry.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vanessa_Souza_da_Fonseca.pdf: 1687661 bytes, checksum: 6dbf2a6dc47f997aa3e8aa0c8f37aced (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-07 / This research describes the main contributions of the VirD-GM (Virtual Distributed Geometric Machine Model) for the model of parallelism and distribution of the Project D-GM (Distributed Geometric Machine Project). In order to provide the abstractions of the GM model (Geometric Machine) on a platform to support the implementation distributed and / or parallel computations, the middleware EXEHDA (Execution Environment for High Distributed Applications) is considered as the execution environment. The work enabled to create and manage an environment of parallel and directed programming, and promote the implementation, in this environment, of applications developed in the visual environment VPE-GM (Visual Programming Environment for the Geometric Machine Model). These applications are, by nature, parallel and restricted to the study of parallel algorithms for Scientific Computation. The work focuses on the design and construction of the software architecture of the VirD-GM, which is responsible for managing parallel computations obtained by the application of process constructors defined by the GM model. In this context, this research does not only disposes the construction of the structural vision of the project D-GM but also consolidates its integration with the functional vision. It is characterized by an extension of the visual environment VPEGM, which is responsible for the environment development and code generation for the Project D-GM. Among the main contributions, one may consider: (i) formalization of the concepts of concurrency and conflict intermittent with the notions of communication and synchronization of processes, directly related to the space-time structure of the GM model; (ii) modeling and implementation of the loading, management and control structures of the VirD-GM; (iii) implementation and customization of services provided by the EXEHDA; (iv) construction of the levels of applications, support of execution environment and basic systems; (v) data flow control and manipulation of adjacency matrix related to concurrent computations, including the implementation of barriers of synchronization. The prototyping of VirD-GM and avaliaton achieved through the development of test applications have implemented the viability of theoretical-practical approach proposed in Project D-GM / Este trabalho descreve as principais contribuic¸ oes da VirD-GM (Virtual Distributed Geometric Machine Model) para o modelo de distribuic¸ ao e paralelismo do Projeto D-GM (Distributed Geometric Machine Project). Para disponibilizar as abstrac¸ oes do modelo GM (Geometric Machine) em uma plataforma com suporte `a execuc¸ ao distribu ´ıda e/ou concorrente, considera-se o middleware EXEHDA ( Execution Environment for High Distributed Applications) como ambiente de suporte `a execuc¸ ao. O trabalho possibilitou criar e gerenciar um ambiente de programac¸ ao paralela e distribu´ıda, bem como promover a execuc¸ ao, sob este ambiente, das aplicac¸ oes desenvolvidas no ambiente visual VPE-GM (Visual Programming Environment for the Geometric Machine Model). Estas aplicac¸ oes s ao, por natureza, paralelas e direcionadas ao estudo de algoritmos paralelos para a Computac¸ ao Cient´ıfica. O trabalho est´a centrado na concepc¸ ao e construc¸ ao da arquitetura de software da VirD-GM, respons´avel pelo gerenciamento das computac¸ oes paralelas obtidas pela aplicac¸ ao de construtores de processos definidos no modelo GM. Neste contexto, esta dissertac¸ ao n ao s´o viabilizou construc¸ ao da vis ao estrutural do projeto D-GM como tamb´em consolidou sua integrac¸ ao com a vis ao funcional, caracterizada pela extens ao do ambiente VPE-GM, respons´avel pelo ambiente de desenvolvimento e gerac¸ ao de c´odigo para o Projeto D-GM. Dentre as principais contribuic¸ oes, destacam-se: (i) formalizac¸ ao das noc¸ oes de concorr encia e conflito intermitentes com as noc¸ oes de comunicac¸ ao e sincronizac¸ ao de processos, diretamente relacionadas com a estrutura espac¸o-temporal do modelo GM; (ii) definic¸ ao compreendendo a modelagem e implementac¸ ao dos m´odulos de carregamento, gerenciamento e controle da VirD-GM; (iii) estudo, aplicac¸ ao e customizac¸ ao dos servic¸os disponibilizados pelo middleware EXEHDA; (iv) implementac¸ ao das camadas de aplicac¸ ao, de suporte ao ambiente de execuc¸ ao e de sistemas b´asicos; (v) controle do fluxo de dados e manipulac¸ ao das depend encias entre as computac¸ oes concorrentes pelo uso de matrizes de adjac encias, incluindo a implementac¸ ao de barreiras de sincronizac¸ ao, garantindo a correta execuc¸ ao. A prototipac¸ ao da VirD-GM e a avaliac¸ ao obtida com o desenvolvimento de aplicac¸ oes de teste demonstraram a viabilidade da abordagem te´orica-pr´atica proposta no Projeto D-GM