No description available.

No description available.

A load plan specifies how freight is routed through a linehaul terminal network operated by a less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier. Determining the design of the load plan is critical to effective operations of such carriers. This dissertation makes contributions in modeling and algorithm design for three problems in LTL load plan design: (1) Refined execution cost estimation. Existing load plan design models use approximations that ignore important facts such as the nonlinearity of transportation costs with respect to the number of trailers, and empty travel beyond what is required for trailer balance that results from driver rules. We develop models that more accurately capture key operations of LTL carriers and produce accurate operational execution costs estimates; (2) Dynamic load planning. Load plans are traditionally revised infrequently by LTL carriers due to the difficulty of solving the associated optimization problem. Technological advances have now enabled carriers to consider daily load plan updates. We develop technologies that efficiently and effectively adjust a nominal load plan for a given day based on the actual freight to be served by the carrier. We present an integer programming based local search procedure, and a greedy randomized adaptive search heuristic; and (3) Stochastic load plan design. Load plan design models commonly represent origin-destination freight volumes using average demands, which do not describe freight volume fluctuations. We investigate load plan design models that explicitly utilize information on freight volume uncertainty and design load plans that most cost-effectively deal with varying freight volumes and lead to the lowest expected cost. We present a Sample Average Approximation approach and a variant of the method for solving the stochastic integer programming formulations.

No description available.

Magister Legum - LLM

O enfoque estratégico direcionado aos recursos internos das organizações, impulsionado a partir da década de 80, foi sendo disseminado em diversos segmentos do mercado, chamando a atenção também para o setor de logística e transportes, devido à sua expressiva participação na área de serviços e ao impacto dos custos logísticos, em especial o de transporte, no faturamento das empresas. Deste modo, este estudo teve por objetivo verificar de que forma os recursos organizacionais são explorados e empregados nas empresas de transporte rodoviário de cargas de Caxias do Sul e como contribuem para sua estratégia competitiva, no contexto da logística. A pesquisa efetuada teve natureza aplicada, abordagem qualitativa e objetivo exploratório, do tipo estudo multicasos, através da aplicação de entrevistas em profundidade junto aos principais gestores das nove empresas selecionadas, com uso de matriz de recursos e do modelo VRIO (valor, raridade, imitabilidade e organização) para organização e análise dos dados. Amparado nas premissas da visão baseada em recursos (Resource Based View – RBV), o estudo possibilitou a análise das características inerentes aos principais recursos organizacionais das empresas de transporte, revelando que, embora as empresas possuam recursos similares, suas vantagens competitivas provêm da heterogeneidade da forma como elas utilizam e exploram estes recursos. Os resultados evidenciaram a contribuição predominante dos recursos intangíveis na obtenção de vantagem competitiva sustentável, sobretudo da marca registrada e dos processos logísticos, confirmando a relevância da exploração dos recursos organizacionais para a estratégia competitiva dos Prestadores de Serviços Logísticos (PSLs). / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2016-07-29T12:10:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Felipe Luis Mandelli.pdf: 2182849 bytes, checksum: 6e02781e9b5c424694280f5ef995180e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-29T12:10:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Felipe Luis Mandelli.pdf: 2182849 bytes, checksum: 6e02781e9b5c424694280f5ef995180e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-29 / The strategic focus directed to the internal resources of the organizations, promoted as from the decade of the 80s, has been disseminated in various segments of the market, also calling attention to the logistics and transport sector, due to its expressive participation in the area of services and the impact of the costs with logistics, mainly the ones referring to transportation, on the invoicing of the companies. In this manner, this dissertation has the objective of verifying how the organizational resources area explored and employed in highway cargo transport companies of Caxias do Sul and how they contribute to its competitive strategy in the context of logistics. The research performed had an applied nature, a qualitative approach and an exploratory objective, of a multiple case study, by the application of in-depth interviews with the principal managers of the nine companies selected, with use of the resource matrix, and VRIO (value, rarity, imitability, and organization) for organization and analysis of data. Supported by the premises of the Resource Based View (RBV), the study enables the analysis of the inherent characteristics of the principal organizational resources of the transport companies, revealing that, although the companies have similar resources, their competitive advantages come from the heterogeneity of the manner they utilize and explore these resources.The results evidenced the predominant contribution of the intangible resources in obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage, especially of the registered trade mark and of the logistic processes, confirming the relevance of the exploration of organizational resources for the competitive strategy of the Logistics Service Providers.

O enfoque estratégico direcionado aos recursos internos das organizações, impulsionado a partir da década de 80, foi sendo disseminado em diversos segmentos do mercado, chamando a atenção também para o setor de logística e transportes, devido à sua expressiva participação na área de serviços e ao impacto dos custos logísticos, em especial o de transporte, no faturamento das empresas. Deste modo, este estudo teve por objetivo verificar de que forma os recursos organizacionais são explorados e empregados nas empresas de transporte rodoviário de cargas de Caxias do Sul e como contribuem para sua estratégia competitiva, no contexto da logística. A pesquisa efetuada teve natureza aplicada, abordagem qualitativa e objetivo exploratório, do tipo estudo multicasos, através da aplicação de entrevistas em profundidade junto aos principais gestores das nove empresas selecionadas, com uso de matriz de recursos e do modelo VRIO (valor, raridade, imitabilidade e organização) para organização e análise dos dados. Amparado nas premissas da visão baseada em recursos (Resource Based View – RBV), o estudo possibilitou a análise das características inerentes aos principais recursos organizacionais das empresas de transporte, revelando que, embora as empresas possuam recursos similares, suas vantagens competitivas provêm da heterogeneidade da forma como elas utilizam e exploram estes recursos. Os resultados evidenciaram a contribuição predominante dos recursos intangíveis na obtenção de vantagem competitiva sustentável, sobretudo da marca registrada e dos processos logísticos, confirmando a relevância da exploração dos recursos organizacionais para a estratégia competitiva dos Prestadores de Serviços Logísticos (PSLs). / The strategic focus directed to the internal resources of the organizations, promoted as from the decade of the 80s, has been disseminated in various segments of the market, also calling attention to the logistics and transport sector, due to its expressive participation in the area of services and the impact of the costs with logistics, mainly the ones referring to transportation, on the invoicing of the companies. In this manner, this dissertation has the objective of verifying how the organizational resources area explored and employed in highway cargo transport companies of Caxias do Sul and how they contribute to its competitive strategy in the context of logistics. The research performed had an applied nature, a qualitative approach and an exploratory objective, of a multiple case study, by the application of in-depth interviews with the principal managers of the nine companies selected, with use of the resource matrix, and VRIO (value, rarity, imitability, and organization) for organization and analysis of data. Supported by the premises of the Resource Based View (RBV), the study enables the analysis of the inherent characteristics of the principal organizational resources of the transport companies, revealing that, although the companies have similar resources, their competitive advantages come from the heterogeneity of the manner they utilize and explore these resources.The results evidenced the predominant contribution of the intangible resources in obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage, especially of the registered trade mark and of the logistic processes, confirming the relevance of the exploration of organizational resources for the competitive strategy of the Logistics Service Providers.

Introduction: During the past decade, companies have examined their core business, and anything that was not related to this, or did not add value to their product, was outsourced. One of the functions which fell into this category was the distribution operation, or more commonly known as transportation (in and out bound). In many instances, the distribution function was given up for tender, and specialised transport businesses, called third party logistic providers, whose core business was transport, were given the opportunity of taking over the distribution function. Some progressive companies went a little beyond the traditional approach and created opportunities for their own employees to be involved in the newly created, outsourced distribution network. This was largely an empowerment opportunity, with the aim of creating SME’s (Small-Medium-Enterprises), and providing people from a previously disadvantaged background (black people and other ethnic minorities) the opportunity to go into a business enterprise for themselves. The latter, although, politically the correct thing to do, simultaneously created opportunities and problems. Many of the companies that empowered their own employees, through Owner-Driver schemes, used the driving competency levels as the main criteria for the transition process. The other required skills were often overlooked or ignored. This empowerment process was driven to promote “Black Economic Empowerment”, an important national imperative. Although this process was an honorable gesture on the part of many companies, the process often took place without much foresight The viability and long-term continuity of the business were not taken into account. It is the researchers personal view, based on interviews with O-D’s and companies operating O-D schemes that the O-D’s which were empowered to operate their own business ventures, had limited or insufficient business skills and the very businesses that were given to them to improve their lifestyle were at risk of becoming unviable enterprises. This is clearly evident in some of the schemes being operated by companies such as Autonet and South African Breweries (hereinafter referred to as SAB). Other Eastern Cape companies that operate Owner-Driver schemes include Italtile, Shatterprufe and Ready Mix Materials (hereinafter referred to as RMM), and according to Management consultants spoken to, have obtained mixed levels of success with their schemes. The above schemes were confirmed with the various companies mentioned.

Magister Legum - LLM

Hazardous materials are substances that, if not regulated, can pose a threat to human populations and their environmental health, safety or property when transported in commerce. About 1.5 million tons of hazardous material shipments are transported by truck in the US annually, with a steady increase of approximately 5% per year. The objective of this study was to develop a routing tool for hazardous material transport in order to facilitate reduced environmental impacts and less transportation difficulties, yet would also find paths that were still compelling for the shipping carriers as a matter of trucking cost. The study started with identification of inhalation hazard impact zones and explosion protective areas around the location of hypothetical hazardous material releases, considering different parameters (i.e., chemicals characteristics, release quantities, atmospheric condition, etc.). Results showed that depending on the quantity of release, chemical, and atmospheric stability (a function of wind speed, meteorology, sky cover, time and location of accidents, etc.) the consequence of these incidents can differ. The study was extended by selection of other evaluation criteria for further investigation because health risk as an evaluation criterion would not be the only concern in selection of routes. Transportation difficulties (i.e., road blockage and congestion) were incorporated as important factor due to their indirect impact/cost on the users of transportation networks. Trucking costs were also considered as one of the primary criteria in selection of hazardous material paths; otherwise the suggested routes would have not been convincing for the shipping companies. The last but not least criterion was proximity of public places to the routes. The approach evolved from a simple framework to a complicated and efficient GIS-based tool able to investigate transportation networks of any given study area, and capable of generating best routing options for cargos. The suggested tool uses a multi-criteria-decision-making method, which considers the priorities of the decision makers in choosing the cargo routes. Comparison of the routing options based on each criterion and also the overall suitableness of the path in regards to all the criteria (using a multi-criteria-decision-making method) showed that using similar tools as the one proposed by this study can provide decision makers insights in the area of hazardous material transport. This tool shows the probable consequences of considering each path in a very easily understandable way; in the formats of maps and tables, which makes the tradeoffs of costs and risks considerably simpler, as in some cases slightly compromising on trucking cost may drastically decrease the probable health risk and/or traffic difficulties. This will not only be rewarding to the community by making cities safer places to live, but also can be beneficial to shipping companies by allowing them to advertise as environmental friendly conveyors.