Date of Award

Summer 2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Program/Concentration

Electrical Engineering

Committee Director

Ravindra P. Joshi

Committee Member

Linda L. Vahala

Committee Member

Lee A. Belfore II

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.E55 A48

Abstract

Routing has always been a challenging field, and the various techniques of mathematics and operations research have been developed. For commercial organizations, routing has begun to receive extensive attention because of the savings gained in terms of time, money, personnel, and the transportation fleet by developing optimized routing networks. Until recently, it was difficult to develop optimized networks due to the computational difficulties of the problem. However, with the advancement in computer technology and processing speeds, it has become possible to simulate a large number of routing scenarios and determine optimal solutions for a given set of constraints. Not only can existing routes be analyzed for efficiency, various alternative scenarios can be compared with existing solutions.

In this thesis research, a routing simulation study has been carried out based on a commercial software tool. The primary objective was to perform simulation studies to explore various routing scenarios and an optimal delivery network for a local newspaper company. A related task was to understand the underlying routing algorithms, and determine the approach best suited for the problem. A total of nine different scenarios were studied, and based on product mixing and just-in-time delivery concepts. The final results obtained were very encouraging. Compared to the eleven routes currently used by the newspaper, a reduction to eight routed has been predicted.

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DOI

10.25777/9aap-9b28

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