A Study on The Dynamic Network Flow Problems

How to manage resources efficiently is an essential problem for logistics service operators. The developments in information and communication technologies have created new opportunities for managing resources dynamically so as more efficient than the static ways. While real-time tracking of shipment and equipment status allows the planning and control of the resources to be more responsive to changes, on the other hand, however, managing resources dynamically is increasingly complex and difficult because of the uncertainty lies in demands, costs or transportation times. This study is motivated to model, analyze, and provide a method on managing the flow dynamically by leveraging the capability of obtaining real-time information. In particular, we look at the flow management problems over dynamic stochastic networks. We consider the problems of managing single resource flow as well as the problem of multiple resources flow, and introduce a new idea to capture the dynamism of the managing decision process under uncertain environment. We hope this study can stimulate more research on this kind of methods and its variants that can be applied in more than logistics management problems.

Autorentext

Dr. Haiqing Song: Associate Professor at Department of Logistics Management, Lingnan College, Sun Yat-Sen University, China. PhD at HKUST, Hong Kong. Post-doctor at National University of Singapore. Visiting Scholar at MIT Sloan School of Management. Winner of 2005 Doctoral Dissertation Award from Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.