Analytical Modeling for the Strategic Design of Service Systems

Abstract

Systems for transportation, business logistics, production, and customer service must be constructed with consideration of economy, efficiency, user-equity, and flexibility. A proper blend of statistical modeling, deterministic optimization, heuristic scheduling procedures, and computer simulation enables the strategic design of such systems while anticipating the complexity of operations. Performance on multiple dimensions may be investigated for alternative physical configurations and operating procedures while accommodating time-varying mixes of traffic and demands for service. This paper illustrates the blending of analytical tools for an inland waterway transportation service system where staged queues provide the conceptual foundation for operations, and it advocates the use of similar modeling approaches for the strategic design and management of other service systems. For airline traffic at a major commercial airport, where systems of staged queues need to be integrated for optimizing flight and ground operations, the authors suggest the data and analytical models that may be deployed in this more complex environment.