{"title":"Developing reward-risk aversion distributionally robust contract design models under ambiguous output probabilities","authors":"Naiqi Liu, Wansheng Tang, Yanfei Lan","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107061","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107061","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, we address robust contract design problem, where the principal is ambiguous about effort-contingent multi-output probability distribution of the agent. To model this type of distributionally robust contract design problem, the Wasserstein ambiguity set is employed to characterize the ambiguous multi-output probability distribution. Two decision criteria are adopted by the principal to evaluate the designed robust contract under partial distribution information, the first is the worst-case expected criterion, and the second is the worst-case risk criterion. Furthermore, the concept of distributionally robust incentive compatibility is defined with respect to a pair of ambiguity sets. In virtue of two decision criteria, this paper develops a new reward-risk distributionally robust contract design model as well as its extension models based on different risk measures and globalized distributionally robust incentive compatibility condition. The distributionally robust counterpart and globalized distributionally robust counterpart problems of the developed distributionally robust contract design models are linear programming or mixed-integer linear programming models. According to the structural characteristic of the resulting mixed-integer linear programming model, a new tailored Benders decomposition algorithm is designed. At the end of this paper, an inventory decision with backorder problem is addressed and some numerical experiments are performed to demonstrate the influences of three risk measures on robust optimal contracts. The computational results demonstrate that the developed distributionally robust contract design models can facilitate the principal to make the informed contract decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107061"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Igor Eduardo Santos de Melo, Flavio Sanson Fogliatto
{"title":"Integration of decision levels in operating room scheduling problems: Systematic review and proposition of a decision support framework","authors":"Igor Eduardo Santos de Melo, Flavio Sanson Fogliatto","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107063","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107063","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Resource allocation problems are a significant subset of optimization problems widely present in the healthcare industry. Notably, the Operating Room Scheduling Problem (ORSP) is prominent in literature due to its substantial cost and revenue implications. ORSP is structured into three hierarchical decision levels: strategic, tactical and operational, with higher-level decisions influencing subsequent ones. While most studies focus on single decision levels, there has been a growing interest in integrated models, as these offer a more holistic view and often result in better outcomes, despite their complexity of resolution. Although various literature reviews have explored different aspects of ORSP, few have focused on models integrating multiple decision levels. This study addresses that gap by systematically reviewing the literature focusing on contributions presenting mathematical programming models and optimization algorithms that simultaneously address multiple decision levels of the ORSP. Following the PRISMA 2020 protocol, the review spans works published until October 2024, totaling 46 articles. It outlines objectives, characteristics, solution approaches, and identifies gaps in literature. Additionally, a decision framework summarizing the identified integration levels is proposed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107063"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Liping Xu , Tao Zhou , Kai Li , Jianfu Chen , Han Zhang
{"title":"Q-learning-driven multi-population cooperative evolutionary algorithm with local search for scheduling of network-shared manufacturing resources","authors":"Liping Xu , Tao Zhou , Kai Li , Jianfu Chen , Han Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107076","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107076","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The variability in the availability of network-shared manufacturing resources and the release times of orders pose challenges to the operational decision-making of industrial internet platforms. This paper addresses these characteristics by studying the identical parallel machine scheduling problem, aiming to minimize total weighted tardiness under constraints of arbitrary release times and multiple machine unavailability periods. To address this research problem, a decoding mechanism based on machine idle periods is first proposed, effectively solving the impact of machine unavailability periods on the scheduling scheme. Secondly, a multi-population cooperative evolutionary algorithm is designed in which the mechanisms of selection, crossover, mutation, and information exchange between populations are improved. The optimal scheduling properties of two jobs on the same machine and different machines are analyzed, resulting in the design of two local search mechanisms. Additionally, Q-learning is introduced to enhance the adaptability of algorithm parameters by dynamically adjusting them within the multi-population cooperative evolutionary algorithm, resulting in a Q-learning-driven multi-population cooperative evolutionary algorithm with local search (Q-MPCEA-LS). Finally, comparative experiments between the Q-MPCEA-LS algorithm and various metaheuristic algorithms are conducted. The experimental results show that, across all instances, the average relative error in the average value metric of the Q-MPCEA-LS algorithm is 40.0%, 0.1%, 44.2%, and 75.9% lower than that of Q-MPCEA-LS without local search, Q-MPCEA-LS without Q-learning-based dynamic parameter adjustment, the iterative hybrid metaheuristic algorithm, and the hybrid genetic immune algorithm, respectively. These results validate the effectiveness of the individual components and the overall effectiveness of the Q-MPCEA-LS algorithm.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107076"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143739565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scheduling optimization for laminated door machining shop based on improved genetic algorithm","authors":"Xiaomin Zhou, Rongrong Li, Zhihui Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107078","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107078","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the digital transformation of the wooden-door manufacturing industry, material preparation planning and production scheduling directly influence the stability and effectiveness of the manufacturing system. Constructive problem-specific algorithms have been instrumental in solving real-world laminated door machining shop scheduling problem (LDMSSP). LDMSSP is a complex problem that combines a distributed permutation flow-shop scheduling problem and distributed hybrid flow-shop scheduling problem. An improved genetic algorithm fused with the strategies of the improved heuristic algorithm, the local search, variable neighborhood search with multiple critical paths, and the iterated greedy search (IGGA) was proposed for application in the material preparation planning and scheduling optimization to minimize the makespan. Comprehensive design of experiments and statistical analyses were conducted to determine appropriate algorithm parameters and verify the substantial improvement of the IGGA. Experiments conducted on various benchmark instances indicated that IGGA outperformed other metaheuristics in both the best relative deviation index and the average relative deviation index. In the end, the minimal makespan for a real-world case involving the production of 74 laminated doors was 1.1 h with a 17.91% reduction, which further demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm in solving LDMSSP. It also provided a valuable reference for the rational arrangement of material preparation planning and machining scheduling sequences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107078"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143759493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Container slot allocation policy in vessel pool alliance under stochastic demand","authors":"Jinpeng Liang, Yuhang Zhou, Shuang Wang, Jianfeng Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107074","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107074","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The vessel pool alliance is a prominent cooperation model within the liner shipping industry, where a joint operator manages the collective shipping capacities of all alliance members. The primary challenge for the alliance manager is the efficient allocation of container slots among cargoes with stochastic demand. This study addresses this complex problem by formulating it as a stochastic linear programming model aimed at maximizing the alliance’s total freight revenue while simultaneously ensuring adequate revenue for each member operator, thereby maintaining long-term alliance stability. To solve this problem, we first employ an enhanced Depth-First Search algorithm to identify a set of feasible transportation paths for each cargo. Subsequently, we develop an efficient policy to determine the optimal slot allocation for each realized demand scenario. Numerical experiments using both synthetic and real-world data demonstrate that our proposed policy significantly outperforms the container slot exchange alliance and independent operation modes currently prevalent in practice. Our approach notably enhances revenues for both the alliance as a whole and individual member operators by optimizing the utilization of slot resources.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107074"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143746340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Periodic chains scheduling on dedicated resources - A crucial problem in time-sensitive networks","authors":"Josef Grus , Claire Hanen , Zdeněk Hanzálek","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107072","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107072","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Periodic messages transfer data from sensors to actuators in cars, planes, and complex production machines. When considering a given routing, the unicast message starts at its source and goes over several dedicated resources to reach its destination. Such unicast message can be represented as a chain of point-to-point communications. Thus, the scheduling of the periodic chains is a principal problem in time-triggered Ethernet, like IEEE 802.1Qbv Time-Sensitive Networks. This paper studies a strongly NP-hard periodic scheduling problem with harmonic periods, task chains, and dedicated resources. We analyze the problem on several levels and provide proofs of complexity and approximation algorithms for several special cases. We describe a solution methodology to find a feasible schedule that minimizes the chains’ degeneracy related to start-to-end latency normalized in the number of periods. We use the local search with the first fit scheduling heuristic, which we warm-start with a constraint programming model. This notably improves the schedulability of instances with up to 100% utilization and thousands (and more) of tasks, with high-quality solutions found in minutes. An efficient constraint programming matheuristic significantly reduces the degeneracy of the found schedules even further. The method is evaluated on sets of industrial-, avionic-, and automotive-inspired instances.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107072"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143746341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Naihui He , M’hammed Sahnoun , David Zhang , Belgacem Bettayeb
{"title":"A hybrid approach using ant colony optimisation for integrated scheduling of production and transportation tasks within flexible manufacturing systems","authors":"Naihui He , M’hammed Sahnoun , David Zhang , Belgacem Bettayeb","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107059","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107059","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper studies the integrated scheduling problem in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), where flexible machines and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) shared by production jobs are scheduled simultaneously in an integrated manner. Routing flexibility, a crucial advantage of FMS, enabling a job to be handled via alternative machine combinations, is involved. To address this problem, we propose a novel hybrid approach using Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO), which employs a two-element vector structure to model the ACO decision nodes. Each node represents an operation from a job assigned to a particular machine. During the ACO process, to decide a node for next movement, an ant first assesses potential nodes through a node scheduling procedure with two consecutive steps: firstly, using a heuristic vehicle assignment method, an AGV is designated and scheduled for the operation specified in a node. Following this, based on the established transportation timeline, the operation’s production schedule on the assigned machine is determined. Subsequently, the node selection is guided by the pheromone information on potential paths and the heuristic data of potential nodes derived from their scheduling information. To avoid local optima, multiple heuristic rules are incorporated in the ACO, with one chosen randomly for node selection each time. Numerical tests show that our proposed approach outperforms contemporary metaheuristic approaches in the literature. In addition, its efficiency of handling complex problem instances is also assessed and demonstrated.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107059"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143739680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Francisco López-Ramos , Francisco Benita , Nuno Antunes Ribeiro
{"title":"A novel decision support framework for multi-objective aircraft routing problem","authors":"Francisco López-Ramos , Francisco Benita , Nuno Antunes Ribeiro","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107058","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107058","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The aircraft routing problem has received extensive attention from researchers, prompting the utilization of diverse problem-solving approaches and the use of various metrics to inform decision-making. Despite the wealth of research, airline managers often rely heavily on their own experience when evaluating potential aircraft routing solutions. To bridge this gap and empower airline managers with a robust decision-making process, this paper proposes a novel modeling framework and decision support tool for solving the Multi-Objective Aircraft Routing Problem. Our methodological framework comprises 3 modules: (i) an efficient data handling and storage process to manage a large volume of data and ensure data tractability; (ii) a novel mixed-integer linear programming model to effectively solve the aircraft routing problem within 1 to 5 min of computation, even at large instances; (iii) a multi-objective algorithmic framework that effectively employs parallelization techniques to generate Pareto-optimal frontiers within 30 min of computation. The three components are integrated into an unified decision support tool that empowers airline managers to visualize and evaluate various aircraft routing solutions, considering multiple objectives simultaneously while leveraging the use of multi-criteria methods. To validate the proposed approach, historic data from AirAsia is used for testing. The results demonstrate the tool’s capability to generate high-quality solutions that strike a balance between conflicting objectives, affirming its practicality and effectiveness in real-world applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107058"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143714212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Modelling a capacitated location problem for designing multimodal vaccine distribution network using a novel Health Emergency Susceptibility Index","authors":"Biswajit Kar, Mamata Jenamani","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107056","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107056","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Health emergency due to the outbreak of a contagious virus augments the need for effective vaccine distribution strategies to control its spread. This paper suggests a two-phase strategy to solve this problem. Phase I constructs a Health Emergency Susceptibility Index for each region, considering the disease data and comorbidity situation. Phase II uses the HESI and proposes three versions of priority weights for different application scenarios. These are used as the priority weights to formulate a capacitated location problem with a multimodal network and multiple types of refrigerators. The model considers additional factors like storage capacity, locations, transportation distances (including air and ground options), costs (maintenance and transportation), and vehicle capacity. To solve the model for large networks, the paper suggests a solution approach using Benders Decomposition with extreme directions. To validate the models, we examine the case of COVID-19 vaccine distribution in India. To assess the impact of the Susceptibility Index on facility locations, proposed weightage versions are compared with a version that does not use the index. The results show that one of the three versions with weighting schemes based on the population-to-susceptibility ratio leads to the most cost-effective distribution strategy, ensuring coverage of all susceptible regions. Furthermore, the Decomposition-based solution significantly improves computational efficiency, solving the problem over fifty times faster than the commercial solver.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107056"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143725703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Digital twin enhanced rescheduling based on hybrid strategy in intermodal container terminal","authors":"Jiaqi Li , Daofang Chang , Furong Wen","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107053","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107053","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Enhancing the operational efficiency of the railway center station (RCS) is a critical task for intermodal container terminals. Unlike most existing studies that focus on a single container flow, this study investigates the cooperative scheduling of internal container trucks (ICTs) and railway cranes (RCs) for multiple container flows. A mixed-integer programming model is developed to minimize the maximum completion time, the waiting time of external container trucks (ECTs), and the transportation time of ICTs. To generate an optimized baseline schedule, a Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm is employed. From a practical operational perspective, however, the baseline schedule must effectively address uncertainties in real-time. Therefore, we propose a proactive-reactive and global-local hybrid rescheduling strategy based on digital twin (DT). The DT facilitates uncertainty monitoring, rescheduling plan generation, simulation, and iterative optimization. The hybrid strategy consists of: (1) a global rescheduling optimization model, which is proactively triggered periodically or reactively triggered due to cumulative errors, aiming to maximize schedule stability; and (2) a local short-interval recovery policy, which is reactively triggered to handle uncertainties occurring between two consecutive global rescheduling points. A case study is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed rescheduling strategy in handling delayed ECT arrivals and other uncertainties. The results highlight the efficiency of the DT-enhanced methodology in improving RC and ICT collaboration. Sensitivity analysis further identifies appropriate threshold settings and equipment configurations. The results show that the application of the DT-enhanced rescheduling methodology in the RCS helps operators to make optimized and timely decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 107053"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143739564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}