Annals of Operations Research最新文献

{"title":"Simulation-based design optimization of deep-lane autonomous vehicle storage and retrieval systems (AVS/RS) for efficient and sustainable automated picking","authors":"Alberto Faveto,&nbsp;Luigi Panza,&nbsp;Giulia Bruno","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07236-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07236-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>AVS/RS robot-to-parts picking systems are an emerging technology in automated warehouses, aimed at improving worker comfort and safety by alleviating the physical strain and fatigue associated with manual picking tasks. Despite their potential, the study of these systems is still highly unexplored due to their novelty. This research addresses this gap by optimizing the operational efficiency and environmental sustainability of these advanced storage systems. We conducted 256 simulations across 32 warehouse configurations, varying the number of bays, tiers, and vehicle parameters, under eight distinct demand scenarios with differing order inter-arrival times, order sizes, and order variability. Using a multi-criteria optimization model solved with the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II), we identified optimal solutions. Pareto curve analysis revealed configurations that balance operational efficiency and environmental sustainability. The results demonstrate that specific configurations significantly outperform others in terms of throughput, service time, space utilization, and energy efficiency, providing a blueprint for designing efficient and sustainable automated warehouses. This work significantly contributes to the development of AVS/RS robot-to-parts picking system, enhancing worker comfort and safety, and advancing the management of warehouse operations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"361 2","pages":"565 - 608"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148060753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tripartite evolutionary game analysis on openness strategy for technology service platform","authors":"Dong Yang,&nbsp;Xiaolin Sun,&nbsp;Ting Yang,&nbsp;Mengya Pei","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07161-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07161-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The technology service platform (TSP) holds immense potential for optimizing technology services and driving a new wave of industrial transformation. The sustainable development of TSP requires a deep understanding of the collaborative dynamics among stakeholders and the factors shaping their strategies. Few studies have addressed the critical influencing factors of openness degree and entry—both of which are key in practice. This paper aims to bridge this gap and offer insights for the sustainable development of TSP. A tripartite evolutionary game model of owners, complementors and government is constructed. We explore the effects of various factors, including the admission fee, incremental benefit of owners and complementors, and potential loss, and government subsidies. Furthermore, the equilibrium solutions are derived, and the numerical simulation is investigated. This study demonstrates that: (1) The probability of the platform owners choosing high openness and complementors adopting entry strategy increases as the differences of incremental benefits between owners with different strategies and complementors with different strategies increase. (2) The higher differences of admission fee between high and low openness increase the likelihood of platform owners choosing high openness and complementors adopting entry strategy. (3) The results show that subsidy amount and coefficient to owners and complementors above a certain threshold will discourage government to implement subsidy policy. Government should adopt the moderate not over-high level of subsidy. Besides the direct financial support, subsidies also have indirect support. Subsidies can enhance the incremental benefit of owners and complementors. These insights provide practical recommendations for stakeholders, enabling them to design more effective strategies to foster the growth of the TSP.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"361 2","pages":"895 - 922"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148060751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modeling the role of made-in effect in the fashion industry","authors":"Dóra Longauer,&nbsp;Sándor Danka,&nbsp;Tamás Vasvári","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07218-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07218-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Our model explores supplier selection within an inventory management framework, integrating regional considerations and the impact of the made-in effect on demand. The firm optimizes product pricing, geographic sourcing distribution, and batch sizes. Our analytical results suggest that firms should expand local sourcing when product origin strongly influences consumer value or when demand is relatively inelastic to price. Additionally, leveraging smaller batch production can optimize cost efficiency while maintaining responsiveness, making local sourcing a strategic advantage in markets with uncertain demand or high service levels. In the fashion industry, the made-in effect plays a crucial role in shaping sourcing strategies, as a product’s country of origin significantly impacts consumer perceptions, brand reputation, and pricing dynamics. In line with observed sourcing strategies, we show that in the luxury segment, known for its significant pricing power and high service level, brands benefit from outsourcing manufacturing domestically. In contrast, economy brands, which operate under tighter margins and serve highly price-sensitive markets, should rely on offshore sourcing, leading to larger safety stocks and reduced responsiveness to demand uncertainty. Finally, a dual sourcing strategy—combining local and offshore suppliers—may be optimal, allowing firms to balance cost efficiency with responsiveness. This approach is commonly adopted by fast fashion companies to manage short product life cycles and volatile demand.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"361 2","pages":"957 - 987"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-026-07218-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148060754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vessel sharing agreements under nonlinear costs","authors":"Francesco Caruso,&nbsp;Maria Carmela Ceparano,&nbsp;Federico Quartieri","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07160-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07160-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We examine a game-theoretic model of vessel sharing agreements in industries endowed with a general class of price functions and classes of convex cost functions. We study the equilibrium structure thereof—in particular, the existence of a unique equilibrium global aggregate as well as the existence of a unique equilibrium—and we provide a comparative statics analysis of consumer welfare with respect to an ordinal measure of concentration of the industry. We show that the a “high degree\" of convexity of the cost functions can generate anti-competitive effects. In the presence of linear costs, the model satisfies a weak aggregative form in the sense of aggregative games. By allowing for the nonlinearity of variable cost functions, we further weaken the aggregative nature of the games considered. We provide a refined technique for treating these games in which both the equilibrium structure and the comparative statics analysis are based on the comparison of the equilibrium conditions of the players who strictly decrease their equilibrium strategies within the groups that strictly decrease the group’s equilibrium aggregate from an equilibrium with a smaller global aggregate associated with a less concentrated industry to an equilibrium with a (weakly) larger global aggregate associated with a more concentrated (but possibly identical) industry.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"361 2","pages":"529 - 563"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-026-07160-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148061147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Robust risk evaluation of joint life insurance under dependence uncertainty","authors":"Takaaki Koike","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07163-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07163-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Dependence among multiple lifetimes is a key factor for pricing and evaluating the risk of joint life insurance products. The dependence structure can be exposed to model uncertainty when available data and information are limited. We address robust pricing and risk evaluation of joint life insurance products against dependence uncertainty between two lifetimes. We first show that, for some class of standard contracts, the risk evaluation based on a distortion risk measure is monotone with respect to the concordance order of the underlying copula. Based on this monotonicity, we then study the most conservative and anti-conservative risk evaluations for this class of contracts. We prove that the bounds for the mean, Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall are computed by combinations of linear programs when the uncertainty set is defined by a norm-ball centered around a reference copula. Our numerical analysis reveals that the sensitivity of the risk evaluation against the choice of the copula differs depending on the risk measure and the type of the contract, and our proposed bounds can improve the existing bounds based on the available information.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"361 2","pages":"751 - 778"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-026-07163-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148060711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A two-echelon vehicle routing problem with multi-trips, synchronisation constraints and direct deliveries, in the context of city logistics","authors":"Bruno Oliveira,&nbsp;António Galrão Ramos,&nbsp;Jorge Pinho de Sousa","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07220-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07220-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This work studies a two-echelon distribution system, in the context of city logistics, where storage is not permitted at intermediate transfer locations. Therefore, vehicles operating at both echelons need to be synchronised in time and space, allowing loads to be directly transferred from the first to the second echelon vehicles. Moreover, the problem considers that vehicles operating at the first echelon can perform direct deliveries to customers, that load transfers may occur at some customers’ locations, and that vehicles operating at the second echelon are able to perform multiple trips before returning to the depot at the end of the day. To address this problem, we propose a novel mixed integer programming (MIP) model for the two-echelon, multi-trip vehicle routing problem with satellite synchronisation and direct deliveries (2E-MTVRPSS-DD). We tighten this formulation with several sets of valid inequalities, including symmetry breaking constraints based on lexicographical ordering, vehicle rounded capacity constraints, and satellite rounded capacity constraints. We test the model using a commercial solver with newly generated instances, and present computational results, as well as an evaluation of the performance of the proposed valid inequalities. The results show that for relatively small instances, the proposed model is able to solve the problem optimally, but in general, is unable to solve large instances in acceptable computational time, even when considering the proposed valid inequalities. Nevertheless, we show that adding these valid inequalities has a positive impact in improving the model’s linear relaxation, with better lower and upper bounds, and ultimately in improving the MIP gaps. Moreover, we show that adding symmetry breaking constraints based on lexicographical ordering has a negative impact, in terms of computational time, for the solver to find a first upper bound, and that this issue may be overcome by warm-starting the MIP model.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"361 2","pages":"805 - 835"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-026-07220-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148061134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Linear optimization with local differential privacy for resource sharing","authors":"Utku Karaca,&nbsp;Nurşen Aydın,&nbsp;Sinan Yıldırım,&nbsp;Ş. İlker Birbil","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07199-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07199-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study examines a resource-sharing problem involving multiple parties that agree to use a set of capacities together. We start with modeling the whole problem as a mathematical program, where all parties are required to exchange information to obtain the optimal objective function value. This information bears private data from each party in terms of the coefficients used in the mathematical program. Moreover, the parties also consider the individual optimal solutions as private. In this setting, the concern for the parties is the privacy of their data and their optimal allocations. We propose a two-step approach to meet the privacy requirements of the parties. In the first step, we obtain a reformulated model that is amenable to a decomposition scheme. Although this scheme eliminates almost all data exchanges, it does not provide a formal privacy guarantee. In the second step, we provide this guarantee with a local differential privacy algorithm, which does not need a trusted aggregator, at the expense of deviating slightly from the optimality. We provide bounds on this deviation and discuss the consequences of these theoretical results. We also propose a novel modification to increase the efficiency of the algorithm in terms of reducing the theoretical optimality gap. The study ends with a numerical experiment on a planning problem that demonstrates an application of the proposed approach. As we work with a general linear optimization model, our analysis and discussion can be used in different application areas, including production planning, logistics, and revenue management.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"360 2-3","pages":"1007 - 1041"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-026-07199-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147828612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mathematical programming for rapid pandemic vaccine distribution under capacity and lead-time constraints","authors":"Yun-Chia Liang,&nbsp;Dominico Laksma Paramestha","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07180-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07180-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Rapid mass vaccination is critical for curbing transmission during large-scale outbreaks, yet many optimization models emphasize cost or equity without explicitly shaping rollout speed. This study develops a deterministic time-oriented mathematical programming framework for national vaccine distribution that integrates multi-echelon flows, inter-echelon lead times, cold-chain capacity limits, and clinic service constraints. A time-weighted allocation objective is proposed to prioritize earlier coverage and is benchmarked against direct makespan minimization. Results show that the time-weighted formulation consistently increases early cumulative coverage while matching the final completion period obtained under makespan minimization across the tested benchmark instances, yielding a more favorable rollout trajectory without compromising completion time. Scenario experiments indicate that omitting supply availability, lead times, or clinic capacity can substantially underestimate rollout duration. In the Indonesia-based case study, vaccine availability, delivery delays, and vaccination throughput emerge as the dominant drivers of temporal performance, whereas expanding storage capacity provides limited marginal gains once feasibility is ensured. The findings highlight high-leverage interventions that strengthen upstream flow reliability and improve clinical throughput to accelerate population coverage under binding operational constraints.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"360 2-3","pages":"1209 - 1249"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147828619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Addressing the unaddressed: a review of future research directions for post-pandemic supply chains","authors":"Kannan Govindan","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07204-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07204-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented disruptions across global supply chains, revealing significant vulnerabilities in production, distribution, healthcare logistics, and service systems. These disruptions highlighted the importance of analytical and operations research (OR) approaches in supporting timely and effective decision-making during large-scale health crises. This editorial introduces <i>Annals of Operations Research</i> special issue “Operations Research and Management Science Approaches for Fighting Against Epidemic Outbreaks Such as COVID-19,” which focuses on the application of OR methods to epidemic and pandemic-related challenges. This editorial first discusses the broader research landscape on epidemic logistics, healthcare operations, and supply chain disruptions resulting from infectious disease outbreaks. It then provides an overview of the contributions of the accepted papers included in this special issue, which address diverse topics such as testing strategies, healthcare resource allocation, vaccine distribution, supply chain risk management, policy evaluation, and the use of artificial intelligence and data-driven technologies in pandemic response. Because the special issue was developed while the COVID-19 pandemic was still unfolding, many of the contributions reflect real-time challenges faced by supply chains and public health systems. Building on these insights, this editorial also discusses emerging challenges and potential opportunities for supply chain management in the post-pandemic environment. Finally, several research questions and directions are proposed to support future studies aimed at strengthening resilience, improving preparedness, and enhancing decision-making capabilities for managing future epidemic and pandemic disruptions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"360 1","pages":"1 - 13"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147755909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Shapley value for games with expanded coalitions","authors":"M. J. Albizui,&nbsp;M. Cerny,&nbsp;J. M. Zarzuelo","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07159-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07159-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Derks and Peters (1993) introduce games with restricted coalitions defined by means of restrictions, which are monotonic projections of the set of players that assign to each coalition a subcoalition. They introduce a Shapley value considering these projections. In our work, we also consider a monotonic projection of the set of players, but instead of taking subcoalitions of coalitions, we take coalitions that contain them. That is, coalitions are expanded. In this way, we model situations in which some players are necessary to make a coalition effective. We give a Shapley value in this framework and obtain two axiomatic characterizations that determine endogenously the projection that expands the coalitions. In the first characterization, we employ a generalization of a monotonicity axiom used by (Young, (1985)) to characterize the Shapley value. In the second one, a dummy player axiom is required, together with additivity. Additionally, we provide an axiomatic characterization of the value introduced by Derks and Peters (1993), employing a suitably adapted dummy player axiom.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"360 2-3","pages":"685 - 701"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-026-07159-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147828522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}