Facility Location Optimization

Efficiency in modern industrial operations requires that available resources are deployed in an optimal manner. The study of facility location is concerned with the placement of one of more facilities in a way that meets a particular objective, such as minimizing transportation costs, providing a high level of service to customer or capturing market share. This project, by exploiting the mathematics of computational geometry and algorithmic graph theory, develops new tools to aid in the location of facilities to optimally serve the demands of customers. In the past year the team successfully completed the shared ride engine project. This vehicle scheduler, developed for Mobile Knowledge Corp., is currently being used in the Chicago and Ottawa regions and the company is marketing it elsewhere. The research team has also been developing an adaptive vehicle routing system that schedules new job requests in real time, then ensures the timetable is maintained. As well, road systems and vehicle locations are monitored constantly, while point-to-point travel time and distance are computed on the fly. Together these parameters are creating a powerful model for vehicle scheduling in cities.