Centrality in Strategic Transportation Network Design: An application to less-than-truckload networks

Description

Efficient and effective transportation networks are backbones to modern societies. Methodologically, their design has mainly been driven by optimization approaches oftentimes with a strong cost focus. Their strategic planning, however, should go beyond detailed cost analysis and identify other key decision drivers. Transportation network centrality describes the appearance of a network; hence is crucial for network design. Anne Paul develops a strategic approach to transportation network design by conceptualizing transportation network centrality and relating it to the performance and quality of transportation networks. Consequently, the concept of network centrality serves to support decisions in strategic network design. A practical implementation of this approach is provided, demonstrating its feasibility. Potential readers include scholars and practitioners from logistics, supply chain management, and operational research with an interest in strategic transportation network design. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxix Introducing network centrality for strategic transportation network design (Anne Lange)....Pages 1-7 Transportation networks and their optimal design (Anne Lange)....Pages 9-51 Transportation network centrality (Anne Lange)....Pages 53-94 Less-than-truckload network centrality (Anne Lange)....Pages 95-118 An algorithm for less-than-truckload network design (Anne Lange)....Pages 119-151 Generated networks and their performance (Anne Lange)....Pages 153-192 Closing remarks (Anne Lange)....Pages 193-197 Back Matter ....Pages 199-237