prof. dr. I.F.A. (Iris F.A.) Vis

Dinalog R&D project "Design of LNG Networks: (2013-2016): Project leader. LNG will become a prime fuel for ships and trucks in the foreseeable future. The European Union and national governments have outlined their policies, and many companies are preparing for a transition period towards intensive use of LNG. There is a strong need in industry for the development of the building blocks needed to develop their business cases. We develop these building blocks, some business cases, as well as methods for planning and control of the logistics in LNG synchromodal transportation networks.

Activities

1. Blueprint definition LNG supply chains and synchromodal transport networks
2. Multi-modal inventory-routing problems: deriving tools to enable an efficient and effective supply
3. Direct delivery: deriving decision tools to enable efficient direct ship-to-ship refueling at sea.

To reach these goals, this project unites representatives of all relevant stakeholders in the LNG supply chain: among others production of bio LNG (Ecos Energy B.V.); infrastructure (Gasunie, Vopak); refueling stations (GDF Suez); locations for establishing business (Groningen Seaports), ship-to-ship supply (Oliehandel Klaas de Boer); government (via Energy Valley Foundation); users (Feederlines, HUSA) and is supported by the National LNG Platform (with Shell Nederland, Port of Rotterdam and others as its participants) and is performed in cooperation with the TUE.

Integrated Transportation Networks

In different studies we analyse the option to integrate freight flows of different supply chains in integrated transportation networks. Next to that, we propose tools for integrating of passenger and freight flows in areas with a shrinking number of inhabitants. The latter is part of the Dinalog R&D project Cargo Hitching.

Library Network Design

Libraries face various challenging global developments. On one hand, demand for books has decreased during the last two decades. An important reason for this decrease has been the increased availability of electronic resources, such as internet and e-books16. Furthermore, subsidies have reduced due to the economic downturn17. To stay within budget limits, it is therefore vital for libraries to reduce expenses in logistics operations. At the same time, there is the desire to maintain a high service level. Our overall aim is to design solution approaches to deal with logistics challenges of libraries.  In our studies we focus on designing tools to decide on internal logistics operations in libraries and their warehouses, the locations of facilities, their functionality and assortment, taking into account that demand and funding are decreasing, while service level, accessibility and societal value are to be maintained at a high level.

Part of the library research performed is part of the Dinalog R&D project Cross-chain order fulfillment for internet sales.

Sustainable logistics service offshore wind farms

NWO project: co-applicant and work package leader (2015-2019)

We aim in this project at developing new innovative methods for the sustainable design and operation of service logistics for offshore wind farms.  This project is composed of several work packages that cover network design, condition-based maintenance strategies, cross-chain control of goods flows, as well as collaboration and governance aspects. In each work package, new methods will be developed that can serve as enablers for an improved service logistics process. These methods contribute in general to the field of Operations Research, proposing novel combinatorial and stochastic optimization and improvement approaches. Extensive simulation studies and scenario analyses will be performed to test the robustness and resilience of the integrated network for offshore wind farms. The consortium includes 12 public and private partners who plan on providing practical insights, and disseminating and implementing research results.

Finished projects