Model of Intermodal Rail-Truck Service for Operations Management, InvestmentPlanning and Costing

摘要

The primary objective of the project was to determine the availability and theextent of use of software for transportation related Operations Research (OR) techniques by small businesses in the state of Virginia. Such techniques include: Fleet Maintenance and Management, Vehicle Scheduling and Routing, Vehicle and Crew Scheduling, and Facility Location. A survey was developed and distributed to 250 small businesses in Virginia. The purpose of the survey was to define the applicability of Transportation Operation Research techniques to small businesses based on the functions performed by these businesses, the use of transportation related Operations Research techniques, and the hardware environment used by small businesses. Once the hardware environment was identified, a survey of available software applications for the hardware environments particular to small businesses was performed. The survey of software aided in determining the extent of commercially available software that performed specialized transportation OR techniques and to examine their accessibility to small business which have monetary and expertise constraints. The features, costs, and ease of use, and maintainability of the available software was also examined. Based on the results of the research, several recommendations for the technology transfer of transportation OR techniques to small business are given.