OVERVIEW

Quantitative methods of operations research and management science are nowadays universally recognized as indispensable tools for decision-making in the analysis and operation of complex systems such as logistic and maritime transport ones. Persons operating in the maritime sector, both passengers and goods, can not therefore ignore the knowledge and use of such tools, and in particular optimization, simulation and performance evaluation techniques.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to give students the basic modelling, methodological and sw tool competences to analyze complex maritime transportation systems of goods and people and support the decision making process. The basic optimization probelm in this field will be analyzed and solved; the main performance indices will be described and evaluated.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to give students the basic methodological and sw tools for being able to analyze complex logistics and transportation systems in the maritime field. The main performance indices will be described and evaluated, assessing their performance both in terms of efficiency and economic sustainability.

The course is aimed at providing the skills to solve strategic planning problems and developing discrete event simulation models of dynamic and stochastic systems, including their input and output analysis.

The ability of using spreadsheet optimization and related solver tools will be acquired.

Problem solving skills and team working skills will be also acquired.

Having in mind applications to maritime and port systems, the main topics are: route evaluation, activity and fleet planning, location and sizing problems, queuing systems, discreve event systems, performance evaluation.

PREREQUISITES

The knowledge of the basic operations research methods, such as Linear Programming models and Network Optimization algorithms is required. Basic knowledge of statistics is also required

TEACHING METHODS

Frontal lectures in computer classroom, where all students have the possibility to define, develop and analyze the models using sw tools at the same time with the teacher. Group work and seminars are foreseen.

"Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities  and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Professor Serena Scotto (scotto@economia.unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison."

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

According to the aims of the course described above, the contents of the course are as follows:
1. Basic strategic issues in maritime transport of goods and people. Facility location problems. Routing problems. Covering and fleet planning problems.
2. Analysis of queueing systems. Stochastic processes. Classification of queueing systems. Performance Analysis of queueing Systems. Optimal sizing of service centers.
3. Introduction to Discrete Event Simulation. System and model definition. Input Analysis. Validation of a simulation model. Analysis of sea-port terminals using discrete event simulation methods. Using the sw environment Witness for Complex Systems Analysis. Inserting and defining elements. Dynamics and flow rules. Computation of the system performance indices. Trade-off cost / performance evaluation of the system. Simulation of queueing systems.
Presentation and discussion of case studies.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Materials provided by the teacher, including notes, chapters of books and scientific articles.

Some suggested books:

• A.M.Law, Simulation modeling and analysis, IV edizione, McGraw-Hill, 2007
• J. Banks, J.S. Carson,B.L. Nelson, D.M.Nicol, Discrete Event System Simulation, Prentice-Hall,2001.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ANNA FRANCA SCIOMACHEN (President)

CARMINE CERRONE

ELENA TANFANI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Second semester.

Class schedule

SIMULATION TECHNOLOGIES AND PLANNING

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The final assessment of the course is carried out by evaluating both the work done in the classroom and the work assigned at home together with the active participation, the presentation of the project work and the test concerning the theoretical parts of the program.

To subscribe to the exam, online subscription is mandatory.

It is possible to partecipate to an exame session any time.

Exam schedule