Faculty & Research

Centre for Transportation and Logistics

About the Centre

The IIMA Centre for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) will address critical passenger and freight transportation, and logistics challenges in India through an integrated, multidisciplinary program of research, post-graduate and executive education, technology transfer, and policy advice for enhancing the mobility of people and goods.
The objective of the CTL is to contribute to improving the efficiency of multi-modal transportation systems and supply chain logistics, thereby promoting economic growth and fostering sustainable development.

Vision & Mission

The Centre’s vision is to facilitate cutting-edge research in transportation, logistics and allied areas, and thereby contribute to scholarship, practice, and policymaking in India and abroad.

Research Areas

Transportation

  • Improving passenger transportation and sustainable urban mobility
  • Reducing environmental impacts and enhancing resilience of transportation systems
  • Improving safety and equitable access

Logistics

  • Improving eco-efficiency and safety
  • Optimisation of networks, transportation mode, order fulfillment
  • Managing terminal and warehouse operations
  • Strategies for sustainable urban freight and last-mile connectivity

Research Themes

Leveraging technology for improving urban and regional mobility

This theme focuses on examining emerging technologies such intelligent route guidance systems, dynamic road pricing, smart parking, integrated transit fare systems, app-based shared transportation services, high-speed rail, etc., and their potential for improving passenger mobility and accessibility within and between cities. The impact of connected and autonomous vehicles in increasing safety and capacity utilization, enhancing system reliability, influencing travel behaviour, and altering location choices of households and firms will be analyzed. Innovative ways of collecting and applying big data in transportation for evidence-based planning and improved real-time operations of multi-modal systems will be explored. The role of government and public policy for better leveraging technology will be considered.

Reducing environmental impacts and enhancing resilience of transportation systems

This theme focuses on exploring ways to reduce environmental impacts of transportation while meeting or improving mobility. Research areas include: a) ways to reduce carbon footprint of transport infrastructure (e.g., roads, airports, ports, public transit systems, etc.) construction, maintenance, and operation; b) new fuel and vehicle technologies across modes, including plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles, that significantly reduce lifecycle emissions, and c) government actions, including pricing policies as well as mandates or restrictions, to promote supply and demand of low-carbon transportation systems. Research analyzing and suggesting improvements to the multi-modal transportation system’s preparedness for short-notice (e.g., earthquake, terrorist attack, etc.) or planned (e.g., cyclone, virus outbreak, etc.) evacuation or system management at various geographic scales, and research exploring ways to develop systems that are resilient (with respect to damages and disruptions) to both short-notice events and long-term climatic changes will be covered under this theme.

Promoting sustainable and safe urban transportation

This theme focuses on research involving strategies to promote shared (e.g., public transit, car- and ride-sharing arrangements, etc.), non-motorized/active (i.e., walking and bicycling), and low-carbon (e.g., electric vehicles) transportation in India’s megacities and high-growth regions. Strategies can range from private sector initiatives/innovations in the provision and management of sustainable transportation modes and systems, to government policies (i.e., land use planning, supply-side investments, and demand management initiatives) to influence activity-travel decisions. Methods can span across disciplines, from travel behaviour analysis using revealed preference or stated-choice surveys, to experimental approaches of evaluating the impacts of specific interventions. Issues of equitable access to jobs and other urban amenities, particularly for the transportation disadvantaged, will be addressed. Research exploring ways to make urban travel safer will also be covered under this theme. This theme is aligned with global initiatives including India’s policy priority of promoting sustainable urban development, and the creation of healthy and livable cities.

Optimizing logistics networks

This theme covers research for identifying optimal locations of facilities within a network and allocating the customer orders to each location, which is an important decision area for all retailers including e-commerce players. For last mile delivery, optimal vehicle routing and minimizing customer misses are key to business profitability. Also, during disruptions, the optimal order fulfilment policies such as the choice of the warehouse location for fulfilling a customer order with due date constraints is critical. With the recent growth in electric vehicles, designing and optimizing the charging networks for transportation is another potential research area. Other areas of optimization include identifying optimal transportation mode, route, and time choices. The methods used in optimizing networks include integer programs, queuing theory, game theory, and simulation.

Managing terminal and warehouse operations

Managing the performance of logistics facilities such as warehouses or container terminals is critical for achieving high customer service levels. Many facilities are robotized today, and we expect more warehouses will be robotized in the future. Likewise, container terminals are undergoing automation. Performance analysis of such facilities using analytical and simulation models is a key step in the design conceptualization process. While traditional optimization and simulation methods are used to analyze decision problems in container terminals such as quay crane assignment problem, berth allocation problem, yard crane assignment problem, analytical models are also useful for long-term technology investment decisions in the terminals. Also, applications of IoT is intra-logistics will be investigated. Related research will be covered under this theme.

Sustainable urban freight and last-mile connectivity

This theme will cover research aimed at improving efficiency and reducing the negative environmental impacts of freight activity within cities. Strategies involving technological (e.g., low-carbon or non-motorized vehicles), land use based (e.g., urban consolidation centres), analytics (e.g., optimized routing), and policy (e.g., taxes or restrictions) interventions will be evaluated. Research under this theme is significant given changes in consumer demand and preferences and concurrent innovations in logistics and supply chains.

Improving eco-efficiency and safety of goods transportation

In India, commercial vehicles are a dominant source of CO2 emissions. Old vehicles are not only adding to the emissions but are also causing driver attrition. While the government is implementing vehicle scrappage policies to eliminate polluting vehicles (with age of more than 15 years) from the road, the implications of the scrappage policies on vehicle demand estimation, overall CO2 emissions, and driver productivity and safety are still unknown. Moreover, electric vehicles will play a significant role to cut emissions in goods transport. Further, the location of the charging stations can also affect vehicle travel route choices. This centre would conduct research on policies to improve driver safety, productivity, and retention. A project that that attempts to link driving behaviour with fuel efficiency and road safety has already been initiated.

Selected research paper from CTL faculty members pertaining to the area of transportation and logistics

Spotlight

Implications of land-use transitions and climate change on local flooding in urban areas: An assessment of 42 Indian cities. Land Use Policy, 95, 104571.

Avashia, V., & Garg, A.

This study investigates the impacts of land transitions on local urban flooding under various climate change scenarios across 42 cities in India, by performing an empirical study, for future projections under climate change and urban development scenarios up to 2050.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that, land transitions induced by urban development, negatively affect urban hydrology, resulting in increased flooding risks. The pattern of rainfall changes due to climate change in the present time increases flood risks in cities. This study mainly focused on the role of land-use changes, in determining the occurrence of urban flooding events. The study highlights the need for Indian cities to undertake integrated spatial planning measures for a robust and sustainable urban future.

Some of the common environmental problems like air pollution, waste management, polluted water bodies, impacts on biodiversity, habitat fragmentation, and pressure on the urban and resources, must be resolved by the cities at the highest priority. With the rapid urbanization of the cities, emission of greenhouse gas also is increasing in an increasing rate. The authors throw light on the fact that unplanned urbanization (mal-development) could worsen the impacts of environmental change and climate change.

The authors are of the view that small cities have a scope of learning from the mistakes of big cities, which face a lot of setback due to unplanned growth, rapid urbanizations and induced land-use transitions. Cities that aim to achieve a substantially greater share of green and blue spaces must do the following while extending the city limits. They should impose tighter rules on zoning and development control, include and reinforce water flows, drains, and connections along with a revival of green and blue spaces. These acts should be supplemented by conservation measures from the State and Central Government.

In this study, the role of brown, green and blue infrastructure in adapting urban areas to climate change is explained by increasing their resistance to heavy rainfalls that lead to flash floods.

The goal is to ensure that, by zoning policies, a significant proportion of non-built-up spaces are mandated in new areas that are emerging with the growth of the cities. Planning and building green belts across the cities is another choice concerning the sustainable development scenario. The cities could also stagnate their spatial spread of constructed areas that would result in dense, compact vertical growth. Besides, sufficient stormwater infrastructure, restoration and strengthening of existing green and blue spaces should be undertaken within the dense core city areas.

The study shows that these cities would experience devastating consequences due to flood if they do not use their land sustainably. Preservation of brown, green and blue land uses act as a sponge, and as these spaces decrease, the chances of an event of flood increases. Incidences of flooding influence the quality of life of infrastructure and residents and directly affect the economic production and investment climate in a region. This study highlights that to foster resilient, sustainable urban growth, Indian cities must pursue integrated spatial planning steps.

Macroeconomic assessment of India’s development and mitigation pathways. Climate Policy, 20(7), 779-799.

Gupta, D., Ghersi, F., Vishwanathan, S. S., & Garg, A.

This paper mainly focuses on the fact that although India is a rapidly growing economy, there are many challenges that India has to face, including meeting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). With coal supplying nearly three-quarters of Indian energy needs, achieving such goals would have large effects on economic activity. India's GDP has risen at an annual rate of 7 per cent to 8 per cent since economic liberalisation in 1991. A part of this development stems from systemic changes that saw the Indian economy move from agriculture to services and industry which contributed 53% and 31% of GDP in 2017 respectively, in the 1970s. With the initiation of government policies such as Make in India, Smart Cities Mission and Housing for All, the trend is expected to continue. The research analysis aimed to examine the macroeconomic consequences of India's low carbon growth pathways. The authors used a novel technique of converging bottom-up and top-down models. By implementing this methodology, this study adds significantly to the current literature on Indian pathways.

India’s energy demand is expected to grow exponentially following rapid urbanization, industrialization, and the rising purchasing power of the population. By mid-century, India is projected to be among the world’s largest in national energy consumption. The authors analyse in this paper that keeping investment constant, decarbonization leads to economic growth. They have also found that decarbonization leaves a positive impact on India’s foreign debt due to reduced energy trade deficit. This reflects the balance of mitigation costs and energy savings.

Moving towards sustainable development of economy, low carbon emission approach is compatible with the Indian economic growth. About ¾ of the Indian electricity production depends on coal. So, achieving a sustainable target of low carbon emission will leave a great impact on the economic activity of India.

The authors have analysed multiple scenarios at different levels of global increases in temperature (in degree Celsius) and compared with business as usual. The 2-degree Celsius pathway proved more compatible for climate-resilient and with almost 6% yearly economic growth as compared to business as usual. It can be accomplished at the cost of reduced household consumption with a significant positive impact on foreign debt accumulation.

The large deficit of trade balance in India is due to the high import of fossil fuel. Adoption of low carbon pathway can improve that situation. Moving away from fossil fuel-based energy especially from oil imports would also result in saving the foreign exchange to about $ 1 trillion from 2012 to 2050.

Low carbon pathway will raise the share of the energy sector in GDP by structural change. Government of India has implemented several policies for better control and promotion of transport such as National Urban Transport Policy, National Mission on Sustainable Habitat Mission, National Electric Mobility 2020 and National Biofuel policy. Transitions in transport sector such as increase in non-motorized transportation, share of rail transport, deployment of electric vehicle technologies and biofuel blending will reduce the dependence on fossil fuel. This will lead the Indian economy towards self-sufficiency.

Publications

Airlines and railways (2017 onwards)

  • Sundaravalli Narayanaswami, Lakshya Singh Saini (2022). Operational policies based on fare-box revenue management of the Indian railways: International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management.
    https://www.inderscience.com/info/inarticle.php?artid=123516
  • Narayanaswami, S. (2019). Optimal allocation of rolling stock in scheduled transportation services. International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 34(3), 327-351.
    https://doi.org/10.1504/IJLSM.2019.103087
  • Narayanaswami, S. (2018, December). A Novel Learning Heuristic Applied for Computationally Hard Managerial Decision Making and Transportation Operations Control. In 2018 International Conference on Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.
    https://doi.org/10.1109/POMS.2018.8629467
  • Natesan, S., Singh, C., & Dutta, G. (2019). Utility function for airline travel in Nepal and its comparison with India. International Journal of Revenue Management, 11(1-2), 23-45.
    https://doi.org/10.1504/IJRM.2019.103010
  • Narayanaswami, S. (2018). Digital social media: Enabling performance quality of Indian Railway services. Journal of Public Affairs, 18(4), e1849.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1849
  • Narayanaswami, S. (2018). Water ATMs of Indian railways: Causing a silent revolution. Vikalpa, 43(2), 115-120.
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0256090918775497

E-commerce Order fulfillment (2017 onwards)

Electric Vehicles (2017 onwards)

  • Vishal Bansal, Deepak Prakash Kumar, Debjit Roy, Shankar C. Subramanian (2022). Performance evaluation and optimization of design parameters for electric vehicle-sharing platforms by considering vehicle dynamics: Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. 
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554522002502?via%3Dihub#
  • Yuxuan Dong , René De Koster , Debjit Roy, Yugang Yu (2022). Dynamic Vehicle Allocation Policies for Shared Autonomous Electric Fleets. Transportation Science
    https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2021.1115
  • Vignesh Subramanian, Felipe Feijoo, Sriram Sankaranarayanan, Kevin Melendez, Tapas K. Das (2022). A bilevel conic optimization model for routing and charging of EV fleets serving long distance delivery networks. Energy
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.123808
  • Sebastián González, Felipe Feijoo, Franco Basso, Vignesh Subramanian, Sriram Sankaranarayanan, Tapas K. Das (2022). Routing and charging facility location for EVs under nodal pricing of electricity: A bilevel model solved using special ordered set. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.
    https://doi.org/10.1109/TSG.2022.3159603

Facility location (2017 onwards)

  • Sneha Dhyani Bhatt, Sachin Jayaswal, Ankur Sinha, Navneet Vidyarthi (2021). Alternate second order conic program reformulations for hub location under stochastic demand and congestion. Annals of Operations Research.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-021-03993-6
  • Yogesh.K. Agarwal, Yash P. Aneja, Sachin Jayaswal (2021). Directed Fixed Charge Multicommodity Network Design: A Cutting Plane Approach Using Polar Duality. European Journal of Operational Research.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2021.08.043
  • Tiwari, R., Jayaswal, S., & Sinha, A. (2019). Alternate solution approaches for competitive hub location problems.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.07.018
  • Vatsa, A. K., & Jayaswal, S. (2020). Capacitated multi-period maximal covering location problem with server uncertainty. European Journal of Operational Research, 289(3), 1107-1126.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.07.061
  • Venkateshan, P. (2020). A Note on “The Facility Location Problem with Limited Distances”. Transportation Science, 54(6), 1439-1445.
    https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2020.0992
  • Ramamoorthy, P., Jayaswal, S., Sinha, A., & Vidyarthi, N. (2018). Multiple allocation hub interdiction and protection problems: Model formulations and solution approaches. European Journal of Operational Research, 270(1), 230-245.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2018.03.031
  • Jayaswal, S., & Vidyarthi, N. (2017). Facility location under service level constraints for heterogeneous customers. Annals of Operations Research, 253(1), 275-305.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-016-2353-7
  • Venkateshan, P., Ballou, R. H., Mathur, K., & Maruthasalam, A. P. (2017). A Two-echelon joint continuous-discrete location model. European Journal of Operational Research, 262(3), 1028-1039.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.03.077

Ocean freight transportation (2017 onwards)

  • Amir Gharehgozli, Roy, D., Suruchika Saini , Jan-Kees van Ommeren (2022). Loading and unloading trains at the landside of container terminals. Maritime Economics & Logistics.
    https://doi.org/10.1057/s41278-022-00219-9
  • Roy, D., Jan-Kees van Ommeren, René de Koster, Amir Gharehgozli (2022). Modeling landside container terminal queues: Exact analysis and approximations. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trb.2022.05.012
  • Kumawat, G. L., Roy, D., De Koster, R., & Adan, I. (2020). Stochastic modeling of parallel process flows in intra-logistics systems: Applications in container terminals and compact storage systems. European Journal of Operational Research, 290(1), 159-176.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.08.006
  • Kumawat, G. L., & Roy, D. (2020). AGV or Lift-AGV? Performance trade-offs and design insights for container terminals with robotized transport vehicle technology. IISE Transactions.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/24725854.2020.1785648
  • Roy, D., De Koster, R., & Bekker, R. (2020). Modeling and design of container terminal operations. Operations Research.
    https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.2019.1920
  • Mofidi, S. S., Pazour, J. A., & Roy, D. (2018). Proactive vs. reactive order-fulfillment resource allocation for sea-based logistics. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 114, 66-84.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2018.02.012
  • Dhingra, V., Kumawat, G. L., Roy, D., & de Koster, R. (2018). Solving semi-open queuing networks with time-varying arrivals: An application in container terminal landside operations. European Journal of Operational Research, 267(3), 855-876.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.12.020
  • Roy, D., & de Koster, R. (2018). Stochastic modeling of unloading and loading operations at a container terminal using automated lifting vehicles. European Journal of Operational Research, 266(3), 895-910.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.10.031
  • Saini, S., Roy, D., & de Koster, R. (2017). A stochastic model for the throughput analysis of passing dual yard cranes. Computers & Operations Research, 87, 40-51.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2017.05.012
  • Mishra, N., Roy, D., & van Ommeren, J. K. (2017). A stochastic model for interterminal container transportation. Transportation Science, 51(1), 67-87.
    https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2016.0726
  • Gupta, A., Roy, D., de Koster, R., & Parhi, S. (2017). Optimal stack layout in a sea container terminal with automated lifting vehicles. International Journal of Production Research, 55(13), 3747-3765.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2016.1273561

Road freight transportation (2017 onwards)

  • Satender Pal Singh, Arnab Adhikari, Adrija Majumdar, Arnab Bisi (2021). Does service quality influence operational and financial performance of third party logistics service providers? A mixed multi criteria decision making -text mining-based investigation. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2021.102558
  • Kumar, A., Roy, D., Verter, V., & Sharma, D. (2018). Integrated fleet mix and routing decision for hazmat transportation: A developing country perspective. European Journal of Operational Research, 264(1), 225-238.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.06.012
  • de Vries, J., De Koster, R., Rijsdijk, S., & Roy, D. (2017). Determinants of safe and productive truck driving: Empirical evidence from long-haul cargo transport. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 97, 113-131.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2016.11.003

Smart and sustainable infrastructure (2017 onwards)

  • Omkar S. Patange, Amit Garg, Sachin Jayaswal (2022). An integrated bottom-up optimization to investigate the role of BECCS in transitioning towards a net-zero energy system: A case study from Gujarat, India: Energy.
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544222014116
  • Arpit Shah, Amit Garg, Vimal Mishra (2021). Quantifying the local cooling effects of urban green spaces: Evidence from Bengaluru, India. Landscape and Urban Planning.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104043
  • Saritha S. Vishwanathan, Amit Garg, Vineet Tiwari, Manmohan Kapshe, Tirthankar Nag (2021). SDG implications of water-energy systems transitions in India, for NDC, 2 °C, and well below 2 °C scenarios. Environmental Research Letters.
    https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac08bf
  • Miguel F. Anjos, Felipe Feijoo, Sriram Sankaranarayanan (2022). A multinational carbon-credit market integrating distinct national carbon allowance strategies. Applied Energy.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119181
  • Schaeffer, R., Köberle, A., van Soest, H. L., Bertram, C., Luderer, G., Riahi, K., Krey, V. , van Vuuren, D., Kriegler, E., Fujimori, S., Chen, W., He, C., Vrontisi, Z., Garg, A., Vishwanathan, S.S., Mathur, R., Shekhar, S., Oshiro, K., Safonov, G., Iyer, G., Gi, K., Potashnikov, V. (2020). Comparing transformation pathways across major economies. Climatic Change, 162(4),1787-1803.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02837-9
  • Avashia, V., & Garg, A. (2020). Implications of land use transitions and climate change on local flooding in urban areas: An assessment of 42 Indian cities. Land Use Policy, 95, 104571.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104571
  • Avashia, V., Parihar, S., & Garg, A. (2020). Evaluation of Classification Techniques for Land Use Change Mapping of Indian Cities. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 48(6), 877-908.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-020-01122-7
  • Gupta, D., Ghersi, F., Vishwanathan, S. S., & Garg, A. (2020). Macroeconomic assessment of India’s development and mitigation pathways. Climate Policy, 20(7), 779-799.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2019.1648235
  • Gupta, D., Ghersi, F., Vishwanathan, S. S., & Garg, A. (2019). Achieving sustainable development in India along low carbon pathways: Macroeconomic assessment. World Development, 123, 104623.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104623
  • Turaga, R. M. R., Jha-Thakur, U., Chakrabarti, S., & Hossain, D. (2020). Exploring the role of Urban Green Spaces in 'smartening' cities in India. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 38(6), 479-490.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2019.1690864
  • Vishwanathan, S. S., Fragkos, P., Fragkiadakis, K., Paroussos, L., & Garg, A. (2019). Energy system transitions and macroeconomic assessment of the Indian building sector. Building Research & Information, 47(1), 38-55.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2018.1516059
  • Chintagunta, L., Raj, P., & Narayanaswami, S. (2019). Conceptualization to amendment: Kakinada as a smart city. Journal of Public Affairs, 19(1), e1879.
    https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1879
  • Tornese, F., Pazour, J. A., Thorn, B. K., Roy, D., & Carrano, A. L. (2018). Investigating the environmental and economic impact of loading conditions and repositioning strategies for pallet pooling providers. Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, 155-168.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.054
  • Garg, A., Shukla, P. R., Parihar, S., Singh, U., & Kankal, B. (2017). Cost-effective architecture of carbon capture and storage (CCS) grid in India. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 66, 129-146.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2017.09.012
  • Shah, A., & Garg, A. (2017). Urban commons service generation, delivery, and management: A conceptual framework. Ecological Economics, 135, 280-287.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12.017

Urban mobility and Passenger transportation (2017 onwards)

Vehicle Routing (2017 onwards)

  • Yogesh Kumar Agarwal, Prahalad Venkateshan (2021). New valid inequalities for the symmetric vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and deliveries. Networks
    https://doi.org/10.1002/net.22069

Warehousing (2017 onwards)

  • T. Lamballais, Marius Merschformann, Debjit Roy, René B.M. De Koster, Kaveh Azadeh, L. Suhl (2022). Dynamic policies for resource reallocation in a robotic mobile fulfillment system with time-varying demand: European Journal of Operational Research.
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221721007608#
  • Govind Lal Kumawat, Debjit Roy (2021). A new solution approach for multi-stage semi-open queuing networks: An application in shuttle-based compact storage systems.
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305054820302033?via%3Dihub
  • Tim Lamballais, Marius Merschformann, Debjit Roy, René B.M. de Koster, Kaveh Azadeh, Leena M. Suhl (2021). Dynamic Policies for Resource Reallocation in a Robotic Mobile Fulfillment System with Time-Varying Demand. European Journal of Operational Research.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2021.09.001
  • Azadeh, K., Roy, D., & De Koster, R. (2019). Design, modeling, and analysis of vertical robotic storage and retrieval systems. Transportation Science, 53(5), 1213-1234.
    https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2018.0883
  • Azadeh, K., De Koster, R., & Roy, D. (2019). Robotized and automated warehouse systems: Review and recent developments. Transportation Science, 53(4), 917-945.
    https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2018.0873
  • Lamballais, T., Roy, D., & De Koster, M. B. M. (2017). Inventory allocation in robotic mobile fulfillment systems. Available at SSRN 2900940.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/24725854.2018.1560517
  • Tappia, E., Roy, D., Melacini, M., & De Koster, R. (2019). Integrated storage-order picking systems: Technology, performance models, and design insights. European Journal of Operational Research, 274(3), 947-965.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2018.10.048
  • Roy, D., Nigam, S., de Koster, R., Adan, I., & Resing, J. (2019). Robot-storage zone assignment strategies in mobile fulfillment systems. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 122, 119-142.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2018.11.005
  • Roy, D., Krishnamurthy, A., Heragu, S. S., & Malmborg, C. (2017). A multi-tier linking approach to analyze performance of autonomous vehicle-based storage and retrieval systems. Computers & Operations Research, 83, 173-188.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2017.02.012
  • Lamballais, T., Roy, D., & De Koster, M. B. M. (2017). Estimating performance in a robotic mobile fulfillment system. European Journal of Operational Research, 256(3), 976-990.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2016.06.063
  • Tappia, E., & Roy, D. D., R. De Koster, R., M. Melacini (2017), Modeling, Analysis, and Design Insights for Compact Storage Systems with Autonomous Shuttles. Transportation Science, 51(1), 269-295.
    https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2016.0699
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Research Advisory Committee

  • Director, IIMA (Ex-Officio Member)
  • CTL Co-Chairpersons (Ex-Officio Members)
  • Internationally recognized researchers in transportation and logistics (external members)

Centre Activities

Research that applies both traditional analytical methods and simulation models to real-world transportation and logistics problems.

Teaching through courses, workshops and case studies. Our students gain the skills and understanding that prepares them to meet the future’s transportation and logistics challenges

Outreach that links academic researchers to Indian and global companies as well as to policy-makers

Profiles of external members

Prof. Chandra Bhat

Director, US DOT Center on Data-Supported Transportation Operations and Planning (D-STOP)
University Distinguished Teaching Professor
Joe J. King Chair in Engineering
Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Department of Economics (Courtesy Appointment)
The University of Texas at Austin

Prof. Marlon Boarnet

Professor and Chair
Department of Urban Planning and Spatial Analysis
Sol Price School of Public Policy
University of Southern California

Prof. David Cebon

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cambridge
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Director, The Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium
Director, the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight
Managing Director, Granta Design Limited
Fellow of Queens' College Cambridge

Prof. Subhro Guhathakurta

Professor and Chair, School of City & Regional Planning
Director, Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization
Georgia Institute of Technology
Director, the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight
Managing Director, Granta Design Limited
Fellow of Queens' College Cambridge

Prof. René de Koster

Professor of Logistics and Operations Management
Department of Technology and Operations Management
Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Prof. Milind Sohoni

Area Leader & Professor, Operations Management
Deputy Dean, Academic Affairs
Research Director, PLIIM
Indian School of Business

Prof. Geetam Tiwari

MoUD Chair Professor,
Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, and
Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Prof. Tom Van Woensel

Professor of Freight Transport & Logistics
Director of Education Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences
Graduate Program Director, Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences
Program Chair Bachelor Program Industrial Engineering
Director European Supply Chain Forum
Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation SciencesEindhoven University of Technology

The Team

Name Designation
Mr. Subodh Patrikar Assistant General Manager
Dr. Mitrabarun Ghosh Post Doctoral Fellow
Mr. Shubham Research Associate
Ms. Dhanya Karayil Centre Secretary

 

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