Research | ESD Research Approaches

Networks and Flows

Networks and flows characterize all engineering systems technically, socially, and managerially. Network modeling has been used both for systems that resemble physical networks and as powerful modeling tool to represent many other systems involving relationships between entities—for example, the relationships between designers, suppliers, manufacturing plants, warehouses, distribution centers, and retail shops. ESD research into networks and flows applies modern graph and network theory to complex systems in a way that allows a representation of the dynamics and uncertainties that are most relevant to engineering systems.

Research Projects:

Change Propagation Analysis in Complex Technical Systems
This research develops and applies change propagation analysis methods and extended prior reasoning through examination of large data sets from industry. One such data set at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems included 41,500 change requests, spanning eight years during the design of a complex sensor system. The research used graph theory to define how specific network relationships of connected “parent,” “children,” and “sibling” changes are resolved over time and mapped to various subsystem areas. Read more.

Wal-Mart Transportation Portfolio Management
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is also one of the largest private fleet owners with over 8,000 drivers operating more than 60,000 pieces of equipment. In addition to using its own equipment, the company is a major purchaser of for hire-trucking services—both with dedicated fleets and individual lane contracts. Each type of resource (private fleet, dedicated fleet, and for-hire carrier) has a different cost structure and risk profile. The MIT Center for Transportation and Logisitcs is working with Wal-Mart to address challenges of determining, at a strategic level, when and where to use these different types of transportation resources. Read more.

News items:

“Transport costs could alter world trade”
USA Today – August 12, 2008

“Big Labor Goes Global”
TIME – July 1, 2008

“Playing the Globalization Game to Win”
Managing Automation – June 2008

Videos:

"Stakeholder Value Network Modeling"
ESD PhD student Wen Feng shares his research on how to understand, model, and manage the stakeholder value network for making high-leverage business strategies as well as informing system architecture design and selection.
View on TechTV.

Publications:

The Logic of Logistics: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications for Logistics and Supply Chain Management
David Simchi-Levi, Xin Chen, Julien Bramel

Urban Operations Research
Richard C. Larson, Amedeo R. Odoni

Urban Transportation Networks: Equilibrium Analysis with Mathematical Programming Methods
Yossi Sheffi