On Ranking the Relative Importance of Nodes in Physical Distribution Networks

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2011-05-24T14:55:11Z

Authors

Filion, Christian

Advisor

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

University of Waterloo

Abstract

Physical distribution networks are integral parts of modern supply chains. When faced with a question of which node in a network is more important, cost immediately jumps to mind. However, in a world of uncertainty, there are other significant factors which should be considered when trying to answer such a question. The integrity of a network, as well as its robustness are factors that we consider, in making a judgement of importance. We develop algorithms to measure several properties of a class of networks. To accelerate the optimization of multiple related linear programs, we develop a modification of the revised simplex method, which exploits several key aspects to gain efficiency. We combine these algorithms and methods, to give rankings of the relative importance of nodes in networks. In order to better understand the usefulness of our method, we analyse the effect parameter changes have on the relative importance of nodes. We present a large, realistic network, whose nodes we rank in importance. We then vary the network's parameters and observe the impact of each change.

Description

Keywords

distribution, ranking, network, supply chain

LC Subject Headings

Citation