Tag Archives: reliability

Risks in virtual enterprise networks and supply chains

4 Replies
Revised on: 2015-09-05

It is not unusual for suppliers in a supply chain to come together and act as a Virtual Enterprise Network (VEN) and today’s supply chains exhibit many VEN-like features. Is managing risks in Virtual Enterprise Networks different from managing risks in supply chains? With this in mind I submitted a paper to MITIP2009, the 11th International Conference on the Modern Information Technology in the Innovation Processes of the Industrial Enterprises, to be held in Bergamo, Italy, in October.

Continue reading →

Transportation reliability and vulnerability

Leave a reply
Revised on: 2015-09-04

This is a philosophical essay on transportation vulnerability, where three fields or subjects are brought together : engineering (reliability and vulnerability), economics (cost and benefits) and politics (decision making). The idea behind the research is to blend statistical, economical and political arguments in order to achieve a novel and unifying framework for decision making within transportation planning. By adding reliability and vulnerability to the traditional equations of costs and benefits it is hoped that transportation planners and professionals will not only consider economical arguments, but also dare to take on political statements that may be in opposition to strictly factual costs and benefits.

Continue reading →

Three steps to make your supply chain less vulnerable

Leave a reply
Revised on: 2011-05-06

Some time ago, Jeff Karrenbauer, CEO of Insight Inc., a top international provider of supply chain planning solutions for the world’s foremost companies, wrote an article on How to Audit, Analyze, and Mitigate Supply Chain Vulnerability.  The article makes a strong case for every CEO of any company to demand a comprehensive supply chain risk audit and a corresponding set of mitigation strategies immediately and wait until after disaster strikes only to realize that “we should (or could) have known better”. To make the supply chain more resilient, businesses need to do more than just think about the problem; they must prepare to act effectively.

Continue reading →

The Swedish Road Network – Vulnerable or not?

Leave a reply
Revised on: 2015-09-09

The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden KTH is in the finishing stages of a research project aiming to develop the methodology for vulnerability analysis of road networks that can be used for decision-making concerning investment and maintenance measures. At the forefront is Erik Jenelius, a young researcher and PhD-student, who is breaking new grounds in the way we should think about road vulnerability and how to mitigate it.

Continue reading →

Cost-Benefit Analysis – an essay about valuation problems

Leave a reply
Revised on: 2011-07-21

This paper introduces vulnerability as an important parameter for decision-support in cost-benefit analyses for transportation projects, by seeking to establish a link between the terms reliability and vulnerability vis-à-vis costs and benefits. The paper contends that a reliable transportation network represents a net benefit to society, and conversely, that a vulnerable network represents a net cost to society. Vulnerability costs or disruption costs are related to both location on and usage of the transportation network, and methods to explore these costs are suggested.

Continue reading →

The vulnerability of road networks in a cost-benefit perspective

2 Replies
Revised on: 2011-01-05

A reliable transportation network represents a net benefit to society, and conversely, a vulnerable network represents a net cost to society. Hence, vulnerability ought to be an important parameter for decision-support in cost-benefit analyses, in order to establish a link between the terms reliability and vulnerability vis-à-vis costs and benefits. A multi-criteria analysis approach is suggested as an appropriate methodology for analyzing the monetary and non-monetary effects of vulnerability. Looking beyond the science of vulnerability assessments, this paper discusses some of the network attributes that influence the vulnerability of transportation networks, influences that can be described as structure-related, nature-related or traffic-related attributes. The influences of the individual attributes are then examined as possible candidates for measuring of the vulnerability of the transportation network.

Continue reading →

Reliability and vulnerability versus costs and benefits

Leave a reply
Revised on: 2011-03-10

Looking beyond the science of vulnerability assessments, this paper discusses some of the network attributes that influence the vulnerability of transport networks, influences that can be described as structure-related, nature-related or traffic-related attributes. The paper introduces vulnerability as a parameter for decision-support in cost-benefit analyses, by seeking to establish a link between the terms reliability and vulnerability vis-a-vis costs and benefits.

Continue reading →

Reliability and vulnerability versus costs and benefits

1 Reply
Revised on: 2015-09-09

Issues of reliability and vulnerability are mormally not considered a matter of evaluation in traditional cost-benefit analyses. Consequently, traditional cost-benefit analyses are lacking decision variables that may be important. This paper looks beyond the abstract science of vulnerability assessments, and discusses some of the factual influences and network attributes that contribute to the vulnerability of transport networks. The influences of the individual attributes are then examined as a measure of the vulnerability of a transport network. Although reliability can be defined by absolute numbers, vulnerability, by its very nature can not. The paper further outlines a framework for developing a methodology that to incorporate reliability and vulnerability as parameters for decision-support in a cost-benefit analysis. In doing so, this paper seeks to establish a link between the terms reliability/vulnerability and cost/benefit and seeks to describe reliability and vulnerability in terms of cost and benefit. Cost-benefit evaluations are part of many decision making processes, and it is argued that vulnerability assessments likewise should play an important role as input to these processes.

Continue reading →

The reliability and vulnerability of transportation lifelines

Leave a reply
Revised on: 2015-11-17

How can we assess how reliable or vulnerable the transportation is, and which parameters can we apply  in measuring reliability and vulnerability? Transportation networks like freeways and interstate highways are the main backbone of modern society. Consequently, the reliability or vulnerability of any transportation network is thus a decisive factor not only in terms of market outreach and competition, but also in terms of continuity, to ensure a 24/7 operation of the community we live in. This research essay takes a closer look at vulnerability and reliability issues in transportation networks.

Continue reading →