Air Force Institute of Technology AFIT Scholar Theses and Dissertations Student Graduate Works 3-2008 Developing an Excel Decision Support System Using In-Transit Visibility to Decrease DoD Transportation Delays Brian B. Stone Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.afit.edu/etd Part of the Operational Research Commons Recommended Citation Stone, Brian B., "Developing an Excel Decision Support System Using In-Transit Visibility to Decrease DoD Transportation Delays" (2008). Theses and Dissertations. 2818. https://scholar.afit.edu/etd/2818 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Graduate Works at AFIT Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of AFIT Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DEVELOPING AN EXCEL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM USING IN-TRANSIT VISIBILITY TO DECREASE DoD TRANSPORTATION DELAYS THESIS Brian B. Stone, Captain, USAF AFIT/GOR/ENS/08-20 DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE AIR UNIVERSITY AIR FORCE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the United States Government. AFIT/GOR/ENS/08-20 DEVELOPING AN EXCEL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM USING IN-TRANSIT VISIBILITY TO DECREASE DoD TRANSPORTATION DELAYS THESIS Presented to the Faculty Department of Operational Sciences Graduate School of Engineering and Management Air Force Institute of Technology Air University Air Education and Training Command In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Operations Research Brian B. Stone, BS Captain, USAF March 2008 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. AFIT/GOR/ENS/08-20 DEVELOPING AN EXCEL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM USING IN-TRANSIT VISIBILITY TO DECREASE DoD TRANSPORTATION DELAYS Brian B. Stone, BS Captain, USAF Approved: ____________________________________ ___ Dr. James T. Moore, Ph.D. (Chairman) date ____________________________________ ___ Lt Col Pamela S. Donovan, Ph.D. (Member) date AFIT/GOR/ENS/08-20 Abstract The United States Air Force's Air Mobility Command (AMC) is responsible for efficiently transporting military personnel and cargo throughout the world. Organizations throughout the transportation system search for ways to decrease cargo transportation time as part of their ongoing mission to provide timely airlift services to the DoD. As cargo is transported through the transportation system it is in one of two states; waiting at an air base for transportation or in some phase of the loading, transportation, or unloading process. The loading and unloading process has been streamlined throughout the transportation system to a point which leaves little room for significant improvement in terms of total transportation time. However, decreasing the average time pallets wait for a transportation aircraft, called the port hold time (PHT), is a difficult problem which is currently receiving attention. The DoD has invested in radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to provide in-transit visibility (ITV) of all cargo moving through the transportation system. In many ways ITV has made cargo transportation much more efficient but its capability to measure and characterize cargo flow through the system has not been fully exploited. The purpose of this research is to create a Microsoft Excel application which utilizes RFID data to quantify and analyze cargo velocity in the Iraqi theater. The transportation system is analyzed at the pallet level to reveal which specific air bases and transportation methods cause lengthy cargo delays. Pallet PHT data is processed and reported using Statistical Process Control (SPC) methods including control and Pareto charts. iv AFIT/GOR/ENS/08-20 To my Wife, Son, Mom, Dad v Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my faculty advisors, Dr. James Moore and Lt Col Pamela Donovan, for their guidance and support throughout the course of this thesis effort. When the way ahead seemed unclear, their advice and perspective helped my research move forward in good directions. I would also like to thank Maj Trevor Laine and Lt Col Don Anderson, whose ideas were the genesis of this research, for their assistance throughout the analysis. Finally, I want to give a special and heartfelt thank you to my wife. Her creative input on this thesis was as invaluable as the unwavering support she provided me. Brian B. Stone vi Table of Contents Page Abstract .................................................................................................................. iv Dedication ....................................................................................................................v Acknowledgments........................................................................................................... vi List of Figures...................................................................................................................x List of Tables ................................................................................................................ xiii I. Introduction .............................................................................................................1 Background..............................................................................................................1 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)...................................................................1 Problem Statement...................................................................................................2 Research Objectives and Questions.........................................................................3 Methodology............................................................................................................5 Assumptions.............................................................................................................7 Organizations of Thesis ...........................................................................................7 II. Literature Review.....................................................................................................9 Air Mobility Transportation System........................................................................9 In-Transit Visibility (ITV) Architecture ................................................................14 GTN .......................................................................................................................18 Microsoft Excel.......................................................................................................20 Microsoft Access ...................................................................................................21 Port Hold Time ......................................................................................................23 Statistical Process Control .....................................................................................24 Control Charts........................................................................................................25 Rational Subgroups................................................................................................27 Types of Control Charts.........................................................................................29 Control Chart Control Limits.................................................................................29 S Chart Control Limits.....................................................................................30 X-Bar Chart Control Limits.............................................................................30 R Chart Control Limits ....................................................................................31 p Chart Control Limits.....................................................................................32 np Chart Control Limits...................................................................................34 Pareto Chart...........................................................................................................35 vii ......................................................................................................................Page III. Methodology..........................................................................................................37 Data Source............................................................................................................37 Description of Parameter Settings .........................................................................38 Data Storage...........................................................................................................40 Transportation Category Development..................................................................42 Category Set One .............................................................................................43 Category Set Two ............................................................................................44 Category Analysis..................................................................................................45 Time Period of Data...............................................................................................50 Excel Application...................................................................................................51