Knowledge-Based Supply Chain Network: a Simulation Application Design Configured with Radio Frequency Identification, Freight Train Dispatch, and Container Shipments

Knowledge-Based Supply Chain Network: a Simulation Application Design Configured with Radio Frequency Identification, Freight Train Dispatch, and Container Shipments

https://doi.org/10.48009/1_iis_2010_100-110 KNOWLEDGE-BASED SUPPLY CHAIN NETWORK: A SIMULATION APPLICATION DESIGN CONFIGURED WITH RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION, FREIGHT TRAIN DISPATCH, AND CONTAINER SHIPMENTS Andrew H. Chen, Soochow University, Taipei, Email: [email protected] William A. Chen, University of California, Email: [email protected] Christina E. Chen, University of California, Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT third largest container harbor. This port complex Owing to the transportation overcrowding in handles about 35% of all waterborne containers in the Southern California, a Knowledge-Based Supply U.S. [2]. Chain Network (KSCN) is envisioned to incorporate an On-Dock marine terminal, an emerging inland Problems Addressed by the Study multi-modal freight hub, and a dedicated shuttle train to rapidly ship containers out of the marine terminal The economic benefits from the growth of container to an inland hub. To alleviate the full load of shipments constitute a dilemma to today’s urban container shipments in Long Beach (LB), this study environments [8]. The challenging issues include approaches Victorville, California (90 miles away port safety, congestion, economic impacts of the from LB) as the locale for the new inland freight hub. transportation system (e.g., mobility, accessibility, To accomplish its potential use of a maglev or high and reliability), and environmental quality [19]. speed shuttle train, this study develops a KSCN through simulation and optimization, specifically by The Southern California transportation system has utilizing information flows as a platform for been severely deteriorated by container shipments manipulating container shipments and data since 2000 [15]. Organizing and prioritizing freight interactions. The purpose of this study is to present a flows and validating the suggested methodology are shipping simulation model and an intelligent seen as preliminary steps toward problem solving database using Radio Frequency Identification among the shipping company stakeholders. For (RFID) and Automatic Equipment Identification instance, at present time a better container shipment (AEI) tag messages, and conclude that applying this in LB port complex could be outlined as follows. (1) essential freight simulation model can help configure The vessels are designated to an On-Dock Rail the solutions and prevent the freight bottlenecks in Queue. (2) The containers are offloaded from the the future. ships and are queuing near a yard gantry crane. (3) The containers are transported from the yard gantry Keywords: Train Simulation, RFID, AEI, area by loading them on the terminal tractor-chassis Knowledge-Based System to the double-stack railcars (freight Unit Trains). A Unit Train may consist of 20 to 26 double-stack Data Availability: For the simulation inputs, a data railcars, each railcar has 5 platforms. Each platform set of 25 actual train movements on the railways was is able to carry two 40 foot containers. Each railcar obtained from The Burlington Northern Santa Fe can load a total of ten 40 foot containers. Therefore, (BNSF) Railroad Corporation. These freight a Unit Train may carry 200 to 260 pieces of 40 foot dispatching schedules consisted of double-stack containers [21]. (4) The trains are pulled from the container train movements operating over a thirty- Intermodal On-Dock Rail Yards by the Pacific day period (mid-April to mid-May, 2007). These Harbor Switching Railroad and moved to an trains originated from the MAERSK On-Dock rail interchange point where the main line railway trains terminal at the Port of LB, were destined to eastern will “hook and haul”. (5) The On-Dock railcars are points of Colton Crossing, and finally were heading sorted by destinations (e.g. Chicago or Houston) and for Chicago. These raw data were not open to public Class 1 rail carriers of either Union Pacific Railroad due to confidentiality agreements. Corporation (UPRR) or Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Corporation. (6) A formed Unit Train is INTRODUCTION scheduled for pickup by a carrier locomotive, then dispatched, and finally on its way to the ultimate The Los Angeles (LA) region is home to a population destinations (Texas, Midwest, or East Coast). of seventeen million. The LB port is the world’s Volume XI, No. 1, 2010 100 Issues in Information Systems Knowledge-Based Supply Chain Network A breakdown of commercial freight and passenger LIITERTATURE AND train deployments per peak day on the rail main lines APPLICATION REVIEW in the LA basin for the Years of 2000, 2010, and 2025 was documented in a 2002 study sponsored by Simulation Model Applications Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) [12]. The SCAG’s study requested an A simulation model was a mathematical logical expansion of main-track territory (from two tracks to representation of a system which could be exercised three tracks) to encompass the entire railroad in the in an experimental fashion on a digital computer [22]. Alameda Corridor and LA’s most populated basin Without a simulation analysis, the proposed system which appeared to be extremely unfeasible (because could be costly, unknown, and unsafe [25, 28, 29]. there was no land for expansion). On-Dock Model. The Mehlberg’s Marine Terminal If the present trends continue between now and 2025, Server Model [20, 21] encompassed three wait the port throughputs will exceed 36 million TEU queues of vessel berths, On-Dock intermodal rail, and (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units). This volume gate operations. The On-Dock rail was the most translates into 91,000 local train and truck trips daily time-sensitive model of freight flows which of To/From LB marine terminals and that almost incorporated the intermodal shifts from vessels to triples the port complex volume of 34,000 at present. double-stack railcars by the berth. This application Therefore, the negative impacts and costs associated obliged sufficient space as a rail buffer to consolidate with absorbing trade-related growth from railcar a Unit Train in the port area. With the advent of shortages, labor lockouts, and truck blockages (trucks Mehlberg’s model, the On-Dock loading operation lined up outside marine terminals and Freeways I- became significantly more efficient than ever. His 710, I-10) are absolutely expectable. model has been implemented in numerous high- profile harbors [20, 21]. Purpose of the Study Rail Dispatching Model. The Leachman’s rail To alleviate negative impacts of freight movements dispatching model had been progressively developed on the urban transportation while sustaining the to plan track capacity and analyze rail operations in region’s economic vitality, the KSCN is envisioned the Los Angeles trade corridor region and the Bay to integrate long-term objectives that support the Area light rail region [9, 10, 11, 12]. The model was following components [2, 5]: utilized extensively during the period 1983 – 1999 in connection with the planning, analysis and (1) An efficient marine terminal in LB (maximizing justification of the Alameda Consolidated Rail the use of On-Dock rail cargo loading), Corridor [26]. (2) An inland multi-modal freight hub in Victorville (functioning as a new container control center), The SCAG had as well sponsored numerous studies (3) A maglev or high-speed shuttle train (dedicating of rail operations between Los Angeles and the Ports short haul rail to connect the marine Terminal of Long Beach using various scenarios under and the inland hub), and numerous routing alternatives [13]. (4) An information network system (including EDI, RFID, and a Knowledge-Based Data Center). Lately, the California State University, Long Beach, sponsored a study of main line rail traffic in the entire The first purpose of this study is to configure an Los Angeles Basin (east to Las Vegas) using a initial phase of KSCN by designing a freight train similar simulation model [4, 17]. The changes and simulation model and an intelligent database which additions to rail track and train routings in the LA can precisely serve as a base for the current and Basin which were crucial to accommodate 2010 and future logistics experiments. This model is able to 2025 traffic forecasts were identified by the Chen’s emulate the regional supply chains, identify capacity simulator [4]. Thus the CSULB’s study on train gaps in the end-to-end freight deployment and operations was simulated in a similar way as this dispatching process, and exploit the emerging inland study, and those train operations [4] were extracted hub of the new container yard. The second purpose into this current KSCN simulation model. of this study is to present a regional simulation model which is able to be appropriately converted and Real Time Accessibility Using EDI and RFID applied to other container port systems, for instance, Northeast Boston Port System. Mallon’s Agile Port System (APS) used data flows as a surrogate to represent physical movements and key Volume XI, No. 1, 2010 101 Issues in Information Systems Knowledge-Based Supply Chain Network control elements in the supply chain processes [15]. trains between these points as well as METROLINK- He inquired to define information technology owned lines. Figure 1 provides an overview map of architecture by capturing a few key attributes, an this rail dispatching simulation routes in the XML database, a web 2.0 portal, and a Data Center. simulation model. His research team used such data from the military Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) messages and <insert Figure 1 here> other message formats, such as rail Car Location Messages (CLM), as a medium in combination with Dispatching Algorithm, Entities, Arrivals, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and bar Departures, Activities, and Queues code readers to identify containers movements through the APS [6, 7, 16]. The design logic of simulation model was briefly summarized as follows [13]: Both the simulation model and the web database are essential to numerous subsequent studies and . An event calendar was maintained within the applications.

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