PhD Defence Mathijs van Zon
In his dissertation ‘Cost Allocation in Collaborative Transportation’ Mathijs van Zon considered a centralised horizontal collaboration between logistic service providers that is governed by a third party. He focused on how to determine a stable allocation of the overall cost or profit among the logistic service providers. Second, Mathijs focused on a centralised horizontal collaboration that is not governed by a third party. He studied this setting both analytically and numerically for collaborations in transportation, and provided insights into the value of the quality of an algorithm in collaborations. Mathijs defended his dissertation on Friday, 12 November at 10:30h. His supervisors were Prof. Albert Wagelmans (ESE), Dr Remy Spliet (ESE) and Dr Wilco van den Heuvel (ESE). The members of the Doctoral Committee were Prof. Dennis Huisman (ESE), Prof. Claudia Archetti (Essec Business School), Prof. Peter Borm (Tilburg University), Prof. Margaretha Gansterer (University of Klagenfurt), and Prof. Rob Zuidwijk (RSM).
About Mathijs van Zon
Mathijs van Zon was born on March 23, 1995 in Delft, the Netherlands. In 2016, Mathijs received his Bachelor's degrees in Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics cum laude from the Technical University Delft. In 2017, Mathijs received his Master's degree in Econometrics and Management Science, with a specialization in Operations Research and Quantitative Logistics, cum laude from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. During his studies, he worked as a student assistant at the Technical University Delft and as an author for educational publisher Malmberg.
In 2017, Mathijs started his PhD candidacy at the Erasmus Research Institute of Management at the Erasmus University Rotterdam under supervision of Prof.dr. Albert Wagelmans, Dr. Remy Spliet and Dr. Wilco van den Heuvel. During his time as a PhD candidate, Mathijs developed new concepts and methodologies for cost allocation in collaborative transportation. He presented his work at seminars and conferences in Austria, Canada, Italy and the Netherlands. Moreover, his research has been published in Transportation Science and Computers & Operations Research. In 2019, Mathijs went on a research visit to the world-renowned research centre GERAD in Montreal to collaborate with Prof.dr. Guy Desaulniers. Mathijs is currently employed as an algorithm expert at PostNL, where he strives to bring his expertise in solving optimisation problems into practice.
Thesis Abstract
Significant cost reductions, both monetary and environmentally, can be realised by collaborative efforts in logistics. Specifically, we study centralised horizontal collaborations between logistic service providers in the field of transportation. In this particular setting, cost reductions are achieved by pooling requests, combining delivery routes and collectively serving new customers.
First, we consider a centralised horizontal collaboration between logistic service providers that is governed by a third party. Here, we assume that the collaborative operations are planned by this third party. We focus on how to determine a stable allocation of the overall cost or profit among the logistic service providers. That is, no subset of logistic service providers is better off by leaving the collaboration. For two different collaborative settings, we propose algorithms to determine allocations which ensure a stable collaboration among the logistic service providers, or to show that no such allocation exists. Moreover, we demonstrate the efficiency of these algorithms.
Second, we focus on a centralised horizontal collaboration that is not governed by a third party. That is, the logistic service providers need to plan their joint operations together. We propose a framework, based on cooperative game theory, in which the algorithms of each logistic service provider can be used to determine a planning for their joint operations. In doing so, any logistic service provider or third party with a good algorithm can add value to the collaboration, even without being a logistic service provider, i.e., a consultant. We study this setting both analytically and numerically for collaborations in transportation, and provide insights into the value of the quality of an algorithm in collaborations
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Photos: Michelle Muus / Michelle Muus Fotografie
