TITLE:
Integrating Strategic and Tactical Rolling Stock Models with Cyclical Demand
AUTHORS:
Michael F. Gorman
KEYWORDS:
Rolling Stock; Network Management; Strategic; Tactical
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Transportation Technologies,
Vol.3 No.2,
April
29,
2013
ABSTRACT: In the transportation industry, companies position rolling stock where it is likely to be needed in the face of a pronounced weekly cyclical demand pattern in orders. Strategic policies based on assumptions of repetition of cyclical weekly patterns set rolling stock targets; during tactical execution, a myriad dynamic influences cause deviations from strategically set targets. We find that optimal strategic plans do not agree with results of tactical modeling; strategic results are in fact suboptimal in many tactical situations. We discuss managerial implications of this finding and how the two modeling paradigms can be reconciled.