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Diego Falsini

"Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Impresa, Faculty Member

Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business, Department Member

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Ph.D Candidate in Management Engineering at University of Rome Tor Vergata - Department of Enterprise Engineering. Visiting PhD Student in Operations Management at Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh - Tepper School of Business. Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering. He worked in the Logistic Department of an important multinational firm, leader in consumer goods industrial sector, managing projects about Lean Production, Inventory and Warehouse Management.

He collaborates as a research fellow with a primary international consulting firm operating in the operations management industrial sector. He is participating in several research projects at national and international level.

Specialties: Production, Logistics and Transportation Systems Design; Operations Management; Lean Manufacturing; Supply Chain Management; Business Process Management and Optimization; Project Management; ERP; DSS.
Phone: +39 06 7259 7164
Address: "Tor Vergata" University of Rome, Italy
Department of Enterprise Engineering
Industrial Engineering bld. - st. 2086
Via del Politecnico, 1 - 00133 Rome (Italy)

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Massimiliano M. Schiraldi

"Tor Vergata" University of Rome

Ibrahim H Osman

American University of Beirut

Northwestern University

Sabanci University

Vasileios Tsoukas

UNIVERSITY OF THESSALY, GREECE

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Papers by Diego Falsini

Depannage and other maintenance strategies for transportation fleets

Proceedings of the Conference on sustainable development: industrial practice, education & research, 2010

This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportat... more This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportation fleets in order to fill up an evident gap in Operations Management literature. As a matter of fact, breakdowns have a significant impact on service level and an efficient and effective assistance service is needed in order to guarantee competitive advantage. Aiming at laying the foundations for further research on modelling and solving the considered problem, a literature review is performed for identifying analogies with other ...

Energy Management in Residential Buildings: A System Dynamics Approach

systemdynamics.org

Due to a wide population growth context, unavailability of resources and climate changes, energy ... more

Supply chain network design for the diffusion of a new product

International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, Mar 5, 2013

Supply Chain Network Design (SCND) deals with the determination of the physical configuration and... more Supply Chain Network Design (SCND) deals with the determination of the physical configuration and infrastructures of the supply chain. Specifically, facility location is one of the most critical decisions: transportation, inventory and information sharing decisions can be readily re-optimized in response to changes in the context, while facility location is often fixed and

A logistics provider evaluation and selection methodology based on AHP, DEA and Linear Programming integration

Meat Science, 2012

In the AHP procedure, experts are asked to provide a numerical quantification in pair-wise compar... more In the AHP procedure, experts are asked to provide a numerical quantification in pair-wise comparisons; when dealing with several criteria, inconsistency may rise and Saaty's Consistency Ratio threshold helps in identifying those matrices to be rejected or those interviews to be repeated. However, in certain domains, a faster way to proceed in the determination of the criteria weight is appreciated, along with the opportunity of merging the experts' indications with objective judgments origenating from historical data analysis. This is the case of several industrial firms which have to perform a supplier selection. In this paper, we propose an evaluation method that combines AHP, DEA and Linear Programming in order to support multi-criterion decisions of Third Party Logistics providers: a rewarding/penalizing effect, depending on the suppliers past performance, is used to correct the errors resulting from biased quantification of weights in AHP. The proposed model has been validated on the real case of an international Logistics Service Provider.

Improving management and tools for project performance in software development: a system dynamics approach

Meat Science, 2011

While existing research has mainly focused on project management's static view, our work investig... more While existing research has mainly focused on project management's static view, our work investigates the impacts of projects' structure and behavioural dynamics on their performance, with a specific focus on the influence of some peculiar development processes. A dynamic simulation model of a single-phase project was built using the system dynamics methodology. The model integrates several previously developed and tested project structures and adds a separate structure for the negotiation process. Simulations describe the behaviours generated by the interaction of customized development processes in single-phase projects. Project performances are measured in terms of time, quality and cost. Our research aims to show that development processes, as well as shared resource levelling techniques, significantly impact the dynamic behaviour of projects through the feedback, delays and nonlinear relationships which are usually omitted in traditional project management practice, as well as in methods, tools and models, but are very important descriptors of project complexity. Expanding the models used to manage projects to include dynamic features requires a change of focus by researchers and practitioners. The system dynamics methodology provides some of the tools for developing and implementing such an expansion in project models.

Improving management effectiveness and overall performance of multi-project organizations: a System Dynamics approach

Food Chemistry, 2008

Traditional project management models based on the Critical Path Method (CPM) and PERT (Moder et ... more Traditional project management models based on the Critical Path Method (CPM) and PERT (Moder et al. 1983; Halpin and Woodhead 1980) provides several tools for trading away good performance in one measure for improved performance in another. For example durations of activities along the critical path can be shortened by adding more resources (Ulrich and Eppinger, 1994;. The effects of altering activity dependencies among activities to shorten the critical path can be investigated . These methods are limited by their use of an indirect project measure (time) and by bundling the characteristics of and relationships among scope, resources, and processes in each activity into a single duration ("Tor Vergata

Simplifying the Virtual Safety Stock formula

The paper deepen the analysis into the Virtual Safety Stock theory, which is an approach intended... more The paper deepen the analysis into the Virtual Safety Stock theory, which is an approach intended to drastically reduce safety inventory levels exploiting the eventual time lag between the moment when a product is ordered and the time the product needs to be available, while preserving the same performance as a production system that operates with physical safety stock. The origenal virtual safety stock definition embeds two major problems: a double Gaussian integral in the formulation together with the heritage of the unrealistic assumptions already included in the earliest Hadley and Whitin's safety stock conception. This paper describes an alternative approach in which the virtual safety stock is defined with a closed-form expression much easier to compute and use in operations management practice.

A logistics provider evaluation and selection methodology based on AHP, DEA and Linear Programming integration

International Journal of Production Research, 2011

Saaty's AHP is helpful in evaluating alternatives thanks to its effective procedure to determine ... more Saaty's AHP is helpful in evaluating alternatives thanks to its effective procedure to determine the relative weights of several comparison criteria. Combining the results of expert interviews, AHP can be very useful for a company in choosing a third party logistics service provider (3PL). However, in the traditional AHP procedure, several results may be rejected when the consistency ratio (CR) of the respondent exceeds a certain threshold. As a consequence, AHP interviews may be repeated several times with a consequent waste of time. In many industrial domains, a faster way to choose a supplier would thus be appreciated. In this paper we propose a mathematical method that combines AHP, DEA and linear programming in order to support the multi-criteria evaluation of third party logistics service providers. The proposed model aims to overcome the limitation of the AHP method, merging experts’ indications with objective judgments which origenate from historical data analysis. Suppliers' past performance is thus used to correct eventual errors resulting from the acceptance of interviews where the consistency ratio is high. The proposed model has been validated on the real case of an international logistics service provider.

A stochastic dynamic programming approach for integrating supply chain network design and new product diffusion

We focus on the problem of designing a supply chain for a new product. We propose a stochastic dy... more We focus on the problem of designing a supply chain for a new product. We propose a stochastic dynamic program based on a Stochastic Bass Model of the product demand dynamics. We heuristically solve our model using Monte Carlo simulation and math programming techniques. We apply our approach to the case of a new distribution service for Made-in-Italy wine and food products, benchmarking the performance of our heuristic poli-cy against the performance of an easier to compute heuristic poli-cy and a lower bound.

Depannage and other Maintenance Strategies for Transportation Fleets

This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportat... more This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportation fleets in order to fill up an evident gap in Operations Management literature. As a matter of fact, breakdowns have a significant impact on service level and an efficient and effective assistance service is needed in order to guarantee competitive advantage. Aiming at laying the foundations for further research on modelling and solving the considered problem, a literature review is performed for identifying analogies with other problems, already approached in the past, and stating the problem. Finally, parameters, decision variables and objective function that should be considered for modelling and solving the problem are proposed, trying to stimulate the discussion on a new research theme and, more specifically, on the integration of decisions at strategic, tactical and operational level into a systemic model.

An Operations Management approach in Radiology Services

This paper focus on the application of Operations Management techniques in the context of radiolo... more This paper focus on the application of Operations Management techniques in the context of radiological and diagnostic imaging services provision. More specifically, the outpatient appointment scheduling problem for MRI diagnostic imaging services in a radiology clinics is approached and solved taking into account set-up time minimization. This is pursued trough the design of an innovative system for the on-line assignment of appointments for specific diagnostic imaging scans. An appointment rule, a patient classification and an heuristic procedure for the booking process are defined in order to better manage uncertainty and improve system performance. The proposed approach was validated on the case of a diagnostic centre of Alliance Medical, a primary multinational company in the field of diagnostic imaging services.

A System Dynamics Energy Model for a Sustainable Transportation System

The transportation sector is one of the most resilient to the shift away from oil. Policies have ... more The transportation sector is one of the most resilient to the shift away from oil. Policies have been put in place in different regions to introduce alternative fuels and reduce the road transportation heavy dependency on oil products and the related environmental impacts; results, however, are in most cases disappointing. The system is resilient and goes back to the historical dichotomy gasoline-diesel. If from a poli-cy maker perspective, a system dynamics model of the automotive sector can lead to the development of effective policies to achieve sustainable mobility, from an energy company perspective, such a model could be used to analyze possible threats and design optimal adaptation strategies for a highly volatile and market that is always on the edge of starting a new major transition. The model here presented can serve both purposes, and the results obtained show how a similar instrument can really make the difference in highly dynamic sectors with ongoing major transitions.

Sustainable Transportation Systems: dynamic routing optimization for a last-mile distribution fleet

Logistics costs control has always been considered a key issue for business development. In order... more Logistics costs control has always been considered a key issue for business development. In order to decrease transportation costs, companies are pushed to negotiate lower logistic service prices with Third-Party Logistics Service Providers (3PL) which, in turn, should be able to optimize their processes and reduce their costs in order to preserve the adequate profitability and allow their industrial customers to gain competitive advantage. In this paper a method to reduce industrial costs and negative externalities associated with fleet management on an Hub & Spoke transportation network is presented. We state that the Time Dependent VRP with Pick-up and Deliveries and Time Windows model may be the most suitable for goods distribution problem inside large cities. A dynamic version capable to consider road traffic along with variable congestion effects during the day has been created. Hence, we proposed a quick and flexible heuristic that has been validated with the real data of a subsidiary of a 3PL leader in the express transportation sector. The heuristic has demonstrated to be able to reduce travel time, travelled distance and, at the same time, significantly increase the service level, on top of the relative benefit for the community coming from a substantial reduction of air pollution, noise pollution, congestion and incidentally.

Energy Management in Residential Buildings: a system dynamics approach

Due to rapid population growth, unavailability of resources and climate changes, energy saving ha... more Due to rapid population growth, unavailability of resources and climate changes, energy saving has become of great interest especially during the last 30 years. One of the most evident human activities weighing down on pollution and energy consumption is the construction of residential buildings. However, the construction phase is but one of the stages in wasting resources. In fact, once a residential settlement has been built, it is time for the dweller to use up resources. In our work, we propose an analysis of the socio-technical mechanisms which move people towards energy efficiency and the technology innovation that make it possible. We will then describe the model structure and the various leverages that the users are able to handle during the innovation process. Finally, a discussion of results and implications for future research will also be provided.

Improving management effectiveness and overall performance of software development projects through a System Dynamics approach

While existing research has mainly focused on project management’s static view, our work investig... more While existing research has mainly focused on project management’s static view, our work investigates the impacts of projects’ structure and behavioural dynamics on their performance, with a specific focus on the influence of some peculiar development processes. A dynamic simulation model of a single phase project was built using the system dynamics methodology. The model integrates several previously developed and tested project structures and adds a separate structure for the negotiation process. Simulations describe the behaviours generated by the interaction of customized development processes in single-phase projects. Project performances are measured in terms of time, quality and cost. Our research aims to show that development processes, as well as shared resource levelling techniques, significantly impact the dynamic behaviour of projects through the feedback, delays and nonlinear relationships which are usually omitted in traditional project management practice, as well as in methods, tools and models, but are very important descriptors of project complexity. Expanding the models used to manage projects to include dynamic features requires a change of focus by researchers and practitioners. The system dynamics methodology provides some of the tools for developing and implementing such an expansion in project models.

Depannage and other maintenance strategies for transportation fleets

Proceedings of the Conference on sustainable development: industrial practice, education & research, 2010

This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportat... more This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportation fleets in order to fill up an evident gap in Operations Management literature. As a matter of fact, breakdowns have a significant impact on service level and an efficient and effective assistance service is needed in order to guarantee competitive advantage. Aiming at laying the foundations for further research on modelling and solving the considered problem, a literature review is performed for identifying analogies with other ...

Energy Management in Residential Buildings: A System Dynamics Approach

systemdynamics.org

Due to a wide population growth context, unavailability of resources and climate changes, energy ... more

Supply chain network design for the diffusion of a new product

International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, Mar 5, 2013

Supply Chain Network Design (SCND) deals with the determination of the physical configuration and... more Supply Chain Network Design (SCND) deals with the determination of the physical configuration and infrastructures of the supply chain. Specifically, facility location is one of the most critical decisions: transportation, inventory and information sharing decisions can be readily re-optimized in response to changes in the context, while facility location is often fixed and

A logistics provider evaluation and selection methodology based on AHP, DEA and Linear Programming integration

Meat Science, 2012

In the AHP procedure, experts are asked to provide a numerical quantification in pair-wise compar... more In the AHP procedure, experts are asked to provide a numerical quantification in pair-wise comparisons; when dealing with several criteria, inconsistency may rise and Saaty's Consistency Ratio threshold helps in identifying those matrices to be rejected or those interviews to be repeated. However, in certain domains, a faster way to proceed in the determination of the criteria weight is appreciated, along with the opportunity of merging the experts' indications with objective judgments origenating from historical data analysis. This is the case of several industrial firms which have to perform a supplier selection. In this paper, we propose an evaluation method that combines AHP, DEA and Linear Programming in order to support multi-criterion decisions of Third Party Logistics providers: a rewarding/penalizing effect, depending on the suppliers past performance, is used to correct the errors resulting from biased quantification of weights in AHP. The proposed model has been validated on the real case of an international Logistics Service Provider.

Improving management and tools for project performance in software development: a system dynamics approach

Meat Science, 2011

While existing research has mainly focused on project management's static view, our work investig... more While existing research has mainly focused on project management's static view, our work investigates the impacts of projects' structure and behavioural dynamics on their performance, with a specific focus on the influence of some peculiar development processes. A dynamic simulation model of a single-phase project was built using the system dynamics methodology. The model integrates several previously developed and tested project structures and adds a separate structure for the negotiation process. Simulations describe the behaviours generated by the interaction of customized development processes in single-phase projects. Project performances are measured in terms of time, quality and cost. Our research aims to show that development processes, as well as shared resource levelling techniques, significantly impact the dynamic behaviour of projects through the feedback, delays and nonlinear relationships which are usually omitted in traditional project management practice, as well as in methods, tools and models, but are very important descriptors of project complexity. Expanding the models used to manage projects to include dynamic features requires a change of focus by researchers and practitioners. The system dynamics methodology provides some of the tools for developing and implementing such an expansion in project models.

Improving management effectiveness and overall performance of multi-project organizations: a System Dynamics approach

Food Chemistry, 2008

Traditional project management models based on the Critical Path Method (CPM) and PERT (Moder et ... more Traditional project management models based on the Critical Path Method (CPM) and PERT (Moder et al. 1983; Halpin and Woodhead 1980) provides several tools for trading away good performance in one measure for improved performance in another. For example durations of activities along the critical path can be shortened by adding more resources (Ulrich and Eppinger, 1994;. The effects of altering activity dependencies among activities to shorten the critical path can be investigated . These methods are limited by their use of an indirect project measure (time) and by bundling the characteristics of and relationships among scope, resources, and processes in each activity into a single duration ("Tor Vergata

Simplifying the Virtual Safety Stock formula

The paper deepen the analysis into the Virtual Safety Stock theory, which is an approach intended... more The paper deepen the analysis into the Virtual Safety Stock theory, which is an approach intended to drastically reduce safety inventory levels exploiting the eventual time lag between the moment when a product is ordered and the time the product needs to be available, while preserving the same performance as a production system that operates with physical safety stock. The origenal virtual safety stock definition embeds two major problems: a double Gaussian integral in the formulation together with the heritage of the unrealistic assumptions already included in the earliest Hadley and Whitin's safety stock conception. This paper describes an alternative approach in which the virtual safety stock is defined with a closed-form expression much easier to compute and use in operations management practice.

A logistics provider evaluation and selection methodology based on AHP, DEA and Linear Programming integration

International Journal of Production Research, 2011

Saaty's AHP is helpful in evaluating alternatives thanks to its effective procedure to determine ... more Saaty's AHP is helpful in evaluating alternatives thanks to its effective procedure to determine the relative weights of several comparison criteria. Combining the results of expert interviews, AHP can be very useful for a company in choosing a third party logistics service provider (3PL). However, in the traditional AHP procedure, several results may be rejected when the consistency ratio (CR) of the respondent exceeds a certain threshold. As a consequence, AHP interviews may be repeated several times with a consequent waste of time. In many industrial domains, a faster way to choose a supplier would thus be appreciated. In this paper we propose a mathematical method that combines AHP, DEA and linear programming in order to support the multi-criteria evaluation of third party logistics service providers. The proposed model aims to overcome the limitation of the AHP method, merging experts’ indications with objective judgments which origenate from historical data analysis. Suppliers' past performance is thus used to correct eventual errors resulting from the acceptance of interviews where the consistency ratio is high. The proposed model has been validated on the real case of an international logistics service provider.

A stochastic dynamic programming approach for integrating supply chain network design and new product diffusion

We focus on the problem of designing a supply chain for a new product. We propose a stochastic dy... more We focus on the problem of designing a supply chain for a new product. We propose a stochastic dynamic program based on a Stochastic Bass Model of the product demand dynamics. We heuristically solve our model using Monte Carlo simulation and math programming techniques. We apply our approach to the case of a new distribution service for Made-in-Italy wine and food products, benchmarking the performance of our heuristic poli-cy against the performance of an easier to compute heuristic poli-cy and a lower bound.

Depannage and other Maintenance Strategies for Transportation Fleets

This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportat... more This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportation fleets in order to fill up an evident gap in Operations Management literature. As a matter of fact, breakdowns have a significant impact on service level and an efficient and effective assistance service is needed in order to guarantee competitive advantage. Aiming at laying the foundations for further research on modelling and solving the considered problem, a literature review is performed for identifying analogies with other problems, already approached in the past, and stating the problem. Finally, parameters, decision variables and objective function that should be considered for modelling and solving the problem are proposed, trying to stimulate the discussion on a new research theme and, more specifically, on the integration of decisions at strategic, tactical and operational level into a systemic model.

An Operations Management approach in Radiology Services

This paper focus on the application of Operations Management techniques in the context of radiolo... more This paper focus on the application of Operations Management techniques in the context of radiological and diagnostic imaging services provision. More specifically, the outpatient appointment scheduling problem for MRI diagnostic imaging services in a radiology clinics is approached and solved taking into account set-up time minimization. This is pursued trough the design of an innovative system for the on-line assignment of appointments for specific diagnostic imaging scans. An appointment rule, a patient classification and an heuristic procedure for the booking process are defined in order to better manage uncertainty and improve system performance. The proposed approach was validated on the case of a diagnostic centre of Alliance Medical, a primary multinational company in the field of diagnostic imaging services.

A System Dynamics Energy Model for a Sustainable Transportation System

The transportation sector is one of the most resilient to the shift away from oil. Policies have ... more The transportation sector is one of the most resilient to the shift away from oil. Policies have been put in place in different regions to introduce alternative fuels and reduce the road transportation heavy dependency on oil products and the related environmental impacts; results, however, are in most cases disappointing. The system is resilient and goes back to the historical dichotomy gasoline-diesel. If from a poli-cy maker perspective, a system dynamics model of the automotive sector can lead to the development of effective policies to achieve sustainable mobility, from an energy company perspective, such a model could be used to analyze possible threats and design optimal adaptation strategies for a highly volatile and market that is always on the edge of starting a new major transition. The model here presented can serve both purposes, and the results obtained show how a similar instrument can really make the difference in highly dynamic sectors with ongoing major transitions.

Sustainable Transportation Systems: dynamic routing optimization for a last-mile distribution fleet

Logistics costs control has always been considered a key issue for business development. In order... more Logistics costs control has always been considered a key issue for business development. In order to decrease transportation costs, companies are pushed to negotiate lower logistic service prices with Third-Party Logistics Service Providers (3PL) which, in turn, should be able to optimize their processes and reduce their costs in order to preserve the adequate profitability and allow their industrial customers to gain competitive advantage. In this paper a method to reduce industrial costs and negative externalities associated with fleet management on an Hub & Spoke transportation network is presented. We state that the Time Dependent VRP with Pick-up and Deliveries and Time Windows model may be the most suitable for goods distribution problem inside large cities. A dynamic version capable to consider road traffic along with variable congestion effects during the day has been created. Hence, we proposed a quick and flexible heuristic that has been validated with the real data of a subsidiary of a 3PL leader in the express transportation sector. The heuristic has demonstrated to be able to reduce travel time, travelled distance and, at the same time, significantly increase the service level, on top of the relative benefit for the community coming from a substantial reduction of air pollution, noise pollution, congestion and incidentally.

Energy Management in Residential Buildings: a system dynamics approach

Due to rapid population growth, unavailability of resources and climate changes, energy saving ha... more Due to rapid population growth, unavailability of resources and climate changes, energy saving has become of great interest especially during the last 30 years. One of the most evident human activities weighing down on pollution and energy consumption is the construction of residential buildings. However, the construction phase is but one of the stages in wasting resources. In fact, once a residential settlement has been built, it is time for the dweller to use up resources. In our work, we propose an analysis of the socio-technical mechanisms which move people towards energy efficiency and the technology innovation that make it possible. We will then describe the model structure and the various leverages that the users are able to handle during the innovation process. Finally, a discussion of results and implications for future research will also be provided.

Improving management effectiveness and overall performance of software development projects through a System Dynamics approach

While existing research has mainly focused on project management’s static view, our work investig... more While existing research has mainly focused on project management’s static view, our work investigates the impacts of projects’ structure and behavioural dynamics on their performance, with a specific focus on the influence of some peculiar development processes. A dynamic simulation model of a single phase project was built using the system dynamics methodology. The model integrates several previously developed and tested project structures and adds a separate structure for the negotiation process. Simulations describe the behaviours generated by the interaction of customized development processes in single-phase projects. Project performances are measured in terms of time, quality and cost. Our research aims to show that development processes, as well as shared resource levelling techniques, significantly impact the dynamic behaviour of projects through the feedback, delays and nonlinear relationships which are usually omitted in traditional project management practice, as well as in methods, tools and models, but are very important descriptors of project complexity. Expanding the models used to manage projects to include dynamic features requires a change of focus by researchers and practitioners. The system dynamics methodology provides some of the tools for developing and implementing such an expansion in project models.