Abstract
The Canadian Forces (CF) is seeking to establish permanent and temporary operational support hubs at strategic locations around the globe to improve its logistics support effectiveness and responsiveness for deployed operations. This paper addresses two logistics problems associated with the hub-based support concept, namely, hub location optimization and aircraft routing problems. A discrete facility location model was developed to analyse the hub-based support effectiveness and to determine the optimal hub locations. An aircraft routing model was also developed to determine optimal aircraft routes for the movement of cargo and supplies from various support hubs to a theatre of operation. Both models were formulated using mixed integer nonlinear programming. Historical CF deployment and sustainment data were used to conduct the analysis and to illustrate the methodology. The study indicates that the hub-based support approach would offer potential cost avoidance on sustainment lift and could be an effective strategy for improvement of the CF's support capability. It also indicates that potential lift costs could be avoided through optimal routing of sustainment flights.
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Appendix
Appendix
This Appendix details the formulation of the average relative cost avoidance (\(\overline{RCA}\)) metric. The total logistics distribution cost is the sum of the hub operating cost and the transportation cost. The monthly operating cost (R n ) of n hubs can be represented by a linear function as follows:
The transport cost (T nj ) for the airlift from n hubs and Canada to a destination in state j (ie, round trip) is formulated as follows:
The airlift ratio (ρ) is defined as:
where r is the aircraft chartering rate ($/h), C is the aircraft maximum pallet load, and v is the aircraft cruising speed (km/h). The transport cost from Canada to destination in state j (T0j) is given by:
It is important to note that the transport cost only involves the flown hours as the other costs (eg, aircraft maintenance cost, refuelling, crew) are usually included in the aircraft chartering rate. In addition, the chartering rate applies for both the empty and the fully loaded flights (return flights and aircraft positioning flights could be empty but should be charged for).
Using these notations, the \(\overline{RCA}\) is the relative difference between the current transport approach cost and the hub-based transport cost, weighted by the probability of failed and failing states.
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Ghanmi, A. Canadian forces global reach support hubs: facility location and aircraft routing models. J Oper Res Soc 62, 638–650 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2010.22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2010.22