US-South Africa Workshop: Operations Research for Global Logistics Involving Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, August 2002

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

0218033 Kleywegt This award supports 10 US participants in a US-South Africa Workshop on "Operations Research for Global Logistics Involving Africa," scheduled for August 12-15, 2002, in Pretoria, South Africa. The co-organizers are Professor Anton J. Kleywegt, with the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Mr. Hans W. Ittmann, in the Information and Communication Technology Department at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. There will be a total of approximately 30 participants, who will be drawn from academic, industrial, and governmental organizations in the United States, the Republic of South Africa, Mauritius, and South East Asia. The workshop will focus on global logistics and supply chain issues, with an emphasis on operations research models and techniques for global logistics involving Africa. The co-organizers expect the participants to develop a better understanding of the similarities and differences between first-world and third-world logistics problems, as well as the usefulness of different techniques for addressing these problems. Site visits will be made to logistics facilities in the Johannesburg/Pretoria/Midrand region. A major goal of the workshop is to establish linkages between the logistics communities in the United States and the Republic of South Africa for the development of collaborative research and education programs. Most logisticians throughout the rest of the world know little about Africa's unique logistics challenges. For example, South Africa's logistics system can be characterized as heterogeneous, yet it has a fragile infrastructure. Workshop participants will share information about advances in supply chain management and operations research applications in logistics. They will also identify those operations research problems involving Africa that are the most relevant and important to global logistics. Results of the meeting are expected to identify new research problems not presently encountered by US investigators. Additionally, the African researchers and practitioners will be exposed to new skills and tools that they can use to address some of their logistics problems. Workshop results will be disseminated through the web page of The Logistics Institute at George Tech, at http://www.tli.gatech.edu, as well as by CD-R copies. The project supports the participation of five junior investigators from the United States. The Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Design, Manufacturing, and Industrial Innovation jointly support this award.