LAMRECOR project, funded by MiUR with Poste Italiane as prime contractor, aims at demonstrating an innovative integrated system for advanced logistics targeted at minimizing the environmental impact of the fleet of vehicles, optimizing the productive processes, improving the safety of the postal workers, and developing new logistics procedures for mail delivery. For enhancing the safety of the workers, an integrated sensors system has been designed. The system includes an on-board unit to control the appropriate use of personal protective equipment, improving protection of the postmen also through the activation of an emergency call in case of accident, and to monitor functional performances of the vehicles. A prototype of the sensors system has been developed confirming the design results. Some mathematical models for studying the driving behaviour have been also analysed. A Decision Support System for the management of the logistics infrastructure has been developed and tested and data mining algorithms have been studied

The paper addresses the optimal design of the last supply chain branch, i.e., the Distribution Network (DN), starting from manufacturers till the retailers. It considers a distributed system composed of different stages connected by material links labeled with suitable performance indices. A hierarchical procedure employing direct graph (digraph) modeling, mixed integer linear programming, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is presented to select the optimal DN configuration. More in detail, a first-level DN optimization problem taking into account the definition and evaluation of the distribution chain performance provides a set of Pareto optimal solutions defined by digraph modeling. A second level DN optimization using the AHP method selects, on the basis of further criteria, the DN configuration from the Pareto face alternatives. To show the method effectiveness, the optimization model is applied to a case study describing an Italian regional healthcare drug DN. The problem solution by the proposed design method allows improving the DN flexibility and performance.

he efficient management of hospital departments (HDs) has recently become an important issue. Indeed, the in- creased demand and design for hospital services have saturated the capacity of HD that requires suitable tools for the efficient use of resources and flow of patients, staff, and drugs. This pa- per proposes a model based on a three-level strategy to design at the tactical level in a concise and effective way the structure, the resources, and the dynamics of a critically congested HD. The design strategy is composed of three basic elements: the modeling module, the optimization module, and the simulation and decision module. The first module employs a Unified Modeling Language tool and a timed Petri net (PN) model to effectively capture the detailed flow and dynamics of patients, starting from their arrival to the HD until their discharge. The optimization module employs the fluid relaxation to concisely approximate in a continuous PN framework the HD model and optimize suitable performance indices. The simulation module verifies that the opti- mized parameters allow an effective workflow organization while maximizing the patient flow. In case of inconsistencies due to the fluid approximation between the continuous model used in the design phase by the optimization module and the discrete one used in the subsequent verification phase by the simulation module, the latter module revises the values of some HD model parameters. A real case study on the Emergency Cardiology Department of the General Hospital of Bari (Italy) shows the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.

The paper specifies an Integrated System (IS) devoted to the management of Intermodal Transportation Networks (ITNs) to take both tactical decisions, i.e., in an offline mode, and opera- tional decisions, i.e., in real-time. Both the resulting IS structures rely on a closed-loop approach that is able to tune the choices with the current system conditions. In either case, the core of the pre- sented IS are a reference model and a simulation module. In par- ticular, the reference model uses information from the real system, obtained by modern Information and Communication Technolo- gies (ICTs) and the simulation module evaluates the impact of the management decisions. In order to obtain a systematic model suit- able to describe a generic ITN, the paper proposes a metamodeling approach that describes in a thorough and detailed way the struc- ture and the behavior of ITNs. Moreover, the metamodeling pro- cedure is a top-down technique based on the well-known Unified Modeling Language (UML), a graphic and textual formalism able to describe systems from structural and behavioral viewpoints. In order to show the IS application at the tactical decision level, the paper specifies the IS for an ITN case study that is constituted by the port of Trieste (Italy) and the inland terminal of Gorizia (Italy). The results show how the IS can improve the performance of the ITN by applying ICT tools and information-based services.

Erogazione delle seguenti prestazioni: fornire servizi specialistici e soluzioni basate su tecnologie innovative ICT; sviluppare sistemi di supporto alle decisioni (Decision Support System, DSS), studi di fattibilità e progettazione di sistemi di gestione. Lo spin off si occupa di: logistica interna dei sistemi produttivi (sistemi di immagazzinamento, trasporto, pianificazione della produzione); sistemi di distribuzione e filiere di produzione (suplly chain); logistica delle aziende ospedaliere; logistica delle aziende di servizi (trasporto pubblico e privato, trasporto urbano e autostradale, trasporto intermodale, raccolta dei rifiuti solidi urbani, sistemi di distribuzione dell’energia elettrica); problemi di management, coordinamento e sincronizzazione nell’ambito della domotica; logistica portuale ed aeroportuale, trasporto intermodale (gestione ottimale del flusso di merci, mezzi e persone).