Operations Management of Distributed Service Networks A Practical Qu
Distributed service networks encompass various facilities with which we have daily contact. In the public sector they include, for instance, ambulance, fire, and police services; in the business sector they include maintenance and repair services, road se
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APPLICATIONS OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS Series Editor:
Eric Clemons University of Pennsylvania
Founding Editor: Howard L. Morgan University of Pennsylvania
COMPUTERS AND BANKING: Electronic Funds Transfer Systems and Public Policy Edited by Kent W. Colton and Kenneth L. Kraemer
DATA BASE ADMINISTRATION Jay-Louise Weldon
DATA COMMUNICATIONS: An Introduction to Concepts and Design Robert Techo
DECISION ANALYSIS Geoffrey Gregory
OFFICE AUTOMATION: A User-Driven Method Don Tapscott
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT OF DISTRIBUTED SERVICE NETWORKS: A Practical Quantitative Approach Niv Ahituv and Oded Berman
Operations Management of Distributed Service Networks A Practical Quantitative Approach
Niv Ahituv
Tel A viv University Tel A viv, Israel
and
Oded Berman University of Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts
Plenum Press • New York and London
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ahituv, Niv. Operations management of distributed service networks. (Applications of modern technology in business) Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Resource allocation. 2. Municipal services-Management. 3. Service industriesManagement. I. Berman, Oded. II. Title. III. Series. T57.77.A35 1988 658.4'034 88-12618 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-0991-8 ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-8281-5 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4613-0991-8
© 1988 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
To our wives, Nurit and NiH and to our children, Nadav, Guy, Noa, Ron, and Netta
Preface
Distributed service networks encompass various facilities with which we have daily contact. In the public sector they include, for instance, ambulance, fire, and police services; in the business sector they include maintenance and repair services, road services, courier services, and the like. Policy making problems in distributed service networks can be clearly classified into a number of hierarchical levels. The levels are distinguished by the time horizon of the problem, by the amount of cost involved in the implementation of a solution, and by the political implications of the solution. This top-down classification is typical of what is known as the "systems approach," advocating that the direction of the analysis of complex systems should be from the whole to the details. The top-down classification consists of the following categories of policies: 1. Zoning: How should a network be partitioned into subzones? 2. Station location: Where should service stations or service units be located? 3. Resource allocation: What amount of resources should be allocated to the stations? vii
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Preface
4. Dispatching, routing, and repositioning: What is the optimal dispatching policy, what are the optimal routes for non
