This paper is concerned with the container pre-marshalling problem which involves relocating containers in the storage area so that they can be efficiently loaded onto ships without reshuffles. In reality however ship arrival times are affected by various external factors which can cause the order of container retrieval to be different from the initial plan. To represent such uncertainty we generate multiple scenarios from a multivariate probability distribution of ship arrival times. We derive a mixed-integer linear optimization model to find an optimal container layout such that the conditional value-at-risk is minimized for the number of misplaced containers responsible for reshuffles. Moreover, we devise an exact algorithm based on the cutting-plane method to handle large-scale problems. Numerical experiments using synthetic datasets demonstrate that our method can produce high-quality container layouts compared with the conventional robust optimization model. Additionally our algorithm can speed up computations for solving large-scale problems.

This study addresses the problem of the make-or-buy decision for products manufactured in multistage serial production processes. With a focus on the capital investment required to transition from external to internal manufacturing, the present paper proposes a method for determining the economic make-or-buy partition using the payback period. In this proposed approach, the economic make-or-buy partition is determined based on the estimated production period and production volume of the products. In addition, for multi-product scenarios where make-or-buy partitions are considered for each product, the present paper elucidates a process for determining the economic make-or-buy partition while adhering to capital investment budget constraints.

With the propagation of the sharing economy and the growth of environmental concerns, this study explores pricing strategies in Business-to-Consumer (B2C) sharing services under three different sharing models. The research is driven by the intent to examine pricing approaches in B2C sharing services and the subsequent influence of these strategies on the sustainable development policies of the platform. The important discovery of this work is that, when sharing platforms engage in cooperative competition with manufacturers, the sustainable development strategies of the platform can significantly enhance the performance of its supply chain (SC), which accelerates profit growth. This interplay provides a practical route for sharing services to settle economic and environmental imperatives, and can potentially develop a more resilient and sustainable sharing economy.