Zbigniew Antoni Banaszak

Koszalin University of Technology · Department of Management and Computer Science

Considering the faster speed and the low response time of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), it is suggested as a solution to overcome the system inefficiencies in the current vaccine cold chain of Sri Lanka. Implementing the unmanned aerial system (UAS) at the district level is recommended to maintain the end-to-end effectiveness of the program. Unde...

This paper deals with scheduling in software development organizations. A new version of the software project scheduling problem (SPSP) is considered that takes into account the phenomenon of learning and forgetting. Their impact on maintaining the competencies level of employees is important, especially in case of occurrence of unplanned events, s...

This paper presents a declarative model of maintenance logistics for offshore wind farms. Its implementation in decision-making tools supporting wind turbine maintenance enables online prototyping of alternative scenarios and variants of wind turbine servicing, including weather-related operation vessel movement and routing of unmanned aerial vehic...

The paper proposes a new technique for deadlock control for a class of generalized Petri net (PN) with S 4 PR net, from the concept of control siphon. One important property of PN is to design structure, in terms of siphons, in order to the characterization of the deadlock prevention and analytic structure of the synchronization subsystem which is...

This paper deals with a declarative model of the performance of employees conducting variably repetitive tasks based on the assumption of aging competences. An analytical model is used to consider refreshing the competences of the team’s multi-skilled members and shaping the structure of staff’s competences to maximize their mutual substitutability...

Companies often struggle with the problem of appropriately assigning multi-skilled employees and maintaining the required skill levels while performing a changing project's portfolio. The paper focuses on maintaining employee skills at a constant level without degradation. Maintaining the required team efficiency and competency levels through staff...

The dynamics of the environment in which UAV missions are carried out forces the need to predict situations threatening their planned implementation. A study of the literature on the subject shows a gap related to the work dedicated to modelling and planning the mission of the UAV fleet, taking into account the impact of the environment on its cour...

Highly qualified staff are the key to successful operations management in any organization. In this paper, the emphasis is put on the problem of planning the rotational assignment of work tasks to a multi-skilled staff to guarantee maintaining their competencies at the required level. The aim of this study is to propose a novel declarative model fo...

Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which automates repetitive, rule-based operations, is becoming a crucial component of today’s enterprises as they compete in more dynamic business contexts. This study intends to provide implications on the Benefits Realization Key Success Factors (BRKSFs) appropriate for RPA projects, given that between 30% and 50...

The paper presents a method of automated modelling and performance evaluation of concurrent production flows carried out in Flexible Manufacturing Systems. The method allows for quick assessment of various variants of such systems, considering their structure and the organization of production flow of possible ways of their implementation. Its esse...

This study explores two competing manufacturers’ green investment decisions with different market sizes in selling price- and green-level-differentiated substitutable green products through a retailer. Five game structures are considered in examining the impacts of power structures on the optimal price and green level decisions and the correspondin...

The presented issue concerns a declarative modeling based methodology aimed at assessment of possible mesh-like distribution networks carrying out multimodal processes flow. In order to achieve it, the grid network topology concept is used to model, analyze, and design of supply distribution networks incorporating multimodal processes paradigm. So...

This paper presents a novel approach to the joint proactive and reactive planning of deliveries by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fleet. We develop a receding horizon-based approach to contingency planning for the UAV fleet's mission. We considered the delivery of goods to spatially dispersed customers, over an assumed time horizon. In order to t...

This paper presents a method for the fast prototyping of no-wait cyclic schedules for periodic material handling systems with a Grid-like Material Transportation Network (GMTN). A distribution network is modeled as a grid-like system of cyclic processes performing regular pick-up and delivery operations between workstations in separate grid modules...

This paper considers a Problem of Periodic Routing of Vehicles Platoons (PRVPP), which is a novel extension of the Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem (PVRP). The PRVPP boils down to scheduling of the fleet of vehicles travelling in a convoy while constituting the timetable for the passage of individual vehicles along the planned routes. The imprecise...

The paper deals with a problem of seeking the cyclic schedule with minimal cycle time criterion in a manufacturing system based on the flow of various jobs with identical technological routes, no-wait constraints and some operations missing. We decompose the problem into two sub-problems: finding the minimal cycle time for the given processing orde...

This paper presents a novel approach to the joint proactive and reactive planning of the deliveries by a UAVs’ fleet. We develop a receding horizon based approach to a contingency planning for the UAVs’ fleet mission. We considered the delivery of goods to spatially dispersed customers, over assumed time horizon. In order to take into account forec...

The presented approach employs a declarative modeling-based methodology to assess possible mesh-like distribution networks carrying out multimodal processes flow. In order to accomplish this study, the grid network topology concept is used to model, analyze, and design supply distribution networks incorporating the multimodal processes paradigm. To...

The presented problem being an extension of well know Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) concerns the routes planning of the UAVs fleet carrying out the deliveries to spatially dispersed impatient customers in a highly dynamic environment within a specified timeframe. The problem under consideration integrates the Capacitated VRP, Split Delivery VRP, He...

This paper presents a method for the multiple autonomous vehicles mission flight planning in changing weather conditions. We model UAVs fleet servicing spatially-dispersed customers in terms of declarative modelling framework. The considered problem boils down to a predictive and reactive planning of delivery missions within a specified timeframe....

Besides commercial and military applications, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are now used more commonly in disaster relief operations. This study proposes a novel model for proactive and reactive planning (different scenarios) that allow for a higher degree of realism, thus a higher likelihood for a mission of being executed according to the plan...

Competent personnel is one of the many factors that define the success of a project. The literature describes numerous approaches to supporting decision-makers in planning competency frameworks (CF) that permit to deliver project portfolios. Only some of them, however, take into account the disruptions that may occur during the realization of a pro...

In today’s competitive knowledge-based economy, the introduction of new solutions, i.e. new products and services, new technologies, new organizational structures, etc., most often requires a project approach. Due to constrained resources, tight deadlines and, usually, a large number of implemented projects, the multi-project environment is used in...

In the Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem (PVRP), in which scheduling of the fleet of vehicles is based on constituting the timetable for the passage of individual vehicles along the planned routes, the imprecise nature of transport/service operation times implies the need to take into account the fact that the accumulating uncertainty of previously...

The presented problem concerns the route planning of a UAV fleet carrying out deliveries to spatially dispersed customers in a highly dynamic and unpredictable environment within a specified timeframe. The developed model allows for predictive (i.e., taking into account forecasted changing weather conditions) and reactive (i.e., enabling contingenc...

The paper is concerned with predicting the total cost of a new product and searching for cost reduction at the early stages of product development. The costs of a new product development project, product promotion, production and after-sales service are predicted using parametric models. The identified relationships are also used to searching for p...

Selection of competent employees is one of the numerous factors that determine the success of a project. The literature describes many approaches that help decision makers to recruit candidates with the required skills. Only a few of them consider the disruptions that can occur during the implementation of a project, such as employee absenteeism an...

A permanent growth of electrical forklifts’ applications makes them a dominating indoor and outdoor transportation tool. In spite of an unquestionable appeal of e-mobility, forklifts accumulators undergo a gradual degradation, which has to be suitably maintained. Thus, an appropriate work scheduling and human operator skills are crucial for their r...

We consider a dynamic vehicle routing problem in which a fleet of vehicles delivers ordered services or goods to spatially distributed customers while moving along separate milk-run routes over a given periodically repeating time horizon. Customer orders and the feasible time windows for the execution of those orders can be dynamically revealed ove...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) create an interesting alternative for establishing more sustainable urban freight deliveries. The substitution of traditional trucks in the last-mile distribution by a UAV fleet can contribute to urban sustainability by reducing air pollution and increasing urban freight efficiency. This paper presents a novel approa...

We consider a dynamic vehicle routing problem in which a fleet of service vehicles pay preventive maintenance visits to a set of spatially distributed customers over a given time horizon. Each vehicle follows a pre-planned separate route which links points defined by customer location and service periods. Customer orders and the feasible time windo...

Today the concept of mass customization is becoming increasingly important for project-oriented companies manufacturing assembled products. Expectations imposed by mass customization challenges force producers to increase flexibility of exploited manufacturing systems. In turn, since systems flexibility assumes the possibility of its adaptation to...

The paper concerns the digital twin design and fault-tolerant control of a production system. The real laboratory system under consideration consists of two subsystems: an assembly part and an automated guided vehicle transportation one. The proposed approach focuses, simultaneously, on both concurrency and synchronization problems as they are inev...

Presented paper concerns the competency-driven staff assignment and scheduling approach to the management of project portfolios subject to perturbations caused by employee absences and/or unexpected arrival of high priority jobs. Proactive strategy is considered, which exploits the concept of employee substitutability to improve the robustness of p...

Fleet mission planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) involves creating flight plans for a specific set of objectives, which typically, have to be achieved over a specific time period. The key challenge is to develop methods allowing to prototype mission plans, encompassing UAV routes and schedules, that are robust to changing weather conditio...

This paper considers the dynamic vehicle routing problem where a fleet of vehicles deals with periodic deliveries of goods or services to spatially dispersed customers over a given time horizon. Individual customers may only be served by predefined (dedicated) suppliers. Each vehicle follows a pre-planned separate route linking points defined by th...

Internal logistics systems aim at supplying the right materials at the right locations at the right time. This fact creates the need for the design of logistic-train-fleet-oriented, distributed and scalability-robust control policies ensuring deadlock-free operations. This paper presents a solution to a milk-run vehicle routing and scheduling probl...

In this paper, we study the problem of dynamically routing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) taking into account not only the known requests, their type, pick-up, and delivery locations, and time windows, but also considering traffic, i.e., collision avoidance, and changing weather conditions as well as the arrival of new customer requests or request...

Today, project-oriented companies often have difficulties completing projects according to the project schedule. Currently used decision support solutions allow decision makers to estimate the cost of a new product development project, and compare the estimated cost to the target cost. The proposed approach provides a framework for searching for po...

A permanent growth of forklifts’ indoor practical applications such as high-storage warehouses makes them dominating transportation tools. It rises the need for their coordinated scheduling including uncertainties related to the human operator behaviour. To tackle this problem, in the paper a novel comprehensive fuzzy logic-based methodology enabli...

The design of logistic trains fleet oriented distributed and scalability-robust control policies that ensure deadlock-free operations is of crucial importance for efficient material handling systems. This study considers a multi-item assembly system where in-plant transport operations are organized in milk-run loops. A solution to a milk-run routin...

Featured Application: The competency framework for matching student needs and lecturer competencies subject to disruptions caused by teacher absenteeism and curriculum changes. The model is adjusted to perform at the expected robustness level of resultant lecturer allocation. The main strength of the model, as well as the main contribution of this...

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) routing is transitioning from an emerging topic to a growing research area as the 3D flexible utilization of airspace, promogulated by UAVs, is a potential game changer in solving the urban air mobility challenge by allowing to reshape transportation and logistics in the future. This has revealed a need to classify dif...

It is an undeniable fact that material handling systems aim at supplying the right materials at the right locations at the right time. This fact creates the need for the design of logistic-train-fleet-oriented, distributed and scalability-robust control policies ensuring deadlock-free operations. The paper presents a solution to a multi-item and mu...

A declarative model is developed in this study. It allows us to formulate a constraint satisfaction problem that supports making decisions in the process of seeking a periodic distribution policy with a plan of whom to serve, how much to deliver, by which fleet of logistic trains travelling regularly, and on which routes. Implemented through a cons...

In this paper, the optimization of Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Alternative Delivery, Pick-up and Time windows is considered. The development of this problem was motivated by analysis of postal and courier delivery issues. In some generalization, the problem examined can be classified as a combination of many variants of the classical V...

The paper is concerned with using computational intelligence for identifying the relationships between variables and constraint programming for searching variants of completing a new product development project. The relationships are used to the cost estimation of new product development (NPD) and to the search for possible variants of reaching the...

Proactive mission planning for a fleet of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be seen as a sequence of routing problems mathematically formalized as 0-1 knapsack problems. Taking into account the fact that weather conditions change during a mission, the time horizon of the planned mission is subdivided into time windows corresponding to periods of...

Fleet mission planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is the process of creating flight plans for a specific set of objectives and typically over a time period. Due to the increasing focus on the usage of large UAVs, a key challenge is to conduct mission planning addressing changing weather conditions, collision avoidance, and energy constrain...

The problems of mission planning for UAVs fleets are subject of intensive research. Their roots go back to the well-known extensions of VRP addressing the routing and scheduling of UAVs to deliver goods from a depot to customer locations. Rising expectations following the new outdoor applications besides seamless flow routing constraints forces to...

A multi-trip UAV delivery problem is considered in which trajectories are planned for UAVs operating in a hostile environment. UAV battery capacity and payload weight as well as vehicle reuse are taken into account. A fleet of homogeneous UAVs fly in a 2D plane matching a distribution network to service customers in a collision-free manner. The goa...

In this chapter, two kinds of intertwined decisions regarding the movement of vehicles in an in-plant milk-run delivery system are considered: routing decisions, which determine the set of sequences of stations visited by each tugger train, and scheduling decisions, which plan congestion free movement of the tugger trains. The problem under study,...

To ensure proper functioning of an organization (e.g. production system) in settings in which there exists a risk of disruptions caused by unexpected employee absenteeism and/or a changing demand for employees with specific qualifications, one must move away from traditional approaches oriented towards the determination of procedures for generating...

The paper deals with the problem of synthesis of cyclic schedules for cascade-like topology repetitive systems that share resources using the mutual exclusion rule. Such processes are represented by, for example, repetitive transport tasks occurring in AGV systems, in which the carriages share sectors of routes belonging to neighboring manufacturin...

We propose a large-scale sparse customer-facility network model that allows a customer to be assigned only to facilities within the vicinity of a customer. In this model, customer-facility distances are integer values representing zones. Experimental results are presented for large instances with up to 100,000 customers and 100 potential facility s...

A fleet of homogeneous UAVs fly in a 2D plane matching a distribution network to service customers in a collision-free manner. Limited UAVs’ battery capacity and UAVs’ weight reduction during they traveling along planned routes and goods delivery as well as changing weather conditions are also taken into account. The goal is to determine a set of r...

The paper is concerned with using constraint programming for simulating an alternative project completion of new product development (NPD). All possible variants of project completion are sought within the company’s resources and requirements for an NPD project. A company and its projects can be considered in terms of variables and constraints that...

Workers’ absences are a common disruption to the provision of tasks. They make it necessary to modify task assignment, which amounts to finding suitable substitutions. Sometimes it happens that the competences of the available workers, with given constraints, e.g. hour limits, are not sufficient to find an admissible assignment modification. Theref...

In order to deal with unexpected events such as employee absenteeism and/or a demand for personnel that is higher or lower than expected, organizations need to adopt proactive and reactive scheduling strategies to protect the personnel roster and to respond to this operational variability, respectively. In this paper, we propose a preemptive progra...

The cyclic nature of the production flow enables just-in-time planning and organization of the associated supply chains. In turn, disruptions in the operation of machinery and equipment, which occur in practice, lead to deviations from nominal operation times. That lead to changes in production takt time, making it necessary to adjust previously cr...

With a rising demand for utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deliver materials in outdoor environments, particular attention must be given to all the different aspects influencing the deployment of UAVs for such purposes. These aspects include the characteristics of the UAV fleet (e.g. size of fleet, UAV specifications and capabilities), t...

The objective of the milk-run design problem considered in this paper is to minimize transportation and inventory costs by manipulating fleet size and the capacity of vehicles and storage areas. Just as in the case of an inventory routing problem, the goal is to find a periodic distribution policy with a plan on whom to serve, and how much to deliv...

In this paper, a depth-first search strategy to cope with the problem of multi-trip unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fleet mission planning is proposed. The considered UAVs delivery problem aims at a trajectory planning issue addressed for UAVs operating in a hostile environment while considering battery and payload weight as well as vehicles reuse. E...

In the present study, a declarative model is developed which allows to formulate a constraint satisfaction problem that provides decision support for prototyping in-plant milk-run traffic systems. In particular, the model is used to determine the number of transport trips and their organization in time and space needed for timely delivery of materi...

In order to deal with unexpected events such as employee absenteeism and/or a demand for personnel that is higher or lower than expected, organizations need to adopt proactive and reactive scheduling strategies to protect the personnel roster and to respond to this operational variability, respectively. In this paper, we propose a preemptive progra...

The cyclic nature of the production flow enables just-in-time planning and organization of the associated supply chains. In turn, disruptions in the operation of machinery and equipment, which occur in practice, lead to deviations from nominal operation times. That lead to changes in production takt time, making it necessary to adjust previously cr...

Two kinds of intertwined decisions: the routing decisions, which determine the set of sequences of stations visited by each tugger train’s route, and the scheduling decisions, which plan congestion-free movements of tugger train fleets, are considered. The problem under study can be seen as extension of the pick-up and delivery problem with time wi...

The proposed attempt should be considered as a structure for creating a task-oriented Decision Support System (DSS). This attempt is addressed at interactive investigative for reactions to queries expressed in both ways (direct or reverse), while assisting a decision maker in finding answers to such routine questions as: Does the given premise impl...

In order to deal with unexpected events such as employee absenteeism and/or a demand for personnel that is higher or lower than expected, organizations need to adopt proactive and reactive scheduling strategies to protect the personnel roster and to respond to this operational variability, respectively. In this paper, we discuss a proactive approac...

This paper describes a Grid-like Material Transportation Network (GMTN) in which several heterogeneous means of transportation (Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), hoists, lifts, etc.) interact with each other via common shared workstations to provide a variety of demand-responsive material handling operations. Different material handling transport m...

A flow production system with concurrently executed supply chains providing material handling/transportation services to a given set of workstations is considered. The workstations have to be serviced within preset time windows and can be shared by different supply chains. The transportation and material handling operations supporting the flow of p...

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) routing is transitioning from an emerging topic to a growing research area and one critical aspect of it is the energy consumption of UAVs. This transition induces a need to identify factors, which affects the energy consumption of UAVs and thereby the routing. This paper presents an analysis of different parameters t...

The topic of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) routing is transitioning from an emerging topic to a growing research area with UAVs being used for inspection or even material transport as part of multi-modal networks. The nature of the problem has revealed a need to identify the factors affecting the energy consumption of UAVs during execution of missi...

A flow production system with concurrently executed supply chains providing material handling/transportation services to a given set of workstations is analyzed. The considered streams of split and merge supply chains representing all the stages at which value is added to a manufacturing product (including the delivery of raw materials and intermed...