1. Research group on Logistics and International Business School of Economics and Management Sciences Universidad de La Sabana Chía, Colombia

2. Objective Analysis and generation of new knowledge, socially responsible, applied to the design, analysis and evaluation of the set of processes that constitutes the physical and informational structures of the value chain

3. Members Group Director –Jairo R. Montoya Torres, Ph.D. Researchers –Elyn Solano Charris, M.Sc., PhD(c) –Carlos Quintero Araujo, M.Sc. –Ana Ximena Halabi Echeverry, M.Sc., PhD(c) –Vanessa Manotas Niño, M.Sc. –Catherine Pereira Villa, MA –Monica Hurtado Lozano, MA

4. Research lines Strategic Logistics Operations Management Sustainability International trade

5. Finished Projects September 2007 – March 2008 “Modeling of vehicle positioning problems” –Supported by Research funds from Universidad de La Sabana, Chia (Colombia). Grant number CEA-18-2007. –Total cost of project US$11.263. Techniques: –Mathematical programming,,greedy heuristics –Simulation Results: –Integer linear programming formulation of the vehicle positioning problem in automated manufacturing systems: ILP formulation (tactical level) – ILP+Discrete event simulation (operational level)

6. Finished Projects September 2008 – August 2010 “Analogies between algorithms for solving Resources-constrained project scheduling, machine scheduling and other combinatorial optimization problems” –Supported by Research funds from Universidad de La Sabana, Chia (Colombia). Grant number CEA-24-2008. –Total cost of project US$61.934 for 20 months. Techniques: –Mathematical programming, ACO, genetic & memetic algorithms, GRASP

7. Finished Projects Results: Deterministic machine scheduling with release times and sequence-dependent setups using random-insertion heuristics: Makespan between 2-6% of the optimal. Average deviation from bound (9,9% equal release time – 12,2% unequal release time) Project scheduling with limited resources using a genetic algorithm: Makespan value equal to optimum or best known heuristics for more than 50% of the studied instances Ant colony optimization algorithm for a Bi-criteria 2-stage hybrid flowshop scheduling problem: First procedure for bi- criteria (makespan ant total completion time of jobs) for hybrid flowshop configuration.

8. Finished Projects April 2009 – February 2010 “Conceptual framework of reverse logistics practices in Colombian enterprises”. –Supported as a Young researcher grant from COLCIENCIAS (Colombian Administrative Department of Science and Technology). Grant number 120-2008. –Total cost of project US$11.900 for 12 months. Techniques: –Survey-based research Results: –A modeling framework of reverse logistics practices in the Colombian plastic sector: first exploratory study on the analysis of RL practices in Colombian enterprises

9. Ongoing Projects October 2010 – May 2012 “Multi-objective optimisation for complex hybrid flowshop scheduling systems using ant colony meta-heuristic”. –Supported by Re-search funds from Universidad de La Sabana, Chia (Colombia). Grant number CEA-53-2010. –Total cost of project US$73.688 for 19 months. Techniques: –Multi-objective ACO procedure

10. Ongoing Projects January 2011 – March 2012 “Optimization tools for solving distribution problems to retail points in emerging markets”. –Supported by Research funds from Universidad de La Sabana, Chia (Colombia). Grant number ING-115-2010. –Total cost of project US$32.345 for 14 months. Amount awarded: US$17.000. Techniques: –Mathematical programming

11. Ongoing Projects 2011 – 2013 “Integrated optimization of the palm-oil supply chain management in Colombia”. –Supported by the Colombia Administrative Department of Science and Technology (COLCIENCIAS). –Total cost: US$ 224.892, Amount granted: US$110.734. Techniques: –Mathematical programming

12. Ongoing Projects 2012 –2013 “Redesign of transport logistics operations of hazardous material through the development and evaluation of a portable prototype of a mobile autonomous hydro-washing machine” –Co-supported by the Colombia Administrative Department of Science and Technology (COLCIENCIAS) and by a Colombian enterprise INTERTANQUES. –Total cost: US$ 659.127, Amount granted: US$ 261.226 for 18 months. Techniques to be used: –Mathematical programming, Simulation

13. Ongoing Projects 2011 – 2012 “Multi-objective optimization for the vehicle routing problem with load-balancing” –M.Sc. In Operations Management – Master’s Thesis Techniques to be used: –Mathematical programming, Taboo Search