Supply Chain, LOgistics and Transportation Systems (SLOTS) Research Group comprises a highly skilled research team which works at innovative approaches to cope with complex issues that arise both in industrial and transportation systems. These issues are addressed by developing, studying and applying innovative concepts, methods, decision support models and algorithms, based on an organizational continuous improvement perspective, towards high levels of Excellence. To achieve this, our research is structured around the following domains:

• Supply Chain Management: to develop models and methods which can support the design of sustainable supply chain networks and innovative strategies in order to face increasing dynamic supply and deliver requirements, increasing demand for higher levels of integration both functional and organizational and increasing pressure for cost optimization and total quality management and business excellence approaches implementation. In this context, integrated approaches based on Supply Chain Quality Management and Supply Chain Cost Management will be developed to address supply chain management issues;
• Logistics: research is focused on warehouse and inventory management applications and their contribution to strategic supply chain management;
• Flexible Industries: manufacturing industries worldwide are experiencing increasing demand of products characterized by higher complexity and diversity from existent and new markets, which require continuous and dynamic changes in product design tools, buyer-supplier relationships, sophisticated production planning and control approaches, new and innovative production and business flows;
• Transportations Systems: it considers the development of solutions for urban systems, integrated mobility (intermodality) – people and freight – and the promotion of interoperability of public transport modes and other services.

Modelling and simulation: provide the underlying support to improve both efficiency and flexibility, enhancing existent, new and innovative industrial and transportations systems performance. The development and integration of different modeling approaches, such as heuristics and simulation, is to be pursued.

SLOTS leader: Paulo Afonso

SLOTS Links:

• List of SLOTS Research Members

Recent SLOTS Publications: