BADC Chair Nazmul Hassan Receives PhD

By Nazmul Hassan

The Bangladeshi American Democratic Caucus (BADC) Chairman Nazmul Hassan (Shahin) received a PhD degree in Industrial Engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan on Saturday, December 10, 2011. Shahin’s Dissertation Topic was “A Collaborative Framework in Outbound Logistics for the US Automakers.” His advisor was Dr. Alper E. Murat.
In his research, Shahin presented an integrated collaboration framework for the outbound logistics operations of the US automakers. Shahin proposed three levels for the US automakers to form outbound logistics collaboration: operational, tactical, and strategic. He developed a capacitated multi-commodity multi-period minimum cost network flow (MCNF) model with frequency based shipments. He also developed and integrated new inventory, lost sales, and expedited shipments models into the MCNF model and then reformulated the baseline model through the novel linearization approaches for computational tractability.

Operational, tactical, and strategic collaboration adaptations are developed using the baseline model. Shahin conducted stylized experiments for sensitivity analysis and a case study based on two major US automotive OEMs (Ford and GM) to demonstrate the benefits of collaboration. The research results indicate that collaboration at all levels improves the delivery and cost performance of the Outbound Logistics Network Systems.

Through this research, Shahin showed that collaboration in the intra- and inter-OEM outbound logistics operations is a critical area that the US automakers need to pay attention and prioritize in their cost reduction initiatives. Through the horizontal collaboration in the outbound logistics operations, the US automakers can deliver finished vehicles to their customer at the optimum cost levels which cannot be achieved in isolation. The optimization of outbound logistics operations through consolidation and collaboration among OEMs has tremendous potential to contribute to the profitability by lowering the cost of transportation, in-house inventory, transportation time, and facility costs.

Shahin and his wife Farzana Ferdous, daughter Samin Hassan (9), and son Safaat Hassan (4) live in Belleville, Michigan. 

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