This Post-doctoral Research position is a joint position between the Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/E) and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The postdoctoral position is a fully funded position for a duration of 16 months, which can be extended with 6 months. Out of the initial 16 months, the candidate is expected to spend 4 months at the  Indian Institute of Management and 12 months at the  Eindhoven University of Technology.

For this project we are looking for a candidate with a strong background in mathematical programming (Integer Programming, Constraint Programming, stochastic optimization, etc), and Machine learning.

Starting date: As soon as possible, but no later than 1 September 2019.

Departmental setting
Eindhoven University of Technology
The School of Industrial Engineering (IE) at the Eindhoven University of Technology is one of the longest-established IE Schools in Europe, with a strong presence in the international research and education community. At the heart of its academic philosophy is the synergy between research and teaching. The department offers an academic environment in which scholars and students work on critical problems at the interface of engineering, management and innovation. The Operations Planning, Accounting & Control (OPAC) group of the IE school currently consists of 4 full professors, 4 associate professor, 15 assistant professors, 6 postdoctoral fellows, and 24 PhD students. The faculty teach and conduct research in the area of Operations Management, with specific emphasis on operations planning and control in manufacturing, services, logistics and supply chains. Research is generally quantitative in nature, while many of the researchers also engage in empirical research. All research is embedded in Beta, the KNAW-recognized research school for Operations Management & Logistics.

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad or IIMA) is a top ranked public business school located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Established in 1961, the institute offers Masters Degree programmes in management and agri-business management, a doctoral programme and a number of executive training programmes. The Production and Quantitative Methods Area at IIMA has 12 faculty members who teach and conduct research in the area of Operations Management, Statistics, and Operations Research. Specific research interests of the faculty include manufacturing, supply chain management, transportation, logistics, and other services. For more details, see https://www.iima.ac.in/web/iima.

Project context
As e-commerce continues to grow, the logistics of moving products along the last leg from warehouses to end-customers has become more important and more complex. The market is highly competitive, volumes increase and customers expect faster, on-demand deliveries, 7 days a week. As of 2022, the USA e-commerce retail market is expected to grow to a staggering US$ 638 billion, from US$ 409 billion in 2017 [Statista 2018]. Similar growth rates are reported for Europe and several Asian countries. To cope with this growth in expected volume, the capacity of last-mile delivery systems will have to expand significantly.

The focus of this particular project is on e-fulfillment: a term which collectively denotes warehousing operations, last-mile delivery and their interdependence. Within the context of e-fulfillment, we study data-driven optimization. Key to this research is the question how data can be used to make better decisions. Data from various sources is available in abundance: sensor and tracking data (IoT), demand, traffic and weather forecasts, etc. It however remains largely unclear how this data can be used effectively to improve e-fulfillment. Consequently, the main goal of this project is to develop data-driven optimization techniques to improve efficiency in e-fulfillment, while reducing costs, increasing customer satisfaction, and lowering the ecological impact.

This project is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Tasks
The postdoctoral fellow is expected to conduct research and write research papers on the research project, in close collaboration with the project partners. The position also requires some involvement with teaching activities of the OPAC group (a maximum of 30% of the time), including the supervision of BSc and MSc students that will work on elements of the project with one or more of the industrial partners.

The applicant should have completed a PhD degree in industrial engineering, operations research, econometrics, applied mathematics, operations management, or a comparable domain with a solid background in quantitative research methods. Fluency in English is required. Moreover, the candidate must be comfortable in programming in Java/Python/C++.

• A challenging postdoctoral appointment in a dynamic and ambitious university;
• A gross monthly salary between € 3.255,- and € 4.274,- (on a full-time basis), depending on experience and knowledge;
• A yearly holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary;
• A yearly end-of-year allowance of 8.3% of the yearly salary;
• A broad package of fringe benefits (including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, savings schemes, and excellent sports facilities).