Ana Muriel

Associate Professor

Education:

• B.Sc., University of Seville, 1993
• M.Sc., Northwestern University, 1994
• Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1997

Research Interests:

Dr. Muriel’s research focuses on different aspects of logistics and supply chain management, including (1) the effective coordination of production, inventory and distribution in production/distribution networks, (2) the evaluation of the costs and benefits of production flexibility in the supply chain in close collaboration with General Motors, (3) the development of optimal inventory policies in the presence of dual supply sources and expediting, (4) the interaction between optimal capacity investments and pricing strategies, and (5) the impact of product returns on supply chain coordination, among others. She has also done work in the area of machine scheduling and combinatorial optimization, applying set-partitioning approaches to find rigorous bounds and efficient, robust algorithms for large-scale problems.

Research Lab: Supply Chain Management Lab

Selected Publications:

• Chan, L.A., A. Muriel and D. Simchi-Levi (1998), Machine Scheduling, Linear Programming and List Scheduling Heuristics. Operations Research 46, Number 5, pp. 729-741.
• Chan, L. M. A., A. Muriel, Z. J. Shen and D. Simchi-Levi (2003), On the Effectiveness of Zero-Inventory Ordering Policies for Economic Lot-Sizing Models with Piece-Wise Linear Cost Structures. Operations Research 50, Number 6, pp. 1058-1067.
• Chan, L. M. A., A. Muriel, Z. J. Shen, D. Simchi-Levi, and C. P. Teo (2003), Effectiveness of Zero Inventory Ordering Policies for a One-Warehouse Multi-Retailer Problem With Piecewise Linear Cost Structures.  Management Science 48, Number 11, pp.1446-1460.
• Muriel, A. and F. Munshi (2004), Capacitated Multicommodity Network Flows with Piecewise Linear Concave Costs. IIE Transactions 36, Number 7 / July 2004, pp. 683 - 696.
• Bish, E, A. Muriel and S. Biller (2005),  Managing Flexible Capacity in a Make-to-Order Environment. Management Science 51, Number 2, 167-180.
• Muriel, A.,  A. Somasundaram and Y. Zhang (2005), Impact of Partial Manufacturing Flexibility on Production Variability.  To appear in Manufacturing and Service Operations Management.
• Biller, S., A. Muriel and Y. Zhang (2006), Impact of Price Postponement on Capacity and Flexibility Investment Decisions. To appear in Production and Operations Management.

Contact Information:

Office:

ELAB 213D

Mail:

Ana Muriel

MIE Department

220 ELAB

University of Massachusetts

Amherst, MA 01003-2210

Phone:

(413) 545-4242

Fax:

(413) 545-1027

E-mail:

muriel@ecs.umass.edu