consortiums

Distribution and Assignment

The magnitude of the military distribution and assignment problem is daunting. The Navy alone uses nearly 300 detailers to assign 55,000 sailors each year. This task will grow in difficulty as we transition to a force that is characterized by more specialists with various subspecialities and positions that require a myriad of skills. This suite of projects is aimed at the science needed to develop the distribution and assignment system of the future. One piece of this system will require methods to gage the sensitivity of alternative assignments to unit operations. Two projects will explore the linkages between simulation of unit performance and the attributes of assigned personnel. Another project will develop a cost sharing allocation rule.

Others will investigate the use of new techniques to solve the large scale optimization problems that are involved with these problems. Finally, we will investigate the use of market based models to do assignment in the context of the military personnel system. This includes the development of techniques to have an automated detailer learn the job. The individual projects are

                1)Project-1                                                         5)Project-5
                2)Project-2                                                         6)Project-6
                3)Project-3                                                         7)Project-7
                4)Project-4