Mühendislik Yönetimi Yüksek Lisans Programı / Engineering Management Master’s Degree Program

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11413/8602

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Open Access
Analysis of Ambient Energy Harvesting in Individual and Industrial Environments Using Quantitative Methods
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) SHAH, SEHRISH RAZZAQ; Ayşe Tülin Aktin
Ambient Energy harvesting is a way to reap and grind energy from such source which is producing or converting one form of energy into another, but alongside that energy some of the energy is being lost which in our daily or busy routine no one even notices that something is being wasted. That something is known as our or machines kinetic energy which even we ourselves cannot recognize. That small amount is harvested and then controlled with some specific tools set and magnified to be get used in daily uses instead of those expensive ways which we have adopted from centuries. This case study is focusing on some aspects of how ambient energy harvesting is playing an important role in individual environment as well as which development we can have for industrial sector to cope up with this energy utilization hinge in our way. Also, we have laid a way to make our industrial sector that sufficient that it will start generating the energy on its own and not to rely on conventional and expensive energy, which has grasped the major portion of individual and companies' utility expenses. By the end we will be able to create a future with self-powered homes and industries that will be less polluted and affordable to all the community.
Open Access
Banka Şube Yeri Seçiminin MOORA Yöntemi İle Belirlenmesi
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) CEYLAN, GİZEM BAŞOĞLU; Duygun Fatih Demirel
Günümüzde teknolojik gelişmelere bağlı olarak bankaların sunmuş olduğu ATM, kredi kartları vb. hizmetler gelişmiş ve çoğalmış olsa da, bankaların müşterileri ile olan iletişimlerini ve müşterilerin bankaya olan bağlılığını arttırmak için şubeleşme bankalar için önem arz etmektedir. Aynı zamanda bankaların performansını arttırması için belirlenmiş önemli stratejiler arasında da yeni şube açmak bulunmaktadır. Bu nedenle bankalarda doğru şube yer seçimi kritik önem taşımaktadır. Şubenin doğru yerde konumlanması, ulaşılabilir ve tercih edilir olması önemlidir. Bankanın tercih edilir olması için şube yer seçimini etkileyen önemli faktörler bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, özel bir bankanın yeni açacağı şubesi için en uygun yerin seçilmesi hedeflenmiştir. Seçeneklerin fazla ve karmaşık olması nedeni ile banka yeri seçiminin kolaylaştırılması için Çok Kriterli Karar Verme yöntemlerinden MOORA Yöntemi kullanılarak en uygun yerin seçilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Öncelikle banka şube seçiminde etkili olacak kriterler iki uzman görüşünden de faydalanılarak tespit edilmiştir. Ardından şube yerleşimi için alternatif yerler yine uzman görüşlerinden faydalanarak ve yapılan araştırmalar doğrultusunda belirlenmiştir. Tespit edilmiş olan temel kriterler ve alternatifler birleştirilerek iki uzman görüşü ile belirlenmiş iki ayrı karar matrisi oluşturulmuştur. Oluşturulan bu iki matrisin ortalaması alınarak nihai karar matrisi elde edilmiştir. Ardından karar matrisinin normalizasyonu ve ağırlıklandırılması işlemleri yapılmıştır. Maximum ve minimum kriterler belirlenerek her bir alternatifin performansı belirlenmiştir. En yüksek performansa sahip olan alternatif, banka şube yer seçimi için en uygun seçenek olarak belirlenmiştir.
Open Access
Case Study of the Impact of Using Artificial Intelligence With Cloud Computing in Smart Factory Management
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2022) ALDARABSEH, ESRAA AL; İbrahim Ethem Tarhan
By employing artificial intelligence within the work of the cloud, the promised future is to create self-lead computers. Sharing the resources increased the innovation, it allows to develop of industries with high performance in the lowest time of study and analyze it quickly. This study tries to investigate the effect of the cloud on factory management that affects artificial intelligence devices that leads to the development of business growth which in affect increase the profits. Also, this research examines the factors from SWOT/PESTEL analysis among a cloud provider and consumer. Besides, linear regression is used to measure the most influential revenue of the main products in the total profit of the firm and propose a model to maximize it. The factors determined that may affect SOWT/PESTEL analysis and by brainstorming the ideas gathered and generated. Linear regression was used based on seven variables; six main revenues and total profit then applied Minitab software to obtain a relation between them. The influencer product was used to maximize its profit by Solver software. The outcomes presented an important relationship between the variables under a framework. The study presented economic growth in the firm that used cloud with AI equipment and the results proved to increase the net profit after the framework was developed.
Open Access
A Comparative Analysis of Critical Chain and Critical Path Project Management Methods
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2022) ALNEHLAWI, SAAD; Zeynep Gergin
PM is practically all procedures that help to reduce the waste of time and resources while most of the planned projects were using much more than what was assigned. These procedures include planning, managing, and monitoring processes of the project from its start to its end, covering the team management, cost optimization, activities scheduling, evaluating, and reporting. Two of the most commonly-used project scheduling methods are the Critical Path Method (CPM) and Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM). This thesis is presenting a comparison between CPM and CCPM showing the pros and cons of both methods when dealing with resource-depending projects. It shows the new features that can be achieved using CCPM, and the reasons that led to its use this new scheduling approach. This study also illustrates the application of both of the techniques in a real case study for an agricultural investment company, to explain how much CCPM can be more reliable and efficient in terms of time-saving and achieving the objectives of this kind of project. It is concluded that CCPM is a more suitable project management planning methodology to apply to this kind of project than CPM.
Open Access
Crashing Implementation in Construction Project Case
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2022) ARAP, ENES; Zeynep Gergin
Due to the diversity of decision-making alternatives, uncertainty, and cost of making errors, it has become more complex today than ever before, and decision-making has grown considerably more challenging in the construction sector and its atmosphere (Haque, 2010). As a result, relying on a trial-and-error strategy or an experimental decision has become extremely challenging or even a bad choice in decision-making. When dealing with construction projects, it is always necessary to complete the project within a given timeframe to keep expense costs as low as conceivable assuming the continually changing conditions in the construction field. Failure to do so increases the overall costs. Thus, there must be a time-cost trade-off. This study mainly provides a case study for reducing total project time to reach the completion objective at the least total cost. Two approaches are compared such as crashing the project with the Critical Path Method using the manual network diagraming approach and crashing the project by developing the mathematical model and solving it using Excel software. The manual crashing increased the project cost by almost 11.2% and decreased the project duration by 115 days which is more than 35% of the total duration. The optimum solution provided by the solver for the mathematical model, on the other hand, resulted in a lower cost increase of 9.7% in project costs with the same reduction in total project duration.
Open Access
Development of an Excel-VBA Based Decision Support System for Network Engineers
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2022) AONI, HUSSEIN; Okay Işık
A router is a hardware component at the heart of any computer network, as it is responsible for connecting a network to other networks in the Internet infrastructure and finding the most efficient way for data packets to reach their destination. Choosing the best router is a critical decision for network engineers because there are so many router brands, brand models, and many criteria that distinguish each router. Due to lack of managerial skills or technical issues, network engineers may choose the wrong router for their network. In this study, a Decision Support System (DSS) based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, which is a multi-criteria decision making method, has been developed for the selection of the appropriate router. The DSS is built using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) integrated with Microsoft-Excel. The proposed DSS is a user-friendly XLSM file that can be used on any computer running Microsoft-Excel. The DSS was tested based on four criteria (Cost, Reliability, Efficiency and Port counts) and four brand alternatives (Cisco, Juniper, Huawei and MikroTik). The developed DSS accompanies the decision maker's (DM) comparison process of criteria and the alternative routers according to each criterion, and finally recommends the most suitable router. In addition, if the comparison matrix of DM is inconsistent, the proposed DSS makes minor changes to the original preferences of DM, ensuring a zero inconsistency rate. The proposed method has been tested with data sets published in the literature, and its advantages over other methods to reduce inconsistency have been demonstrated.
Open Access
Examining the Implementation and Execution of Lean Thinking and Tools in Construction Sector in Developing Courities
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) MUTAWEODEH, MASA; Duygun Fatih Demirel
Palestine faces many issues within the construction sector, including cost, time overrun, performance quality, and management. To deal with these issues, the industry must adopt lean management principles as the new approach to solving such problems. The study aims to investigate the obstacles that impact the execution of lean thinking and tools in Palestine as a developing country and its impact on waste related to construction sites through a questioner which filled out by the target sample of construction companies, engineers, construction workers and expertise in Ramallah the industrial capital and Nablus. The collected sample was 91 responses. These responses are applied in SPSS software to find results through 1- principle component analysis, 2- reliability analysis, 3- multiple regression and correlation analysis, and 4- measure for association and correlation. The result shows that Planning and management issues significantly affect the execution of lean management approaches successfully. With the formula of CC= +0.167 *C1. Where C1 is the planning and management component, and CC is the core concept. This study recommends that the construction companies and the education system regarding these university curriculums must keep continuous improvement related to the knowledge regarding lean construction management approaches, and apply LCM in their projects, to overcome the management issues. Keywords:
Open Access
Examining the New Business Opportunities via Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approaches
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2021) HRESEH, ASEM; Duygun Fatih Demirel
This study aims to determine the best investment opportunity using a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach based on famous Analytic Hierarchy Process and TOPSIS methods. Throughout the study, the concept of MCDM is discussed, and the most used methods and their applications in several sectors are explained. In addition, the major benefits of these methods are examined. After that, considering five different investment opportunities, the best choice between them is determined based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process. For this task, seven management professionals' opinions are taken, and each of them are evaluated based on the TOPSIS method. Finally, an obvious image is created in selecting the best investment opportunity and how to employ MCDM approaches in this process.
Open Access
Forecasting of Turkey's Total Electricity Consumption in Sectoral Bases Using Machine Learning Algorithms
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2022) HAJJAR, MHD KHAIR; İlayda Ülkü
Turkey is considered to have one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and electrical energy is a milestone in the economic growth of each country. Therefore, it is important to have an idea about the upcoming electricity consumption. Various methods were used in previous studies for forecasting electricity consumption. This study forecasts the sectoral and total electricity consumption in Turkey until the year 2050. This study utilizes two distinct Time series forecasting methods, namely Multilayer perceptron (MLP) and sequential minimal optimization (SMO) as a model to generate the forecasting formulas. The sectoral and total electricity consumption for Turkey from the year 1970 to 2020 was obtained from the Turkish Statistical Institute and fed to the models to forecast the upcoming years. The two models were evaluated and compared using determination coefficient R2 and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). It is found that SMOReg was superior in forecasting Turkey's total electricity consumption where the R2, MAPE, and root mean square error (RMSE) for the SMOReg model were 91.42%, 2.98%, and 8558.85 GWh respectively, where the forecasted total electricity consumption in sectoral bases reaches 292,142 GWh in 2021 and 777,854 GWh in 2050. SMOReg also performed better in forecasting the industrial and household sectors. Whereas MLP performed better in forecasting the commercial, governmental, illumination, and other sectors.
Open Access
The Impact of COVID‐19 on the Technology Sector: The Case of Turkish Consultancy Company
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2022) GÖZÜTOK, EDA; İlayda Ülkü
Since COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, it has affected the whole world both economically and sociologically. Many studies have been published by making different analysis studies and surveys to understand their positive or negative effects. It seemed different effects in terms of country and sector. In this study, the effects of COVID-19 on a consulting company serving in the field of technology were investigated. Using the company's five-year sales data from the pre-COVID-19 period, sales data for the COVID-19 period were predicted by machine learning over KNIME. Predictions were made using three different regression models: linear, gradient boosting, and random forest. Each model was compared over the calculated coefficient of determination (R2) and the best model was selected. With this chosen model, the impact of COVID-19 on the company has been interpreted.
Open Access
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Engineers' Performance
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2022) AL-KAFF, OMAR YAHYA MOHAMMED; Zeynep Gergin
During COVID-19 crisis, numerous studies have investigated employee's performance as a major determinant factor of organizational success. In such hard times, there was no noticeable focus on engineers' performance despite their critical roles and increased responsibilities. Thus, this research is initiated to study the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on engineers' performance. Survey data from 100 engineers have been analyzed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), also reliability and validity of the constructed model have been ensured using a recently proposed new Confirmatory Composite Analysis method (HCCA). Path model results suggest a total positive impact of COVID-19 pandemic on engineers' performance through Organizational Change, Work-Life Balance, Job Satisfaction and Stress as mediators. The level of their experienced stress has been found to increase the performance rather than the opposite, which probably indicates successful management implementations that enabled creating performance improvements even amid the catastrophe. Control variables of Gender, Work Experience, Responsibility of Children, and Marital Status are additionally examined, and more experienced and non-married engineers have been observed to have relatively increased performance than others.
Open Access
The Impact of Supply Chain Risk Management Practices on Performance During COVID-19 Pandemic
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) ABDEL-RAHMAN, LAMA AMIR FAIK; Zeynep Gergin
This study investigates the role of supply chain risk management (SCRM) in mitigating the effects of disruptions on the supply chain's (SC) resilience and robustness in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. Even though few studies have been conducted in this field, it appears to have varying effects depending on the country and sector. With this motivation, data from 102 Turkish pharmaceutical firms are collected and analyzed using confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) based on partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results of the hypothesis analysis show the negative impact of COVID-19 disruption on SCRM practices, SC resilience, and SC robustness, which demonstrates the negative impact of the epidemic on the practices of SCRM, and their abilities to regain their SC's performance after absorbing the disruption effects. COVID-19 appears to have a negative impact on how firms identify and control SC risks due to the amplitude of sudden global disturbances that few firms were able to predict in advance. The findings indicate that COVID-19 disruption impacts have mainly affected SC resilience. However, SC robustness was not directly affected by disruption impacts, as most of the firms seemed to think that they would be able to maintain their planned performance after the disruption. Furthermore, the findings reveal the mediating role of SCRM practices and the prominent role they play in fostering supply chain resilience and robustness.
Open Access
The Impact of Value Engineering on Material Selection: An Example From the Construction Industry
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) QUFFA, BARAA; İbrahim Ethem Tarhan
The urgent need for Value Engineering has arisen due to the enormous expenditure in the construction industry, which could be reduced by up to 25%. This substantial spending is often accompanied by poor quality, leading to a constant need for reconstruction and maintenance. The methods and concepts of Value Engineering can be applied to address this issue. By using Value Engineering, solutions can be created that fulfill the same functional purpose at a lower cost while maintaining high quality. This can be achieved through an analytical study using a specific approach conducted by a multidisciplinary team to identify and classify the functions that the project performs. Profound methods can then be utilized to find innovative alternatives without compromising the basic requirements and quality. This research is dedicated to demonstrating the methodology of Value Engineering while highlighting its impact on construction projects through a case study: Magrabi Offices in Saudi Arabia. This paper used an organized multidisciplinary methodology to identify the project's main and secondary functions, then utilized Pareto's law to identify higher-cost materials. It was proven that finding low-cost equivalent materials could reduce the total price by 23.13%.
Open Access
Industry 4.0 Applications in Nigeria: Evaluating the Practices via an MCDM Approach
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) AFOLABI, FAROUK; Duygun Fatih Demirel
Hunger and malnutrition are major concerns in the world especially in under developed countries. The implementation of technology specifically in the agricultural economy is also a vital issue since it directly contributes to the wellbeing of people and feeding the global growing population. With an increasing number of individuals paying much attention to food security and reduction in food wastage, the supply chain in the agri-food sector has to be traceable throughout the chain for better productivity. Certainly, Agriculture 4.0 practices may provide different solutions to several problems in the sector. This thesis provides several insights on the productivity, agriculture, Industry 4.0, supply chain networks, multi criteria decision making (MCDM) methods and food security. The main purpose of the study is to select the best Industry 4.0 application to be implemented in agriculture sector in Nigeria. For this purpose, three experts are surveyed to obtain their opinions about the importance of the criteria that could be considered in the alternative selection process, and the relative importance of each alternative in accordance with each criterion. A hybrid methodology based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and TOPSIS is implemented, and the best alternative is selected.
Open Access
İnşaat Sektöründe Risk Analizine Çok Kriterli Karar Verme Yaklaşımı: İstanbul'da Bir Uygulama
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) BAY, AZMİ; Ayşe Tülin Aktin
Bu çalışma kapsamında, İstanbul'da inşaat sektöründe aktif olarak faaliyet gösteren iki inşaat firmasının riskler karşısında göstermiş oldukları davranışlar, bu firmaların risklerden ne şekilde etkilendikleri ve inşaat sektöründe en çok karşılaşılan riskler belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Risklerin ve belirsizliklerin çok fazla olduğu inşaat sektöründe firmaların başarılı bir şekilde varlıklarını devam ettirebilmeleri için ve yapmış oldukları işleri en az risk ve zararla tamamlayabilmeleri için nelerin yapılması gerektiği araştırılmıştır. Ülkemizde yaygın olarak kullanılmayan risk yönetimi ele alınarak inşaat sektöründe risk yönetiminin önemi vurgulanmıştır. İnşaat faaliyetleri, süreçleri ve çevresi nedeniyle firmalar yüksek risk ile iç içe olduklarından dolayı risk yönetimine gerekli önemi vermeli ve proje öncesinde risk analizi yapmalıdır. Uygun risk yönetimi, risklerin tanımlanması, analiz edilerek doğru çözümün bulunması ve bu çözümlerin doğru bir şekilde uygulanması ile firmaların kayıpları en aza indirgenecektir. Bu çalışmayı yaparken Analitik Hiyerarşi Prosesi (AHP) kullanılmıştır. Bu yöntem ile değerlendirme ölçütleri kullanılarak çok sayıda kriter arasından seçim yapılmış, değerlendirmelerin tutarlılığı tespit edilmiş ve kriterler arasında önem sıralaması oluşturulmuştur.
Open Access
A Method to Develop Landfill Liner Material Using Design of Experiments Methodology
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) SHAHZAD, MAHEEN; Fatma Kutlu Gündoğdu
This thesis presents a method for developing landfill liner materials using the Design of Experiments (DoE) methodology. The study focuses on identifying key DoE methods used in construction material development, specifically for landfill liners. The study evaluates the effectiveness of DoE methods in optimizing liner properties and assesses the potential benefits of using DoE in this context. Although limited research exists introducing the use of DoE in construction material development, to the best of our knowledge, a study discussing the application of DoE methods for developing landfill liners has not been published yet. This study analyzes previous studies to determine if DoE methods have the potential to improve liner performance in terms of strength and hydraulic conductivity. It synthesizes findings to evaluate broader implications, such as cost savings, increased efficiency, and improved environmental outcomes. The thesis applies the first four stages of the DoE methodology by identifying factors affecting liner properties, defining response variables, and designing the experiments. Results include a design matrix based on a central composite design (CCD) matrix. Overall, the study recommends using DoE methodology for developing landfill liner materials, providing a systematic approach for future research. This research contributes to understanding DoE methods in optimizing construction materials and offers potential for improved landfill system performance.
Open Access
Nalyzing the Impact of Occupational Health and Safety on Total Quality Management: A Case Study in Jordan
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) RABABAH, NEZAR KHALAF ABED AL-RAHMAN; Ayşe Tülin Aktin
Analyzing the Impact of Occupational Health and Safety on Total Quality Management: A Case Study in Jordan Nezar Rababah The purpose of this study is to shed light on the importance of workplace health and safety in achieving overall quality. To meet the study's goals, the researcher created a scale, which was applied to workers in Jordanian mining companies. A descriptive analytical approach is performed on a sample size of 400. The results of the study demonstrate that workplace health and safety has a definite impact on the overall quality of products and their achievement inside the businesses operating in Jordan. They also indicate that the absence of differences in the results of workers is attributed to the gender variable; health and safety, however, are intimately tied to overall quality. The study's classifications and results serve to illustrate them. The study presents several recommendations, the most important of which is the need to adopt occupational health and safety standards for institutions, companies, and factories through which comprehensive quality standards are available in order to reach the highest standards.
Open Access
A Novel Approach for Improving Profitability in the Construction Industry
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2022) HEIDAR, BASHIR HUSSAIN; Duygun Fatih Demirel
With the increase in population and population density in cities, the construction industry has grown significantly. The number of towers and skyscrapers are increasing every day. The need for vertical transportation is one of the irreplaceable needs. Hence, many elevator companies have emerged. One of the main challenges for elevator companies is to compete with other companies in the industry. Establishing a company in the market, attracting customers to buy their products and elevators, serving customers, and developing the business and financial strength of elevator companies by having a proper plan in sales and marketing are the critical issues of managers and founders of companies. By analyzing the existing elevator companies and the needs of customers in this industry, company's management can find the weaknesses and strengths of the companies and based on it, adopt a better strategy to serve more customers in the market. This study provides a novel and useful method, named as Accompany Index Method (AIM) to develop in profitability in a firm. The novel and innovative method is implemented by examining the type of customer demands, project regions division, products and services type, and organizing other project details in different categories of attributes. The AIM method applied to the data of an elevator company located in Dubai, which will guide the management of this company to perform projects by considering elevator modernization and sales of the parts. In addition, the translation of the results shows that some of the attributes like "villa lifts", "maintenance" and "elevator repair" should not consider in AIM to filter the high profitable projects. Considering the dependent attributes and independent attributes at the same time is the advantage and difference of AIM method with other analyzing methods. In some cases, improvement in one attribute condition will give an opposite effect on other profitable attribute improvements, which is the paradox, and with "AIM" this paradox will solve.
Open Access
Optimization of the Supply Chain in the Oil and Gas Sector in Türkiye
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) MNEIMNEH, BASSEL; Murat Ermiş; Zeynep Gergin
With the increasing demand for energy, optimization of the supply chain become an important factor in field development strategies targeted to maximize efficiency of energy supply and long-term economic feasibility for the next upcoming years. Supply chain optimization is considered an efficient solution system to manage the desired production, reduced lead time, lower costs and satisfy customer needs by analyzing the resources and implementing of strategic decision into the competitive market. Effective delivery service through quality management, sustainability in the supply chain and innovative strategies applied in the industry are also main contributors in enhancing the supply chain in the oil & gas sector. In this study, the optimization model consists of various activities like measuring, analyzing, modelling, prioritizing, and implementing actions using the literature review and quantitative application studies including spatial simulation and survey questionannaire tackeling the market.
Open Access
Optimizing the Facility Location Design of Organ Transplant Centers in Turkey
(İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi, 2023) ZENKHRI, AMINE; Murat Ermiş
Organ transplantation is one of the most vital components of healthcare systems and is a very important surgical treatment for many diseases that can be fatal if not applied. Despite all the advances and sophisticated technologies in operational and transportation methods in the field of health services in the last two decades, the number of patients who lost their lives due to organ failure is increasing in Turkey as well as in the rest of the world. Due to the increasing need for organs, matching the donated organs with the most suitable recipient patients in an efficient and fair manner is one of the most important processes. Therefore, the need to optimize and monitor the organ procurement and distribution process has inevitably increased. The main purpose of this study is to develop a mathematical model that will determine the number of regional coordination centers in Turkey, where a hierarchical system is used for organ transplantation. In addressing this problem, the effects of cluster structures on potential organ pairings will be explored. The mathematical model is designed to include key constraints such as duration and different types of organs. The optimization model tries to minimize the total travel time between the transplant centers and the donor hospitals assigned to the same regional center (RC). The proposed MILP model is solved using a commercial solver, i.e. GAMS.