KE & Outreach

+ Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior
Partner: PCCW
Coordinator: W.K. Ching

In this project, we analyze the data on service requested by the customers. Using Hidden Markov model, we classify the customers into different groups for different promotion plans.

+ Evaluation Study of the Portering and Lift Services
Partner: Hospital Authority
Principal Investigator: W.K. Ching
(Consulting Investigator: Sydney C.K. Chu and Graduate Research Assistant: Allen Tai)

In this project, we study the portering and lift system in a HA hospital. Using queueing theory and simulation techniques, we identify the bottlenecks of the workflow and give recommendations on workload, manpower, good practice of porters, lift service and hospital beds to the senior management.

+ Trend Analysis for Power Cable Loading and Capacity Planning
Partner: China Light and Power Company Limited
Coordinator: W.K. Ching

The objective of this pilot project is to improve CLP's ability in identifying potential electric circuit overload and power outage problems. To achieve this, a trend analysis using statistical methods was recommended to study the trends of historical consumption and loading data of power supply cables. The trend analysis enables CLP to identify potential overloading cable in an effective and operable ways.

+ Crew Scheduling of Light Rail Transit in Hong Kong: From Modeling to Implementation
Partner: Hong Kong Light Rail Transit
Investigator: Sydney C.K. Chu and Edmond C.H. Chan

Abstract - This work concerns the problem of crew scheduling for the Hong Kong Light Rail Transit (LRT), which together with Heavy Rail transit, makes up the two divisions of Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation. As of early 1996, LRT operates eight routes, two train depots and 57 stations on its operational network. It is rapidly expanding on routes, capacities and territorial coverage, hence pressing needs for timely constructions of crew schedules whenever passenger demand variations necessitate modifications in train timetables, typically every 3-4 months. Computer-assisted manual solutions from old software can take up to 1 months of painstaking work. Our project aims at automating this complex schedule construction, adopting a novel optimization modeling approach amenable for decomposition into separate solution stages by network and heuristics algorithms. The entire crew schedule can be constructed iteratively in less than half an hour on a PC. The implementation runs as a decision support tool, with contributions of an overwhelming reduction in human effort in crew schedule construction and a feasible and better (higher productivity rate) schedule, with possible further manual improvements that can be made. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.

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+ Generating, Scheduling and Rostering of Shift Crew-duties: Applications at the Hong Kong International Airport
Partner: BSS-HAS, Baggage Services Section of Hong Kong Airport Services, Ltd, HK International Airport
Investigator: Sydney C.K. Chu

This long-term case study (with underpinning research: 1998-2008) results from close collaboration between Prof. Sydney Chu (of HKU: 1978-2015; Honorary Prof. 2015-), and BSS-HAS, Baggage Services Section of Hong Kong Airport Services, Ltd. Continuing performance impact at HK Airport HKG has been acknowledged by HAS up to this day since 2008, in a letter dated 2017 (as a more recent: 2010-2017 impact evidence) for our primary underpinning research paper in the European Journal of Operational Research dated 2007. Initiated by its senior management motivated by the need to best produce BSS shift-duty work plans, we took it from research to detailed flight/workload data modelling, via iterative discussion, substantial amount of computation and coding of a decision support system. The overall impact resulted from the system was rated by HAS senior management as high as up to 10% manpower/service savings improvement (of a workforce of around 200) in their 2017 impact evidence letter.

+ Hospital Lift System Simulator: A Performance Evaluator-predictor
Partner: Hospital Authority with United Christian Hospital
Investigators: Sydney C.K. Chu, Carrie K.Y. Lin and S.S. Lam

In the early 2000's, Prof. Sydney Chu of the University of Hong Kong led a team that involved also members from two other universities in Hong Kong on a consulting applied research work to build a general and flexible simulation decision support system (DSS) with visual input/output interface specifically for lift systems of hospitals with many storeys. Novel data modeling of inter-floor passengers traffic determination and totally flexible lifts control/zoning operations were the two key features integrated within the DSS - as its driver of mathematical algorithm and computation. The work benchmarked primarily on the United Christian Hospital (UCH) under the Hospital Authority (HA) of Hong Kong and was described in detail in a paper in the European Journal of Operational Research in 2003. As a project deliverable, the DSS nicked-named PEP (Performance Evaluator & Predictor) had since been applied to several other HA hospitals successfully, such as an early application to Pok Oi Hospital. The most recent pivotal impact, however, resulted from this PEP being applied in a consultancy project commissioned in 2014 by HA to finalize together with the building contractor on the capacity decision of lifts system on a new ambulatory block of UCH yet to be fully commissioned. This application impact was documented by the consultants in a series of reports in 2014 and journal papers in 2016. Such impact evidence is also confirmed by the HA Head Office in 2018 on having a long-term impact on service quality and cost alike, upon adopting the results generated from this 2014 consultancy study.