The present study was designed to gain a deeper understanding of RTI control and Supply Chain Coordination, with a specific focus on the practical challenges experienced in the reverse logistics by asset-owner and asset-users. A case study at EPS - an RTI owner - is performed and a practical problem has been addressed with a design science and TIL systems engineering approach. It was observed that a huge amount of deposit is allocated to a retailer's generic account. The current state analysis found that this problem is mainly due to inefficiency in the current identification process with physical SSCC labels. The design goal of minimising the "Delta" -the number of unidentifiable return packages- was defined. Ways to redesign the reverse logistics were determined with the aim that all return packages can be allocated to the retailer at shop level. Based on the future state requirements and the design goal, the concept of matchmaking is developed as a way to achieve the design goal. This thesis shows that a matchmaking system can improve the traceability of return packages and that it has the potential in bringing the Delta of return packages with missing shoplink to zero.
The matchmaking system is defined as the framework that ensures matchmaking, which uses a "key" generated by the sender to represent the return package. If the receiver can find the key upon arrival of the return package at the depot, the sender can be identified. Seven matchmaking systems were considered. Five alternatives use unique tray identities as key. One alternative uses the load carrier as key and the last alternative uses the return package identity as key. The validation results show that an "all read" or "reading of all individual trays" is not a requisite for a working matchmaking system. By contrast, as long as a certain ratio of reading at two locations is reached, an all-read scenario can be mimicked. The assessment investigated the instances in which zero mismatch take place. Results show that the higher the data capture capability of both the sender and receiver, the higher the chance a match can take place and the smaller the chance of a mismatch. This thesis creates insights on requirements for enhancing traceability of RTI's in the return chain and developed a matchmaking concept that can address the practical problem of returns without traceability of shop origin. The developed matchmaking concept is the outcome of an analysis of the current state and makes use of data elements that are already being collected in the database, in the case of EPS. The study addresses how collected data can be leveraged for enhanced RTI management in the reverse logistics and may inspire practitioners to face challenges with a similar lean approach.

An increasing demand for mobility due to natural growth in demand and an urbanizing Randstad region create a demand for a higher quality and higher capacity system of public transportation in the Netherlands. Funding for improvements is however lacking threatening the development of needed homes in the region as new development locations lack accessibility. The responsibility for plan making and development of housing and regional infrastructure has shifted to lower levels of government. Value capture funding instruments are successfully applied abroad where they supply parts of the required funding for infrastructural projects. The application of value capture instruments in the Dutch context is studied by looking at Dutch cases where regional public transportation infrastructure and urban development are combined and by expert interviews to explore the application of value capture instruments. Through a literature study it was found that the upgrade of public transportation infrastructure can lead to a 3 to 5 per cent rise in real estate values in the first kilometer from a new station location. By estimating a rise in real estate values using qualitative characteristics complex quantitative calculations can be avoided and an expected rise in real estate value can be found. A proposal for a value capture process is made where the choice for an instrument is related to the capture space and financial feasibility is considered in relation to the choice for value capturing. It is recommended that the Dutch government takes action to empower local public bodies to be able to apply value capture instruments by taking away legal risks. Timing, scale and governance are seen as key factors for local public bodies to be able to succeed in capturing value.

The continuing growth in air travel passengers, in combination with enhanced security regulations, has led to unsustainable situations at airports. In order to handle the future amount of air travel passengers while complying to security regulations and enhancing the passenger experience, the terminal system must be innovated. Seamless flow is a future end-to-end continuous, efficient and secure innovation which uses passenger biometrics for identification throughout the airport processes. Previous research is focused on fitting the new seamless flow technology in with the conventional airport processes. This research explores whether the biometric technology could lead to new, and feasible, passenger terminal concepts. Two new seamless flow concepts are constructed and assessed on their feasibility by conducting interviews with stakeholders, performing desk-research and executing a financial Cost-Benefit Analysis. The research findings indicate that the new technology could lead to feasible, efficient and experience enhancing passenger terminal concepts in comparison to the conventional terminal concept equipped with seamless flow technology. Thereby, the support of - and collaboration between - stakeholders, especially the border guard agency, is shown to be essential for the implementation of seamless flow technology on civil airports. Besides that, it is shown that more efficient terminal concepts could significantly benefit airports through increased commercial opportunities.

Block signalling and Automatic Train Protection are two of the main railway safety systems to control the risk of train accidents. The combination of the existing Dutch block signalling system NS’54 and ATP-system ATB-EG is functioning well, but has some drawbacks. The systems have been designed over 60 years ago with proven technology of that time. Components are old and will have to be replaced in the near future. The safety functionality of the legacy systems is limited. Moreover, the capacity of the Dutch railway network with NS’54/ATB-EG is almost fully used while demand grows. Solutions are required to match the demand growth. The European Rail Traffic Managements System (ERTMS) is proposed to be the new standard European safety system. Train control is included in the European Train Control System (ETCS). It offers benefits in the form of interoperability, increased safety, speed, capacity and/or reliability over the national system. ERTMS/ETCS Hybrid Level 3 is an integrated cab-signalling and train protection system that combines train position information, onboard train integrity confirmation and trackside train detection. Compared to the legacy system NS'54/ATB-EG and the proposed system ERTMS/ETCS Level 2 it offers more railway capacity and allows for a reduction in trackside train detection. This thesis shows that the infrastructure occupation can drop from 84% to 66,7% when implementing ERTMS/ETCS Hybrid Level 3. Reducing the amount of trackside train detection to the minimum and transitioning from track circuits to axle counters can result in a decrease of track unavailability related to train protection systems of over 40% compared to the existing configuration.

Within aircraft component MRO industry, companies providing availability contracts are challenged by inherently unpredictable demand patterns and complex time crucial operations. Most prevailing academic literature within the MRO industry has focused on availability models or operations management in repair shops in the past. This study focuses on one of the most critical, and often neglected parts of the MRO supply chain. The reverse logistic flow of aircraft components. A research methodology was constructed by integrating the adapted DMADE (Define, Measure, Analyse, Design, Evaluate) structure from Lean Six Sigma and a number of different business process improvement methodologies from the literature in combination with a simulation study. The aim of the study is to identify a methodology with practical design criteria on how to redesign the reverse logistical processes of a component MRO provider, in order to improve the performance from an integral supply chain perspective. For this purpose a case study is performed and the current state of the closed loop supply chain of KLM E&M was measured and analysed. By analysing this current state, design criteria for redesign are determined. A new automated logistic handling area is introduced by separating the physical and administrative handling operations. The proposed redesign is evaluated using discrete event simulation. Through optimisation modelling the optimal balance between inventory, resources and time required to handle the volatile demand pattern to achieve a desired service level, is determined. By optimising the capacity in handling the total time in the supply chain can be shortened. The redesign was evaluated using different levels of proactive repair order creation and skill configurations. Results from the case study showed the relationship between process efficiency, available capacity in terms of manpower, inventory, service level, and handling time. By separating the physical from the administrative flow, reducing handovers and transactions, generating repair orders in advance and shifting from inventory buffers to capacity buffers the reverse logistic flow of component MRO providers can be drastically improved.

Due to complex nature of aircraft heavy maintenance checks, achieving process stability is difficult. Literature suggests that this stability can be obtained by separating routine and non-routine work, and focusing on quick identification of non-routine tasks by completing inspection tasks early in the check. Current task planning methods show limitations in producing a feasible task planning, motivating the need for an advanced task planning model. This model combines the task elements of manpower, work order, and aircraft zone to find the minimum TAT given the task complexity-based heuristic. For this model, aircraft zones have been redefined, as the zones specified by Boeing are not suitable for task planning. An experiment using the advanced task planning model is conducted for the Inspection Phase tasks of the Boeing 777 C07 check. The target is to complete all tasks in 48 hours. Results show that it is feasible to perform all Inspection Phase tasks in 61.28 hours, where 99.51% of the tasks is completed in 48 hours. Completing all tasks takes 8 shifts, with a maximum of 31 technicians in a shift. The total TAT can be further reduced by identifying and lifting the constraints in the planning. One example shows how this can lead to an 8 hour reduction in total TAT for the best experiment scenario, bringing the TAT closer to the 48-hour goal. This demonstrates how the advanced task planning method can be used to stabilise aircraft heavy maintenance.

On a daily basis we (in) directly make use of functions of various infrastructures: we drive on roads and bridges or we live without worries behind the safety of a dike. Only when there are cracks in the dike or a particular bridge is not accessible due to for example a broken pillar, we realize how critical these infrastructures are for our society and economy. These infrastructures are not build to last forever and they are susceptible to breakdowns, especially as some are reaching the end of their technical lifespan. Building new infrastructures is simply not an option, as this is often financially and logistically not feasible. Getting as much as possible out of the remaining technical lifespan of such critical infrastructures is then down to employing innovative maintenance strategies, such as risk and opportunity based asset management, as is being done in the ROBAMCI project, initiated by Deltares. Management and maintenance of infrastructures already takes place in a multi-actor environment. Adding systematic approaches on top of this multi-actor environment requires maintenance managers to further integrate their decision making processes. However, analysis have shown that there is a clear lack of this integrated decision making. Literature has further shown that this could be as a result of a lack of information sharing between organizations. Improving inter-organizational information sharing, however first requires further understandings. This research project is done with the goal to achieve that understanding. A case-study in the context of ROBAMCI was used to study this concpt in a practical environment. The asset in this case was a sea-lock complex located in Delfzijl, which not only performs functions for shipping, but also has various other direct and indirect functions, influencing for example local nature, economy and regional water management. Theoretical knowledge, gained from literature studies, was then used to interpret the data from in-depth interviews with employees of identified organizations. The empirical findings, interpreted through various sources of literature showed that there is a wide array of factors influencing inter-organizational information sharing in the case-study. Among the most mentioned and expected were trust, competing interests/self-interests and legislations & policies. Organizations also add value to the importance of personal physical interactions and even though the information sharing takes place between actors of one national government, concern for information misuse is also seen as a potential barrier for information sharing. The data has also led to the formation of some factor-relations, we see e.g. that trust forms a positive causal relation with not only information sharing itself, but also has a negative causal relation with concerns of the quality of the information. Data also makes it clear that there is an interrelation between the 3 levels of information sharing. These findings, backed by theory have led to the identification of 2 general fundamentals that can be taken into account when trying to further understand information sharing. The first one focuses on trust and legislations, whereas the second one addresses on the embeddedness of the information sharing levels. Conclusively it can be said that inter-organizational information sharing helps to make more efficient and effective decisions for the management and maintenance of assets. There are many factors that can either positively or negatively influence information sharing. It is recommended that through further studying factor relations their importance can be determined. This can also help to reduce the high number of factors and frameworks. For ROBAMCI it is recommended to use the results of this research as input for a maturity analysis focusing on the inter-organizational information management of organizations in the sector.