J.B. Hunt Innovation Center Projects

The J.B. Hunt Innovation Center of Excellence, an industry-funded research center, is a collaboration between the College of Engineering, the Sam M. Walton College of Business (WCOB) and J.B. Hunt professionals. The faculty of the Department of Industrial Engineering (INEG) and the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering (CSCE) are the main contributors from the College of Engineering.

Funded through a 5-year grant provided by J.B. Hunt, the center and operations are overseen by a steering committee comprised of leadership from both participating colleges, as well as executives from J.B. Hunt.

The College of Engineering has provided a collaborative space to serve as an interdisciplinary work area for students, faculty and J.B. Hunt professionals. The mission of the center is to develop innovative solutions to address emerging challenges and opportunities facing J.B. Hunt and the transportation logistics industry.

The University of Arkansas faculty-led research teams are tasked with overcoming these challenges with technology, advanced decision-making tools and sound business strategy. The center measures successful research projects by their financial impact to J.B. Hunt and the degree in which they disrupt the transportation logistics industry.

Current Research

Photo of Xiao LiuProfessor Xiao Liu is working on a project that aims to develop a data driven approach, which enables J.B. Hunt to dynamically set the optimum number of containers allocated to a customer site. The proposed approach consists of two components: the first component employs a statistical process control technique called Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) to monitor the inbound (IB) and outbound (OB) container flows in real time. Once the shift of the IB and OB patterns has been detected, the second component of the approach automatically updates the optimum allocation of containers to this customer by minimizing the total operation cost of J.B. Hunt. The project is still ongoing and the team is currently working towards more realistic and robust solutions based on this framework.

Photo of Sarah NurreA research team, led by Professor Sarah Nurre, successfully completed a project for J.B. Hunt examining the supply chain for big and bulky items such as furniture and appliances. In the first phase of the project, Marc Scott (previously a supply chain management faculty member) reported market research findings about customer preferences related to delivery speed and cost and identified opportunities for future growth. In the second phase, a mathematical model was developed with an accompanying decision support tool to determine logistics operations including the amount and cost of inventory held and the necessary replenishment frequency to meet customer expectations.

These are just two of the groundbreaking projects expected from the partnership of the Department of Industrial Engineering, the Sam M. Walton College of Business and the J.B. Hunt Innovation Center of Excellence. Watch for more to come in the future!