Staff Data Scientist (Operations Research) at Walmart Global Technology

Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering

University of Arkansas

Arkansas, USA

2017 - 2012

• Proposed an improved algorithm framework based on multi-directional local search to approximate the Pareto frontier of multi-objective optimization problems and applied it to solve the multi-objective consistent vehicle routing problems.
• Studied the impact of improving service consistency on transportation costs in vehicle routing problems with repeatable customer demands using a large neighborhood search heuristic.
• Suggested a branch-and-price algorithm to solve the consistent vehicle routing problem to minimize traveling costs.

M.S. in Industrial Engineering

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Wuhan, China

2012 - 2009

• Designed a tabu search and imperialist competitive algorithm to solve the process planning optimization problem.
• Developed an imperialist competitive algorithm to address the mixed-model U-shaped assembly line balancing and sequencing problem.
• Proposed an improved imperialist competitive algorithm to solve the integrated process planning and scheduling problem.

B.S. in Industrial Engineering

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Wuhan, China

2009 - 2005

• Implemented a hybrid genetic algorithm and simulated annealing to identify the best machining operations sequence for prismatic parts. (Outstanding Bachelor’s Thesis Award)

Staff Data Scientist – Operations Research

Walmart Inc.

AR, USA

Present - 2020.01

• Supported the global logistics team to determine the optimal ocean carriers that minimize total transportation costs, achieved approximately $90 million cost savings for fiscal year 2021.
• Designed and developed a column generation based distributed optimization engine to solve the load consolidation problem for Walmart’s inbound network.
• Implemented constructive heuristic algorithms to solve the virtual pallet building problem in grocery distribution centers.

Sr. Data Scientist – Operations Research

Walmart Inc.

AR, USA

2020.01 - 2019.01

• Designed and developed a profiling application prototype supporting grocery distribution centers to achieve optimal item assignments to slots. Acquired basic knowledge of frontend/backend development.
• Upgraded legacy MIP-based optimization engine to identify optimal carriers and load quantities for Walmart’s ocean procurement process in fiscal year 2020. Improved modeling capability and constraint flexibility to incorporate operational and strategic considerations. Facilitated managerial decision making by providing onsite optimization support throughout hundreds of bidding cycles. Achieved $30 million operational cost savings, significant labor hour reduction and improved company global supply chain balance and stability.

Data Scientist – Operations Research

Walmart Inc.

AR, USA

2019.01 - 2016.08

• Built a column-generation-based optimization engine within a rolling horizon framework to assign drivers to tractors with the objective of maximizing tractor utilization and minimizing driver split-seat. Achieved $4 million labor cost savings and $8 million operational cost savings annually.
• Migrated legacy truckload optimization COBOL code to Java, reducing data processing time from 10 minutes to 10 seconds. Developed heuristic algorithms to solve instances with large amount of orders, resulting in saving of 14 trucks daily.
• Implemented a column-generation-based optimization engine to estimate store-level customer purchase probability based on historical transaction data. Built a MIP engine to decide optimal offer set for each category at store level.

Global Business Processes Intern

Walmart Inc.

AR, USA

2016.08 - 2016.05

• Worked on implementation and validation of next generation inventory optimization model for Walmart U.S. and achieved 8% improvement over the current system during pilot store testing. Lead data platform migration from Teradata to Hadoop, responsible for data ETL and Hive query implementation.

Operations Research Analyst Intern

China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group CO., LTD.

Wuhan, China

2009.08 - 2009.05

• Implemented a metaheuristic algorithm to identify the optimal maintenance warehouse locations within a railway network.

GPU-enabled Safety Stock Optimization Engine

Filed with Shuohao Wu, Richard Ulrich, Dong Xu, Jingying Zhang, Clifford Bolinger, Jackie Guan

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• This invention aims to provide a solution on the optimal safety stock level settings across the chain such that the total inventory cost can be reduced, while not affecting the total sales. It leverages simulation and machine learning techniques powered by GPU computation.
• The model is a stochastic optimization where it tries to minimize the total cost and solve for the associated optimal safety stock settings. The randomness comes from the variance in demand for each item at each store in each day. We proposed and developed a Monte Carlo Simulation-based optimization model. We employ GPU based computing module to significantly enhance the computational efficiency and a set of machine learning models to leverage the historical data patterns with impact to safety stock to further boost result accuracy.

Service consistency in vehicle routing

Kunlei Lian

University of Arkansas

2017

Ph.D. Dissertation

Colonial competitive algorithm and its applications in optimization of discrete manufacturing systems

Kunlei Lian

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

2012

M.S. Thesis

A discrete whale swarm algorithm for a hybrid flow-shop scheduling problem with limited buffers

Chunjiang Zhang, Jiawei Tan, Kunkun Peng, Liang Gao, Weiming Shen, Kunlei Lian

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Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 2020

Measurement and Control. 2020.

A hybrid algorithm for the static bike-sharing re-positioning problem based on an effective clustering strategy

Chang Lv, Chaoyong Zhang, Kunlei Lian, Yaping Ren, Leilei Meng

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Transportation Research, Part B, 2020.

Digital twin for cutting tool: modeling, service and application strategy

Yang Xie, Kunlei Lian, Qiong Liu, Chaoyong Zhang

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Journal of Manufacturing Systems. 2020.

Dynamic flexible job shop scheduling method based on improved gene expression programming

Chunjiang Zhang, Yin Zhou, Kunkun Peng, Xinyu Li, Suyan Zhang, Kunlei Lian

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Measurement and Control, 2020

An improved multi-directional local search algorithm for the multi-objective consistent vehicle routing problem.

Kunlei Lian, Ashlea B. Milburn and Ronald L. Rardin

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IISE Transactions. 2016. 48(10): 975 – 992.

Applying modified colonial competitive algorithm to solve minimal hitting set problems.

Chuanjun Zhu, Jing Cao, Chaoyong Zhang and Kunlei Lian

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China Mechanical Engineering. 2015. 26(07): 917- 923.

A modified colonial competitive algorithm for the mixed-model U-line balancing and sequencing problem.

Kunlei Lian, Chaoyong Zhang, Liang Gao and Xinyu Shao

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International Journal of Production Research. 2012. 50(18): 5117 – 5131.

Integrated process planning and scheduling using an imperialist competitive algorithm.

Kunlei Lian, Chaoyong Zhang, Liang Gao and Xinyu Li

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International Journal of Production Research. 2012. 50(15): 4326 – 4343.

Optimization of process planning with various flexibilities using an imperialist competitive algorithm.

Kunlei Lian, Chaoyong Zhang, Xinyu Shao and Liang Gao

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International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. 2012. 59(5-8): 815 – 828.

A multi-dimensional tabu search algorithm for the optimization of process planning.

Kunlei Lian, Chaoyong Zhang, Xinyu Shao and Yaohui Zeng

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Science China Technological Sciences. 2011. 54(12): 3211 – 3219.

Application of bee colony optimization algorithm in warehouse facility location of rail transit network.

Kun Zhang, Hui Liu, Kunlei Lian

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Modern Urban Transit. 2011. 1:63-66.

An adaptive ant colony optimization for solving assembly line balancing problem.

Fuping Deng, Chaoyong Zhang, Kunlei Lian and Shaotan Xu

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China Mechanical Engineering. 2011. 22(16): 1949 - 1953, 1959.

A cooperative simulated annealing algorithm for the optimization of process planning.

Kunlei Lian, Chaoyong Zhang, Liang Gao, Shaotan Xu and Yi Sun

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Advanced Materials Research. 2011. 181: 489 – 494.

An improved genetic algorithm for multi-objective dynamic scheduling optimization.

Kunlei Lian, Chaoyong Zhang, Liang Gao and Chaoyang Zhang,

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Machine Design and Manufacturing Engineering. 2010. 3:13 - 17, 21

A hybrid variable neighborhood search algorithm based on grouping strategies for the static bike sharing re-positioning problem.

Chang Lv, Chaoyong Zhang, and Kunlei Lian

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In 2020 International Conference on Urban Engineering and Management Science (ICUEMS), pp. 454-459. IEEE, 2020.

A Hybrid Colonial Competitive Algorithm for the Integrated Process Planning and Scheduling Problem.

Yuxiang Lian, Leilei Meng, Yifeng Wang, Chaoyong Zhang, Kunlei Lian and Yibo Wei

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In: 2020 International Conference on Urban Engineering and Management Science

A hybrid honey-bees mating optimization algorithm for assembly sequence planning problem.

Biao Yuan, Chaoyong Zhang, Kunlei Lian and Xinyu Shao

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In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Natural Computation, May 29-31, 2012. 1135-1140

Single row facility layout problem using an imperialist competitive algorithm.

Kunlei Lian, Chaoyong Zhang, Liang Gao and Xinyu Shao

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In: Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering, October 23-26, 2011.

New high performing hybrid particle swarm optimization for permutation flow shop scheduling problem with minimization of makespan.

Yi Sun, Min Liu, Chaoyong Zhang, Liang Gao and Kunlei Lian

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In: IEEE International Conference in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, December 7, 2010.

An effective hybrid genetic simulated annealing algorithm for process planning problem.

Kunlei Lian, Chaoyong Zhang, Xinyu Li and Liang Gao

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In: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Natural Computation, August 14 – 16, 2009.

Study on a multi-objective periodic vehicle routing problem with service consistency

Kunlei Lian, Ashlea B. Milburn and Ronald L. Rardin

Philadelphia, PA

2015

• INFORMS Annual Meeting, (November 1 – 4)

Study on a multi-objective periodic vehicle routing problem with service consistency

Kunlei Lian, Ashlea B. Milburn and Ronald L. Rardin

Nashville, Tennessee

2015

• IIE Annual Conference & Expo (May 30 – June 2)

Vehicle routing problem with service consistency: a multi-objective approach

Kunlei Lian, Ashlea B. Milburn and Ronald L. Rardin

San Francisco, California

2014

• INFORMS Annual Meeting, (November 9 – 12)

Study on home health care nursing routing problem

Kunlei Lian, Ashlea B. Milburn and Ronald L. Rardin

Montreal, Canada

2014

• IIE Annual Conference & Expo, (May 31 – June 3)

Patient-focused considerations in home health nursing routing problems

Kunlei Lian, Ashlea B. Milburn and Ronald L. Rardin

Minneapolis, Minnesota

2013

• INFORMS Annual Meeting, (October 6 – 9)

Journal of Industrial Engineering International

number of reviews completed: 14

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International Journal of Production Research

number of reviews completed: 13

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Journal of Heuristics

number of reviews completed: 5

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Applied Soft Computing

number of reviews completed: 4

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European Journal of Operational Research

number of reviews completed: 3

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Computers and Industrial Engineering

number of reviews completed: 3

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Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering

number of reviews completed: 3

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Swarm and Evolutionary Computation

number of reviews completed: 2

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Expert Systems with Applications

number of reviews completed: 1

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Computers and Operations Research

number of reviews completed: 1

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Mathematical Problems in Engineering

number of reviews completed: 1

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IIE E.J. Sierleja Memorial Fellowship

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University of Arkansas

2015

Graduate Fellowship

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Huazhong University of Science and Technology

2009

Academic Achievement Award

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Huazhong University of Science and Technology

2009

Master’s Thesis Award

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Huazhong University of Science and Technology

2012

Outstanding Graduate Student Award

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Huazhong University of Science and Technology

2009

Bachelor’s Thesis Award

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Huazhong University of Science and Technology

2009

Meritorious Winner of Mathematical Contest in Modeling

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MCM: The Mathematical Contest in Modeling

2007