ISE 754: Logistics Engineering
Fall 2026
This course presents the fundamental quantitative approaches that are used in the design and control of logistics systems, including modeling issues, design concepts, computational considerations, and the use of open source software packages. This quantitative, or engineering, approach to logistics is meant to complement that of business logistics, which is concerned with the management of logistics processes and relationships.
Tuesday and Thursday, 10:15 to 11:30 am, 313 Monteith
Michael G. Kay Instructor
Emailkay@ncsu.edu
OfficeFWH 4161
Phone919-515-2008
HoursTue and Thu, 12–1 pm
New here? Set up your computer. The guide walks through the installation and ends with a check that reports whether the machine is ready. We install together in the first class meeting and finish afterwards, so bring a laptop.
You are not expected to run the mechanics. You are expected to know what happened, and to check it. The assistant pulls, writes files, and puts things where the course looks for them. Three things stay yours: deciding what the model is, deciding whether a result is right, and choosing to submit.
| Cadence | Happens on its own | You ask for, in your own words | Yours alone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Once, at setup | the guide detects what is already installed and skips it | “work through SETUP.md” | paste the report into Moodle |
| Every session | the session check reports feedback you have not pulled, and work you have not pushed | nothing | notice it |
| Before each class, from 1.2 on | the assistant pulls what is new, says what arrived, and copies a lecture’s script into work/lectures/ when you want to run it |
“get me ready for Thursday” | watch, read, and answer the review honestly |
| Before each homework | handouts/ pulled; work/hw<N>/ created; files land where the tooling looks |
“start homework 2” | the modeling, and the checking |
| Before each project | releases pulled into work/project-<N>/ |
“what should I ask the client?” | deciding what to ask |
| To submit | nothing, deliberately | “submit this” | the decision to submit |
Lectures
The lectures live at their own permanent address, https://mgkay.github.io/ise754f26/. That address names this offering, so the lectures taught this term stay there and are never overwritten by a later one. It is safe to bookmark and safe to cite.
Schedule
Meeting dates, the topic for each, and what is due. This page belongs to the current term rather than to the lectures, which is why it lives here and not with them.
Syllabus
How the course is run: grading, examinations, policies, and what is expected. It covers both sections, with section 601’s differences collected in one place.
Models
Every model in this course is stated in the same form, in words first, before any symbols or code. This is the reference for that form, and it is worth reading once early and returning to whenever a model has to be written down. It travels with the lectures rather than with the semester, since the form does not change between offerings.
Materials
The Julia environment, the companion script for each lecture, and the setup and submission guides. No GitHub account is needed to read or clone it.
Logjam
The Julia package the course is built on: the logistics functions used throughout the lectures, from distance calculations to transport rates. Nothing to install by hand, since the course environment brings it in. The repository is where to read what a function actually does.
Moodle
Grades, and nothing else. Everything else about the course is on this page and the pages it links to, and announcements go by email. Moodle is also where the first assignment is submitted, before the GitHub repositories exist.
Earlier offerings
Each past offering keeps its own permanent address, with the material as it was taught that term.