基于可控提前期和延迟供货的短生命周期产品库存模型

本文用斜坡型函数来描述短生命周期产品需求变化特征,用持有成本不断增加的形式来表示存货的无形变质所带来的损失,通过向供应商支付额外的赶工成本来缩短提前期,同时在允许缺货的情况下设置合理的缺货期价格折扣来控制订单的流失,即以价格折扣的损失来挽留住更多的顾客,使其总成本到达最优。本文在此基础上建立了短生命周期产品的库存模型,并提出了最优解的求解方法。     

基于临期回收和响应供给策略的易逝性应急物资库存决策研究

基于降低由于需求时间和需求数量的不确定性会引致较高的过期损失和缺货损失,将临期回收策略和响应供给策略引入易逝性应急物资库存系统,同时考虑应急系统中需求时间不确定性的这一突出特性,建立临期回收策略和应急供给策略的随机规划模型,决策临期回收策略和响应供给策略下的最佳存储水平,并分析各策略带来的风险降低和价值增加。回收策略和应急供给策略并不都是有利的,存在着降低风险和增加价值的有利条件域;库存决策需要权衡风险的降低与价值的增加,给定一个判断标准;需求时间和需求数量的不同随机分布对策略的价值增加作用有不同的影响,且分布的不确定性程度对价值增加的影响不具有一致性和单调性。     

Analysis of postponement strategy by EPQ-based models with planned backorders

This paper develops economic production quantity (EPQ)-based models with planned backorders to evaluate the impact of the postponement strategy on a manufacturer in a supply chain. We derive the optimal total average costs per unit time for producing and keeping n end-products in a postponement system and a non-postponement system, respectively. By comparing the optimal total average costs of the two systems, we evaluate the impact of postponement on the manufacturer under four circumstances. Our results show that postponement strategy can give a lower total average cost under certain circumstances. We also find that the key factors in postponement decisions are the variance of the machine utilization rates and the variance of the backorder costs.     

易腐性产品运输设施选择博弈

易腐性产品的价值会随着时间的流逝而逐渐损失,多个客户可以联合使用某种运输设施时,如何对费用进行公平且稳定的分摊是合作能否进行的基础.把易腐性产品的损失价值和运输费用之和作为总费用,进而将易腐性产品的运输设施选择的费用分配问题构造成运输设施选择合作博弈,证明了在易腐性产品负指数价值损失的情况下,运输设施选择博弈的核心非空,且为凹博弈,并讨论了解的特征.论文还证明具有附加运输费用的运输设施选择博弈的核心非空,分析了核心与线性规划松弛的对偶最优解之间的关系.论文对有约束设施选择博弈进行了分析,并提出了进一步研究的方向.     

延迟支付条件下易逝品的最优订货决策研究

本文在考虑延期支付的情况下构建了二级供应链关于易逝品的最优订货决策模型,其中供应链由单个供应商和多个面临资金约束的零售商组成。在不允许缺货的情况下,供应商为零售商提供延迟支付来缓解零售商的资金压力,同时零售商对产品的定价将随易逝品的价值变质而变化。本文利用遗传算法对模型进行了算例分析,同时对模型中的相关参数进行了敏感性分析。结果表明,延迟支付能够提高供应链总利润并降低风险,从而有利于供应链整体效益的提高。在延期支付条件下,供应链各成员获得的收益增量存在较大差距,其中供应商能够获得更多收益。最后,通过敏感性分析,我们还发现产量及易逝品保质期的变动会对供应链整体利润产生不同程度的影响。     

Value of and Interaction between Production Postponement and Information Sharing Strategies for Supply Chain Firms

We analyze the value of and interaction between production postponement and information sharing, which are two distinct strategies to reduce manufacturers’ uncertainty about demand. In both single‐level and two‐level supply chains, from the manufacturer's perspective, while information sharing is always valuable, production postponement can sometimes be detrimental. Furthermore, the value of production postponement is not merely driven by savings in inventory holding cost as postponement enables the manufacturer to avoid both excess and shortfall in production. We find that production postponement and information sharing strategies may substitute, complement, or conflict with each other, depending on the extent of the increase in the unit production cost when production is postponed. In a two‐level supply chain, from the retailer's perspective, information sharing and production postponement can be beneficial or detrimental. When information sharing is beneficial to the retailer, the retailer always shares her demand information with the manufacturer voluntarily. In addition, this voluntary information sharing is truthful because inflated or deflated demand information hurts the retailer through a higher wholesale price or a stock‐out. However, the retailer never shares her demand information voluntarily if the manufacturer has already adopted production postponement because production postponement and information sharing strategies always conflict with each other. Even when the retailer does not benefit from information sharing, we show that the manufacturer can always design an incentive mechanism to induce the retailer to share the demand information, irrespective of whether the manufacturer has already implemented production postponement or not. The above findings underscore the need for a careful assessment of demand uncertainty‐reduction strategies before the supply chain players embark upon them.     

基于合作博弈的易腐性产品运输设施选择的费用分配

易腐性产品的价值会随着时间而损失,运输易腐性产品时,客户除了支付运输费用外还需要承担产品的价值损失。本文把易腐性产品的价值损失和运输费用之和作为总费用,应用合作博弈理论,把易腐性产品的运输设施选择的费用分配问题构造成费用分配博弈,证明了在易腐性产品线性价值损失的情况下,运输设施选择博弈的核心非空,且为子模博弈,并讨论核仁、夏普利值、τ-值等解。论文最后讨论了有约束运输的设施选择的费用分配博弈的解的情况,说明其核心也许为空,并提出了进一步研究的方向。     

Managing finished-goods inventory under capacitated delayed differentiation

Delayed differentiation or postponement is widely advocated to mitigate conflicts between product diversity and inventory cost savings. Manufacturers practicing postponement often suffer from severely constrained finishing capacities and noticeable finishing lead times. Therefore, inventories are still needed for finished products. Using the concept of inventory shortfall, this paper studies base-stock inventory models with and without demand forecasting and provides a computationally efficient method to set optimal inventory targets for finished products under capacitated postponement. Computations show inventory-saving benefit quickly vanishes after the capacity reaches a certain level. The value of forecasted advance-demand information (ADI) to postponement is justified, but can easily be overstated. Finishing capacities usually force manufacturers to build ahead according to demand forecast. When capacity limitation becomes severe, intuitions often guide producers to build to forecast even more than finishing lead times ahead. Results of this research indicate that these intuitions may be invalid and build to forecast more than finishing lead times ahead may not be a good practice. Further studies reveal that under capacitated postponement the forecasted advance-demand information is useful only when the variance of demand forecast errors is less than that of demands, and show that the optimal forecast lead time can be obtained in the same way as if the capacity is unlimited.     

提前期、构建成本和短缺量拖后率均可控的EOQ模型

传统库存模型通常将提前期和构建成本视为不可控制。事实上可以通过追加投资缩短提前期和降低构建成本。缺货期间,为减少订单丢失量和补偿顾客的损失,供应商会给予一定的价格折扣。现实库存系统中,容易得到需求的期望值和标准差,但较难得到其分布规律。基于此,考虑短缺量拖后率与价格折扣和缺货期间库存水平相关,提出了一种需求为任意分布且提前期和构建成本均可控的EOQ模型,证明了模型存在唯一最优解,给出了一种寻优算法。数值仿真分析表明,一般情况下,压缩提前期和降低构建成本能降低订购批量和安全库存,降低库存总成本;短缺量拖后系数和缺货概率对库存总成本影响较大,企业应尽量降低缺货概率,尤其在短缺量拖后系数较小时。     

Postponement implementation in integrated production and inventory plan under deterioration effects: a case study of a juice producer with limited storage capacity

Abstract

The aim of this study is to develop a production and inventory plan for a fresh apple juice producer. During harvest season, the producer extracts premium juice from freshly picked apples and keeps an inventory of these premium apples in his temperature-controlled storage facility. The producer extracts also regular juice from regular apples purchased from third-party storages. To satisfy future demand, the producer carries inventories of juice and apple. The levels of apple inventories are constrained by the producer’s limited storage space, but he can replenish regular apples. To assist the producer in facing demand uncertainty and deterioration of apples, we develop a production and inventory plan that incorporates postponement to mitigate demand uncertainty. As postponement decisions are shaped by the cost structure of inventories, we integrate in one model the postponement decisions and the deterioration mitigation decisions that can alter the inventory costs. We build multi-period stochastic programming with recourse model to determine juice batch sizes and apple inventories that maximize the producer’s expected profit. The optimal solution illustrates the use of time and form postponements. We discuss the interactions between postponement implementation and decisions to mitigate apples deterioration. We compare the production and inventory plans with and without postponement and with and without apple deterioration. We also present sensitivity analyses for the plan under varying inventory cost and storage space.     

易变质产品在带运输时间的二级供应链中的订购策略研究

研究了带运输时间的易变质产品的二级供应链库存模型。在有限计划期内,为补充下游分销商发出的订单,上游制造商以一定的生产速率进行生产。由于产品运输给分销商时需要花费时间与成本,在开始一段时间内分销商的订单得不到及时补充,只有当制造商的库存量达到最大时,才将产品运输给分销商。目标就是确定最优订购策略使得整个系统的总成本最小。通过分析成本函数的特点,证明了2种特殊情形下最优解的存在及唯一性。最后通过算例验证了最优策略的有效性。     

Inventory Control and Scheduling of Multiple Products in a Common Facility*

Consider a set of chemical products to be produced in a single facility. Each product has its own unique reaction time (which is assumed to be independent of its batch size), as well as other cost and demand values. In this paper, we address the problem of determining the optimal number of batches, batch sizes, and an accompanying production schedule for these products in the single facility that will minimize the total cost. Two different algorithms have been developed for this problem, the performances of which are contrasted with classical cyclic production schedules. Finally, some guidelines for the application of these methods to real-life problems are outlined.     

On the Issuing Policies for Perishable Items such as Red Blood Cells and Platelets in Blood Service

Red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets are examples of perishable items with a fixed shelf life. Recent studies show that transfusing fresh RBCs may lead to an improvement of patient outcomes. In addition, to better manage their inventory, hospitals prefer to receive fresh RBCs and platelets. Therefore, as well as minimizing outdates and shortages, reducing the average age of issue is a key performance criterion for blood banks. The issuing policy in a perishable inventory system has a substantial impact on the age of issue and outdate and shortage rates. Although several studies have compared the last in first out (LIFO) and the first in first out (FIFO) policies for perishable products, only a few studies have considered the situation of blood banks where replenishment is not controllable. In this study, we examine various issuing policies for a perishable inventory system with uncontrollable replenishment, and outline a modified FIFO policy. Our proposed modified FIFO policy partitions the inventory into two parts such that the first part holds the items with age less than a threshold. It then applies the FIFO policy in each part and the LIFO policy between the parts. We present two approximation techniques to estimate the average age of issue, the average time between successive outdates and the average time between successive shortages of the modified FIFO policy. Our analysis shows in several cases that where the objective function is a single economic function, or it is formulated as a multiobjective model, the modified FIFO policy outperforms the FIFO and LIFO policies.     

短生命周期产品的三种库存模型的比较

讨论短生命周期产品库存模型,考虑无形变质因素,并假定无形变质率与需求率成反比关系.在线性需求和常数生产率的条件下,假设,若需求率为1,则视作产品的市场生命周期结束.并且,在产品生命周期的前期不存在缺货的情况下,给出了短生命周期产品分别在理想状态、允许缺货以及价格折扣导致需求率变化等3种状态下的库存模型,最后在相同参数条件下对这3种模型进行比较,找出了单位时间内平均总成本最小的最优库存模型,厂商可以根据自身的情况选择合适的库存策略.     

零售商主导下生鲜农产品供应链的定价策略对比研究

运用RFID技术来监控与管理产品,零售商可以依据记录、传递的产品实时价值信息制定更为灵活的定价和订货策略,提升自身以及供应链的利润。针对生鲜农产品在价值损耗及消费者需求等方面进行特征分析,分别在固定定价、动态定价以及带有降价时点考虑的定价三种不同模式下,构建了单周期零售商的决策模型,得到各自的最优定价与订货策略,通过分析最优策略与关键参数之间的关系,发现:价值衰减系数越大,库存成本参数越大,三种模式下的总体零售价格都越小,价格的下调幅度越大;而两个参数对降价折扣时间点的影响却截然相反。进一步,着力在最优销售价格、订货总量与利润值三个方面对三种定价策略进行对比分析,结果显示基于RFID技术的灵活定价模式有助于零售商获取更大的市场需求量及更大的收益。数值实验进一步验证了理论研究的结果,为生鲜农产品供应链中对RFID技术的应用以及相应定价模式的选择提供了参考依据。     

易逝性高新技术产品在衰退期的收入管理问题

通过对处于衰退期的高新技术产品的分析,指出高新技术产品的易逝性现象,并将收入 管理原则运用于衰退期中高新技术产品的价格策略. 针对此类产品的易逝性和需求的随机 性,提出对价格和生产规模进行综合控制的数学模型并给出求解的方法. 算例表明,使用收入 管理方法可以显著提高销售收入,增加企业经济效益.     

Optimal production,replenishment, delivery,routing and inventory management policies for products with perishable inventory

This paper presents a generalized production-inventory-routing model with perishable inventory. We analyze the optimal integrated decisions of when and how much to deliver and sell products with varying manufacturing periods. We discuss main inventory management policies to demonstrate the applicability of the model in real-world applications for production routing problems (PRPs) with perishable inventory. Furthermore, an exact branch-and-cut algorithm is developed and discussed. We introduce new families of logical, strengthened lot-sizing and lifted Miller–Tucker–Zemlin subtour elimination constraints for the PRP with perishable inventory. Finally, we test the performance of the algorithm. We also implement and compare 8 suboptimal delivery and selling priority policies with an optimized policy to develop managerial implications.     

Multi-product batch production on a single machine—A problem revisited

When several products are processed one at a time on a single machine, the conventional approach of computing the economic batch quantity for each product cannot apply. An example for six products is considered, where the total production capacity on regular time is inadequate, so that overtime has to be used at an extra cost. A simple method is described for solving this problem when each product is produced once during a production cycle, the objective being to minimize the total set-up and holding costs per day. Schedules which involve batch splitting can reduce these costs further, and a guideline is proposed for the construction of sub-cycles. The results compare favourably with lower bounds computed for the purpose.     

Modelling the tradeoff between postponement capacity and forecast accuracy

The ability to offer rapid delivery of a wide variety of customised products requires companies to maintain high levels of product inventories to quickly respond to customer demands. One alternative for reducing final product inventories while providing the required customer service level is delayed product differentiation, known as postponement. This strategy, however, can result in significant costs of increasing capacity at the postponement stage. Another alternative is to improve forecast accuracy, resulting in costs associated with more sophisticated forecasting methodologies. In this study we model the costs associated with each alternative and the resulting reductions in inventory levels, while maintaining a constant service level. We illustrate the interaction between these variables using a numerical example motivated by our work with a local manufacturer of non-durable household goods. Our findings show that large cost differences can exist between the two strategies, and that these costs play a significant role in determining the best strategy. Also, the value of the product (through holding cost) sets a limit on the benefit that can be realised by either strategy. These results have important managerial implications that should be considered when making the postponement decision.     

COMPONENT COMMONALITY: MODELS WITH PRODUCT‐SPECIFIC SERVICE CONSTRAINTS*

Common components are used extensively for reasons including product postponement and expediting new product development. We consider a two‐stage assemble‐to‐order system with two products having uniformly distributed demand, one common component, and product‐specific components. We develop optimization models in which the cost‐minimizing inventory of the components must be determined and allocated to products in order to meet product‐specific service level constraints. We compare two different commonality models based on whether or not the products are prioritized. A distinctive feature of our study is the use of product‐specific service levels. We compare our results with models using aggregate service levels.