Incomplete contracts may involve a hold-up problem, resulting in inefficient levels of investment. In this paper, we model the phenomenon as a sequential move game with asymmetric information regarding quality. Absence behavioral considerations, the unique Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium implies...

We consider the scheduling problem of cyclic production in a bufferless dual-gripper robot cell processing a family of identical parts. The objective is to find an optimal sequence of robot moves so as to maximize the long-run average throughput rate of the cell. While there has been a...

The introduction of a discounting term into the objective functional can be troublesome in terms of analysis by the standard maximum principle formulation. This is because it renders the Hamiltonian and the adjoint equations depend explicitly on time. In finite horizon problems it makes the...

We consider a single machine, multiproduct manufacturing system, which can operate at finitely many quality levels. The quality of the machine deteriorates according to a continuous-time Markov process and the only way to improve the quality is by replacing the machine by a new one. In this...

A comparison of and the relationship between the Ito and Stratonovich formulations of stochastic integration is given. It is argued that generally the Ito formulation is appropriate for problems of finance and economics. The Black-Scholes option pricing problem is discussed in both frameworks...

We study the recently identified class of generalized due date scheduling problems. These are machine scheduling problems for which due dates are specified according to the position in which a job is completed, rather than the identity of that job. Flexible manufacturing environments and public...

A single machine processing different types of parts is considered. Switching from one type to another involves a setup time. The part types may have different processing times. The resulting scheduling problem is treated as a dynamical system for which several feedback policies that are...

This paper is concerned with long-run average cost minimization of a stochastic inventory problem with Markovian demand, fixed ordering cost, and convex surplus cost. The states of the Markov chain represent different possible states of the environment. Using a vanishing discount approach, a...

Most manufacturing systems are large and complex and operate in an uncertain environment. One approach to managing such systems is that of hierarchical decomposition. This paper reviews the research devoted to proving that a hierarchy based on the frequencies of occurrence of different types of...

We consider the problem of scheduling n jobs in a pallet-constrained two-machine flowshop so as to minimize the makespan. In such a flowshop environment, each job needs a pallet the entire time, from the start of its first operation until the completion of the last operation, and the number of...