In multi-echelon repairable inventory systems with high set-up cost for order and/or high demand rates, the use of batch ordering may be more cost-effective than the common (S - 1, S) ordering policy. This paper addresses the issue of determining the optimal order batch size and stocking levels...

In many service systems, customers interact with an agent who directs customers to specific service facilities. Each agent, as a decision maker, seeks to allocate his/her customers to the service centers so as to optimize a measure of performance based on the customers' expected waiting time and...

This paper considers the replenishment and stocking decision for inventory systems in which price discounts, referred to as deals, are offered by the supplier (or the market place) at random points in time. Assuming that the demand is constant over time, the times between deal offerings are...

In this paper, we present a normative study that describes the impact of discharging decisions in the face of resource shortages. We develop a model that represents the dynamics of a health care unit. Then, to capture the essence of discharge decisions, we consider discharge policies that...

In this paper, we study the impact of coordinated replenishment and shipment in inventory/distribution systems. We analyze a system with multiple retailers and one outside supplier. Random demand occurs at each retailer, and the supplier replenishes all the retailers. In traditional inventory...

We develop a model and analyze reverse information sharing, a growing business practice in supply chain management in which a manufacturer shares information about supply with a retailer. We model the manufacturer as a production queue with finished goods warehouse, the retailer as an inventory...

In this paper, we consider an unreliable production process which produces nondefective items when operating in control, but produces defective items with a probability \alpha when the process has shifted to an out-of-control state. Following a JIT philosophy, we stop the entire line and repair...

In this paper, we consider a supply-chain model consisting of a single product, one supplier, and multiple retailers. Demand at the retailers is random, but stationary. Each retailer places her orders to the supplier according to the well-known (Q,R) policy. We assume that the supplier has...

In this paper we consider an (S - 1, S) inventory system with Poisson demand and constant resupply times. An arriving customer facing stockout will either backorder or withdraw its order. Expressions describing steady state operating characteristics of the system and the expected total cost rate...