This paper considers the cost-effective inventory control of work-in-process (WIP) and finished products in a two-stage distributed manufacturing system. The first stage produces a common WIP, and the second stage consists of several production sites that produce differentiated products with...

An important issue in the management of supply chains and manufacturing systems is to control inventory costs at different locations throughout the system while satisfying an end-customer service-level requirement. The challenge involved is to solve a nonlinear constrained optimization problem...

In the inventory model, people usually assume that the inter-demand time is independently identical distributed which may not be true in reality. Here we study an (s,S) continuous review model for items with an exponential random lifetime and a general Markovian renewal demand process. By...

A life annuity contract is an insurance instrument which pays pre-scheduled living benefits conditional on the survival of the annuitant. In order to manage the risk borne by annuity providers, one needs to take into account all sources of uncertainty that affect the value of future obligations...

Recent reports about the condition of the Wisconsin dairy industry have not been all that good. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), dairy cow numbers in Wisconsin have been steadily dropping over the last few years while total milk production has, at best, held...