Capacity optimization and competition with cyclical and lead-time-dependent demands

Capacity acquisition is often capital- and time-consuming for a business, and capacity investment is often partially or fully irreversible and difficult to change in the short term. Moreover, capacity determines the action space for service/production scheduling and lead-time quotation decisions. The quoted lead-time affects the customer’s perceived service quality. Thus, capacity acquisition level and lead-time quotation affect a firm’s revenue/profit directly or indirectly. In this paper, we investigate a joint optimization problem of capacity acquisition, delivery lead-time quotation and service-production scheduling with cyclical and lead-time-dependent demands. We first explore the structural properties of the optimal schedule given any capacity and lead-time. Then, the piecewise concave relationship between the delay penalty cost and the capacity acquisition level is found. Thereby, an efficient and effective polynomial time algorithm is provided to determine the optimal capacity acquisition level, delivery lead-time quotation and service/production schedule simultaneously. Furthermore, a capacity competition game among multiple firms is addressed. The numerical studies show that capacity equilibrium often exists and converges to a unique solution.     

Measurement and optimization of responsiveness in supply chain networks with queueing structures

In this paper we consider supply chains with multiple stages of serial or network structure. The supply chains are endogenous in the sense that they involve queues because each order’s lead-time is dependent on the orders already in the system. We define supply chain responsiveness as the probability of fulfilling customer orders within a promised lead-time and study the problems of measuring and optimizing supply chain responsiveness using queueing network models. We first consider a single-server multi-stage serial supply chain and find a closed form expression for the fulfilment time distribution. For the multi-server multi-stage problem, the closed form evaluation of the fulfilment time distribution becomes intractable due to the dependency of the lead-times in different stages. We circumvent this difficulty by proposing a novel FCFS discipline which enables a closed-form analysis. For the multi-server multi-stage Jackson-type supply chain network, to enable analysis, we convert the system into an equivalent single server single stage system with state-dependent rates. For each case, we present detailed numerical examples for both measurement and the optimization of supply chain responsiveness.     

A study on lead-time discount coordination for deteriorating products

Goods flowing through supply chains usually deteriorate. Such goods may corrupt, volatilize, and degenerate over time and thus cause the decline of their values or quantity. This study focuses on lead-time coordination for supply chains with deteriorating products which facilitates member cooperation and long-time relationships, thus increasing profit for the entire supply chain. A two-level supply chain with a single supplier and a single retailer is considered, in which the product deteriorates in the same manner for both the supplier and retailer, which is allowed to have shortages. A lead-time discount coordination strategy is used to maximize the profit of the entire supply chain by appropriately determining the optimal order quantity and lead-time. A numerical example is given, and sensitivity analyses are performed to analyze the influence of various parameters on the overall profit. The results can help managers establish long-term cooperative relationships in supply chains.     

基于提前期压缩的两阶段供应链的契约协调

研究了基于提前期压缩的信息对称和信息不对称两种情况下的供应链协调问题,重点解决了在信息不对称时采用线性转移支付策略解决供应链的不协调问题.当压缩提前期时,制造商的成本增加,成本的增加值信息对销售商有对称和不对称两种情况.在信息对称时采用收益共享契约可以实现供应链的协调;在信息不对称,采用收益共享契约时,为了激励制造商,销售商不得不对制造商生产成本的不确定性付出成本,导致利润下降,而制造商由于拥有私有信息而使得利润增加,所以整个供应链并没有达到集中决策时的水平,只得到了帕累托改善的次优结果.创新点在于采用线性转移支付策略实现了供应链的协调,达到了帕累托最优,解决了收益共享契约不能实现供应链协调的问题.最后通过算例进行了说明.     

A possibilistic decision model for new product supply chain design

This paper models supply chain (SC) uncertainties by fuzzy sets and develops a possibilistic SC configuration model for new products with unreliable or unavailable SC statistical data. The supply chain is modeled as a network of stages. Each stage may have one or more options characterized by the cost and lead-time required to fulfill required functions and may hold safety stock to prevent an inventory shortage. The objective is to determine the option and inventory policy for each stage to minimize the total SC cost and maximize the possibility of fulfilling the target service level. A fuzzy SC model is developed to evaluate the performance of the entire SC and a genetic algorithm approach is applied to determine near-optimal solutions. The results obtained show that the proposed approach allows decision makers to perform trade-off analysis among customer service levels, product cost, and inventory investment depending on their risk attitude. It also provides an alternative tool to evaluate and improve SC configuration decisions in an uncertain SC environment.     

Optimal models for a multi-stage supply chain system controlled by kanban under just-in-time philosophy

This research studies a multi-stage supply chain system that operates under a JIT (just-in-time) delivery policy. Kanbans play an important role in the information and material flows in a supply chain system. Thus, a kanban mechanism is employed to assist in linking different production processes in a supply chain system to implement the scope of JIT philosophy. For a multi-stage supply chain system, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem is formulated from the perspective of JIT delivery policy where a kanban may reflect to a transporter such as a truck or a fork-lifter. The number of kanbans, the batch size, the number of batches and the total quantity over one period are determined optimally. It is solved optimally by branch and bound method. A greedy heuristic to avoid the large computational time in branch-and-bound algorithm is developed for solving a large MINLP. Coupled with plant-wide efforts for cost control and management commitment, a logistic system for controlling the production as well as the supply chain is built, which results in minimizing the total cost of the supply chain system. The results show that the improvements in reduction of inventory, wasted labor and customer service in a supply chain are significantly accomplished through the kanban mechanism.     

智能制造环境下的备件生产与运输协同调度问题研究

智能制造和即时配送环境下的备件生产与运输协同调度问题是目前国内研究的一大热点,这是因为备件供应链响应速度已成为当前备件制造企业赢得客户的关键因素。为了提高客户满意度,尽可能缩短从客户下达定制化生产订单到订单配送完成的时间,本文建立了以所有客户总等待时间最短为目标的混合整数规划模型和集合覆盖模型,推导了最优解性质,并设计改进的分支定价算法求得最优解。通过将小规模算例结果与CPLEX进行对比,验证了模型和算法的有效性。多组算例测试结果表明,所提出的模型和算法可以有效提升智能制造环境下的备件供应链运作效率。     

服务大规模定制模式下的供应链调度优化

为了提升服务大规模定制(SMC)模式下供应链系统的运作柔性,应对客户较强的多样化需求特征,本文在对服务定制特征分析、服务阶段界定以及服务规模效应探讨的基础上,指出SCM模式下的供应链调度问题是一个典型的随机需求与随机资源约束的多目标动态优化问题。研究了SMC模式下供应链调度的优化目标与约束条件,建立了完整的随机多目标动态调度优化数学模型。基于SMC运作的特点,运用改进的蚁群算法对调度问题进行了求解。最后,通过实例分析了模型及算法的可行性、有效性及适用性。     

On the tradeoff between optimal order-base-stock levels and demand lead-times

We investigate the tradeoff between finished-goods inventory and advance demand information for a model of a single-stage make-to-stock supplier who uses an order-base-stock replenishment policy to meet customer orders that arrive a fixed demand lead-time in advance of their due-dates. We show that if the replenishment orders arrive in the order that they are placed, then the tradeoff between the optimal order-base-stock level and the demand lead-time is “exhaustive”, in the sense that the optimal order-base-stock level drops all the way to zero if the demand lead-time is sufficiently long. We then provide a sufficient condition under which this tradeoff is linear. We verify that this condition is satisfied for the case where the supply process is modeled as an M/M/1 queue. We also show that the tradeoff between the optimal order-base-stock level and the demand lead-time is linear for the case where the supply process is modeled as an M/D/1 queue. More specifically, for this case, we show that the optimal order-base-stock level decreases by one unit if the demand lead-time increases by an amount equal to the supplier’s constant processing time. Finally, we show that the tradeoff between the optimal order-base-stock level and the demand lead-time is exhaustive but not linear in the case where the supply process is modeled as an M/D/∞ queue. We illustrate these results with a numerical example.     

工件的运输和继列分批加工协作排序问题

近年来,工件的运输和加工协作排序问题在物流和供应链管理领域得到广泛关注. 讨论了先用 $\ m$ 台车辆将工件从等待区域运输到继列分批处理机处, 再进行分批加工的协作排序问题, 加工一批工件需要支付一定的费用, 目标为最小化工件的总完工时间与批的加工费用之和. 在工件的加工时间都相等的情况下, 如果工件运输方案确定, 给出了多项式时间的动态规划算法; 如果工件运输方案不确定, 证明了该问题是{\, NP}-难的, 给出了车辆返回时间 $\ t=0$ 时, 最差性能比等于 $\ 2-\frac{1}{m}$ 的近似算法.     

A robust optimization model for agile and build-to-order supply chain planning under uncertainties

Supply chain planning as one of the most important processes within the supply chain management concept, has a great impact on firms’ success or failure. This paper considers a supply chain planning problem of an agile manufacturing company operating in a build-to-order environment under various kinds of uncertainty. An integrated optimization approach of procurement, production and distribution costs associated with the supply chain members has been taken into account. A robust optimization scenario-based approach is used to absorb the influence of uncertain parameters and variables. The formulation is a robust optimization model with the objective of minimizing the expected total supply chain cost while maintaining customer service level. The developed multi-product, multi-period, multi-echelon robust mixed-integer linear programming model is then solved using the CPLEX optimization studio and guidance related to future areas of research is given.     

Coordinated supply chain management

Historically, the three fundamental stages of the supply chain, procurement, production and distribution, have been managed independently, buffered by large inventories. Increasing competitive pressures, and market globalization are forcing firms to develop supply chains that can quickly respond to customer needs. To remain competitive, these firms must reduce operating costs while continuously improving customer service. With recent advances in communications and information technology, as well as a rapidly growing array of logistics options, firms have an opportunity to reduce operating costs by coordinating the planning of these stages. In this paper, we review the literature addressing coordinated planning between two or more stages of the supply chain, placing particular emphasis on models that would lend themselves to a total supply chain model. Finally, we suggest directions for future research.     

Exploiting timely demand information to reduce inventories

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and related technologies are making it less expensive to frequently transmit demand information up the supply chain from the point of sale. However, little is known about how the various participants in the supply chain might exploit more timely demand information. This research is intended to be an opening contribution to the analytical study of timely demand information. We study a simple two-level system composed of a supplier (or component plant) and a single customer (or final assembly plant). The two factories use a standard periodic base-stock policy for one particular item, but the equal-length production cycles of the two factories do not necessarily coincide. Both participants hold inventories to buffer the effects of uncertain orders and uncertain deliveries. The supplier is in turn supplied by a source with infinite capacity. Final demand occurs only at the final assembly plant, which communicates demand over its order cycle to the component plant. If the component plant begins a production cycle between orders from the final assembly plant, it is uninformed about some number of days' demand which has been observed at the customer but not yet communicated. Any technology, such as EDI, that makes it cheaper for the customer to communicate demand as it occurs allows the supplier to base its decisions on more accurate information. With more accurate demand information the supplier could reduce inventories, or improve the reliability of its deliveries to its customer, or both. The customer, in turn, could reduce its inventories if its supplier were more reliable. We examine the changes brought about by the exchange of timely demand information in inventories and service levels at both the supplier and customer. Our results show that inventory-related benefits are particularly sensitive to demand variability, the service level provided by the supplier, and the degree to which the order and production cycles are out of phase.     

提前期需求为模糊随机条件下的连续库存补货策略

考虑提前期内需求为模糊随机变量且提前期为可缩短情形下,建立由购买商和供应商所组成的简单供应链连续库存补货策略优化模型,其中订单量、再订货点和提前期为决策变量.首先推导出模糊随机需求条件下购买商和供应链的成本函数,然后,进一步考虑总需求为三角模糊数,推导出供应商、购买商和供应链的模糊成本函数.在此基础上分别从购买商成本最小和供应链成本最小角度对模型进行求解,结合具体算例对模型进行应用分析和比较分析,结果表明模型具有有效性和实用性,并得出如下结论:从购买商本身角度考虑订购策略所产生的供应链成本总是大于从供应链整体角度考虑订货策略所产生的供应链成本,同时从购买商本身角度考虑订货策略所产生的最优订购量、购买商成本低于从供应链整体角度考虑订货策略所产生的最优订购量、购买商成本.     

Modeling customer impatience in a newsboy problem with time-sensitive shortages

Customers across all stages of the supply chain often respond negatively to inventory shortages. One approach to modeling customer responses to shortages in the inventory control literature is time-dependent partial backlogging. Partial backlogging refers to the case in which a customer will backorder shortages with some probability, or will otherwise solicit the supplier’s competitors to fulfill outstanding shortages. If the backorder rate (i.e., the probability that a customer elects to backorder shortages) is assumed to be dependent on the supplier’s backorder replenishment lead-time, then shortages are said to be represented as time-dependent partial backlogging. This paper explores various backorder rate functions in a single period stochastic inventory problem in an effort to characterize a diversity of customer responses to shortages. We use concepts from utility theory to formally classify customers in terms of their willingness to wait for the supplier to replenish shortages. Under mild assumptions, we verify the existence of a unique optimal solution that corresponds to each customer type. Sensitivity analysis experiments are conducted in order to compare the optimal actions associated with each customer type under a variety of conditions. Additionally, we introduce the notion of expected value of customer patience information (EVCPI), and then conduct additional sensitivity analyses to determine the most and least opportune conditions for distinguishing between customer behaviors.     

“仓店一体化”模式下订单拣选与配送集成调度优化

针对“仓店一体化”模式下提供限时送达服务的新零售仓店,研究多拣货员、多客户、配送方式为带限时送达约束的路径优化分批配送情形下的订单拣选与配送集成调度问题。以最小化订单最大履行时间和配送成本为目标,构建了混合整数非线性规划模型,并设计两阶段启发式算法(H-2)进行求解,最后通过数值实验对算法进行验证与分析。数值实验结果表明,H-2具有较高的求解质量;相较于传统调度算法(TS)在效率提升、资源节约以及客户满意度提高方面具有更优的表现,进而为新零售仓店管理者提供决策支持。     

具有可变配送费用和固定配送时刻的单机排序问题

研究了单机环境下生产与配送的协同排序问题.有多个工件需要在一台机器上进行加工,加工完的工件需要分批配送到一个客户.每批工件只能在固定的几个配送时刻出发,不同的配送时刻对应着不同的配送费用.我们的目标是找到生产与配送的协同排序,极小化排序的时间费用与配送费用的加权和.研究了排序理论中主要的四个目标函数,构建了单机情况下的具体模型,分析了问题的复杂性,对于配送费用单调非增的情况给出了它们的最优算法.     

Modeling and analysis of the causes of bullwhip effect in centralized and decentralized supply chain using response surface method

The “bullwhip” effect is a major cause of supply chain deficiencies. This phenomenon refers to grow the amplification of demand or inventory variability as it moves up the supply chain. Supply chain managers experience this variance amplification in both inventory levels and orders. Other side, dampening variance in orders may have a negative impact on customer service due to the increase in the inventory variance. This paper with simulating a three stage supply chains consisting of a single retailer, single wholesaler and single manufacturer under both centralized and decentralized chains. In this paper, it is intended to analysis the causes of bullwhip effect from two dimensions of order and inventory variance using the response surface methodology. The results show that in both supply chains, rationing factor is considered as the least important cause of bullwhip effect. While the wholesaler’s order batching and the chain’s order batching are considered as the main causes for the bullwhip effect in the decentralized and centralized chains, respectively.     

A single-stage supply chain system controlled by kanban under just-in-time philosophy

The production system using kanban was pioneered by Toyota Motor Company in Japan and subsequently it was adopted by numerous other Japanese and US companies for applying the just-in-time manufacturing principles. This research studies a single-stage supply chain system that is controlled by kanban mechanism. The supply chain system is modelled as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. It is solved optimally by branch-and-bound method to determine the number of kanbans, batch size, number of batches, and the total quantity over one period. Meanwhile, the kanban operation between two adjacent plants is worked out considering the factors of loading and unloading time, and transport time. Coupled with plant-wide efforts for cost control and management commitment to enhance other measures of performance, a logistics system for controlling the production as well as the supply chain system is developed, which results in minimizing the total cost of the supply chain system. The results show that the improvements in reduction of inventory, wasted labour, and customer service in a supply chain are accomplished through the kanban mechanism.     

Scheduling coordination problems in supply chain planning

Scheduling algorithms and their role in supply chain planning are topics that have been discussed in scheduling literature for many years. Based on examples and experience with commercial supply chain planning software, this paper presents background information about production planning and scheduling functionality in commercial supply chain planning software and interesting scheduling coordination problems in supply chain planning for researchers. We first provide an overview of different planning activities in supply chain planning, while taking into consideration existing functionalities that are available in commercial supply chain planning software. As a second step, we show three scheduling coordination problems in supply chain planning, namely the integration of production planning and production scheduling, the integration of sales order confirmation and production scheduling and the integration of VMI planning and production scheduling. We conclude this paper with a detailed discussion of an implementation of a supply chain planning solution at the tissue producer SCA Hygiene in Sweden. This paper expresses the authors opinion and does not represent an official statement from SAP.