An optimal ordering and issuing policy for a two-stage inventory system for perishable products

This paper considers the problem of ordering and issuing policies arising in controlling finite-life-time fresh-meat-carcass inventories in supermarkets. A supermarket orders a product, which constitutes a set of sub-products of fixed proportion, from a vendor at the beginning of each time cycle. After it is received from the vendor, the product is stored in the cool-room, before being issued to the display shelves. The sub-products then satisfy random customer demand. After passing the life-time, sub-products are salvaged. In this system, the sub-products are issued to the display shelves according to theorder-up-to level policies at the beginning of every period. The decisions to be taken to solve this problem are the product-ordering quantity from the outside vendor and the order-up-to issuing quantities for each sub-product. The objective function to be maximized is the expected profit per unit time, consisting of revenue from sales and salvage, and the cost of ordering, processing (or issuing), inventory holding, emergency issuing, and shortage. In this paper we first develop a mathematical model describing actual operations and then simplify the sub-product runout period so that optimal ordering and issuing policies are easily established. We then carry out extensive numerical experiments for a case of two sub-products in order to ascertain the properties and the behavior of the optimal solutions.     

A number-dependent replacement policy for a system with continuous preventive maintenance and random lead times

This paper considers a number-dependent replacement policy for a system with two failure types that is replaced at the nth type I (minor) failure or the first type II (catastrophic) failure, whichever occurs first. Repair or replacement times are instantaneous but spare/replacement unit delivery lead times are random. Type I failures are repaired at zero cost since preventive maintenance is performed continuously. Type II failures, however, require costly system replacement. A model is developed for the average cost per unit time based on the stochastic behavior of the system and replacement, storage, and downtime costs. The cost-minimizing policy is derived and discussed. We show that the optimal number of type I failures triggering replacement is unique under certain conditions. A numerical example is presented and a sensitivity analysis is performed.     

Crossing velocities for an annealed random walk in a random potential

We consider a random walk in an i.i.d. non-negative potential on the d-dimensional integer lattice. The walk starts at the origin and is conditioned to hit a remote location y on the lattice. We prove that the expected time under the annealed path measure needed by the random walk to reach y grows only linearly in the distance from y to the origin. In dimension 1 we show the existence of the asymptotic positive speed.     

Optimal investment-reinsurance policy for an insurance company with VaR constraint

This paper investigates an investment-reinsurance problem for an insurance company that has a possibility to choose among different business activities, including reinsurance/new business and security investment. Our main objective is to find the optimal policy to minimize its probability of ruin. The main novelty of this paper is the introduction of a dynamic Value-at-Risk (VaR) constraint. This provides a way to control risk and to fulfill the requirement of regulators on market risk. This problem is formulated as an infinite horizontal stochastic control problem with a constrained control space. The dynamic programming technique is applied to derive the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation and the Lagrange multiplier method is used to tackle the dynamic VaR constraint. Closed-form expressions for the minimal ruin probability as well as the optimal investment-reinsurance/new business policy are derived. It turns out that the risk exposure of the insurance company subject to the dynamic VaR constraint is always lower than otherwise. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate our results.     

An estimator for the mean of an exponential distribution with random right-censoring

Let (Y₁, Z₁),…,(Y_N, Z_N) be i.i.d. pairs of independent random variables such that Y_i is exponentially distributed with unknown mean 1/λ and Z_i has an unknown distribution function F. Let X_i ≔ min(Y_i, Z_i). Under certain assumptions on F an estimator T_N(X₁,…,X_N) for 1/λ is constructed which is consistent and asymptotically normal.     

An optimal maintenance policy for skipping imminent preventive maintenance for systems experiencing random failures

In this study we investigate systems that experience random failures and establish decision rules for performing renewal maintenance; that is, a preventive replacement (PR) policy. We seek a policy that is both simple to execute from the point of view of the maintenance planner but also a policy that is an improvement on existing schemes. We show that our policy is a hybrid of traditional time-based and age-based schemes and one that yields considerable cost savings. Our hybrid policy involves two decision variables. One decision variable is the time between PRs. Hence, for the maintenance planner, the times at which PRs are performed are chronologically fixed. Random failures can occur, however, and the machine receives an emergency renewal (ER) at these times. Hence, within these chronological times, a second decision time is identified. Should an ER occur between the start of a cycle and this second decision time, then the planned PR would still be performed at the end of the cycle. However, if the first ER occurs after this second decision time, then the PR at the end of the cycle is skipped over and the next planned PR would take place at the end of the subsequent cycle. With this simple mechanism, PRs that follow on too closely after an ER are avoided, thus saving the unnecessary expense. Numerical examples are given to examine the validity of the model, using four different failure density functions, namely Weibull, normal, uniform, and negative exponential.     

Note: An application of the EOQ model with nonlinear holding cost to inventory management of perishables

In this note, we consider a variation of the economic order quantity (EOQ) model where cumulative holding cost is a nonlinear function of time. This problem has been studied by Weiss [Weiss, H., 1982. Economic order quantity models with nonlinear holding costs. European Journal of Operational Research 9, 56–60], and we here show how it is an approximation of the optimal order quantity for perishable goods, such as milk, and produce, sold in small to medium size grocery stores where there are delivery surcharges due to infrequent ordering, and managers frequently utilize markdowns to stabilize demand as the product’s expiration date nears. We show how the holding cost curve parameters can be estimated via a regression approach from the product’s usual holding cost (storage plus capital costs), lifetime, and markdown policy. We show in a numerical study that the model provides significant improvement in cost vis-à-vis the classic EOQ model, with a median improvement of 40%. This improvement is more significant for higher daily demand rate, lower holding cost, shorter lifetime, and a markdown policy with steeper discounts.     

Limit theorems for random processes with random time substitution

In this paper we prove a theorem on sufficient conditions for the convergence in the Skorokhod space D[0, 1] of a sequence of random processes with random time substitution. We obtain almost sure versions of this theorem.     

Limit theorems for random walks with dynamical random transitions

Let be an ergodic and conservative non-singular transformation of (, ,m) (thedynamic environment), let _w be a random probability on a locally compact second countable groupG, and define

Analysis and evaluation of an Assemble-to-Order system with batch ordering policy and compound Poisson demand

We consider a multi-product and multi-component Assemble-to-Order (ATO) system where the external demand follows compound Poisson processes and component inventories are controlled by continuous-time batch ordering policies. The replenishment lead-times of components are stochastic, sequential and exogenous. Each element of the bill of material (BOM) matrix can be any non-negative integer. Components are committed to demand on a first-come-first-serve basis. We derive exact expressions for key performance metrics under either the assumption that each demand must be satisfied in full (non-split orders), or the assumption that each unit of demand can be satisfied separately (split orders). We also develop an efficient sampling method to estimate these metrics, e.g., the expected delivery lead-times and the order-based fill-rates. Based on the analysis and a numerical study of an example motivated by a real world application, we characterize the impact of the component interaction on system performance, demonstrate the efficiency of the numerical method and quantify the impact of order splitting.     

Optimal ordering and pricing policy for an inventory system with trial periods

It is a business practice that home shopping companies offer a free trial period for their products with a goal of increasing sales. Under this policy, if for any reason customers are not satisfied with the purchase, they can return the product for a refund within the trial period. To develop inventory strategies in such environment, home shopping companies should take the return phenomenon into account so as to increase their profit. This paper considers this phenomenon and develops a seasonal inventory model to deal with the problem. Two scenarios are analyzed. In the first scenario, demand is assumed to be linearly price-dependent while in the second one, it is assumed to be exponentially price-dependent. The purpose of this research is to maximize the total profit over a given planning period by determining the optimal ordering quantity and price. The analytical results demonstrate that the optimal ordering quantity and prices are obtained using closed-form formulas.     

A dyadic age-replacement policy for a periodically inspected equipment item subject to random deterioration

A periodic review replacement system is considered. The amount of deterioration over successive periods forms a sequence of i.i.d. random variables. A replacement policy of the dyadic type is in effect whereby the used equipment item is discarded and immediately replaced by a new identical equipment item if at the end of a period the old equipment has service aged by an amount in excess of S or has been in operation for exactly N periods whichever comes first. Using a theorem on renewal reward processes, an expression for the total steady-state expected cost per period is derived, consisting of a fixed replacement cost and a linear cost of operation. Optimal values of S and N that minimize this steady state cost are computed for a few numerical examples, when the service aging per period has a gamma distribution.     

Optimal ordering and transfer policy for an inventory with stock dependent demand

This paper deals with an ordering-transfer inventory model to determine the retailer’s optimal order quantity and the number of transfers per order from the warehouse to the display area. It is assumed that the amount of display space is limited and the demand rate depends on the display stock level. The objective is to maximize the average profit per unit time yielded by the retailer. The proposed models and algorithms are developed to find the optimal strategy by retailer. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the models developed and the sensitivity analysis is also reported.     

Analysis of three graph parameters for random trees

We consider three basic graph parameters, the node‐independence number, the path node‐covering number, and the size of the kernel, and study their distributional behavior for an important class of random tree models, namely the class of simply generated trees, which contains, e.g., binary trees, rooted labeled trees, and planted plane trees, as special instances. We can show for simply generated tree families that the mean and the variance of each of the three parameters under consideration behave for a randomly chosen tree of size n asymptotically ～μn and ～νn, where the constants μ and ν depend on the tree family and the parameter studied. Furthermore we show for all parameters, suitably normalized, convergence in distribution to a Gaussian distributed random variable. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2009     

Justification of the Fourier method for an inhomogeneous hyperbolic equation with random right-hand side

We consider an inhomogeneous hyperbolic equation with homogeneous initial and boundary conditions and a random right-hand side. In the case where the right-hand side of the equation is a centered sample-continuous Gaussian field, we establish conditions for the existence of a solution of the first boundary-value problem of mathematical physics in the form of a series uniformly convergent in probability.Translated from Ukrainskyi Matematychnyi Zhurnal, Vol. 56, No. 5, pp. 616–624, May, 2004.     

The flow of pre-heated,two-dimensional laminar jet issuing into an aligned uniform stream

The aim of this paper is to establish the heat transfer characteristics of the flow downstream of a heated jet source of momentum issuing into an aligned uniform stream. Perturbation solutions about limiting similarity states at the jet and downstream are obtained. The formulation allows also for full numerical solution. A satisfactory reconciliation between numerical and perturbation solutions is demonstrated.     

Visiting measures and an ergodic theorem for a sequence of iterations with random perturbations

By using local visiting measures, we describe the limit behavior of a sequence of iterations with random unequally distributed perturbations. As a corollary, we obtain a version of the local ergodic theorem. Institute of Mathematics, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kiev. Translated from Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 123–127, January, 1999.