销售努力与质保服务联合决策的供应链模型

以单一制造商和单一零售商组成的两级供应链为对象考虑随机需求下产品需求同时受到销售努力和质保期长度影响,研究由零售商提高销售努力因素及制造商提供质保服务情形下的供应链模型并提出了共同分摊销售努力和质保成本及收益共享契约下的供应链协调策略.其次,研究发现通过相应的供应链参数设计,基于销售努力及质保成本共担同时收益共享的契约能实现供应链的协调.最后,给出了数值算例对模型进行仿真计算与分析.     

基于视情维修的质保政策设计研究

随着产品同质化程度不断提升,完善的质保服务已成为厂商提升品牌形象、刺激用户购买需求和全面反馈市场信息的主要途径。本文以具有退化特性的耐用品为研究对象,建立了视情维修条件下性能退化的维纳过程模型,考虑产品价格、质保期长度和维修费用承担比例对产品需求的影响,以最大化厂商利润为目标,确定了最优的质保期长度和维修费用承担比例。结合算例,比较了无视情维修和提供视情维修两种情形下对应的厂商利润,并分析了产品退化速率、成本参数和产品价格对利润的影响。研究结果表明,在质保服务范围内提供合理的视情维修服务既可将产品可靠性维持在一个较高水平,又可显著提升厂商利润。     

考虑提供基础质保服务的供应链再制造定价策略研究

再制造产品对新产品需求存在互补与挤兑现象,商家为再制造产品提供基础质保服务刺激其需求的同时,也会使得新产品销量受阻.以一个制造商和一个零售商组成的两级供应链为对象,分别探讨制造商提供再制造与零售商提供再制造两种模式下的定价决策问题.研究结果表明:1)当再制造产品质量水平过低时,由于出售再制造产品需要承担高额的维修成本,因此为避免降低供应链总体收益不应该引入再制造策略;2)再制造产品故障率越高,为了对抗售后维修成本,商家制定的新产品与再制造产品间的均衡售价差异反而会越小;3)当再制造产品质量水平较低时,制造商(零售商)总能在另一方采用再制造策略的情形下受益.     

碳交易规制下的制造商减排外包模式选择:定制vs订购?

研究碳交易规制下制造商减排服务外包时供应链各成员的最优决策和绩效问题,对比分析了定制和订购两种减排模式下的供应链博弈均衡和供应链成员绩效。研究发现,在碳交易规制下,定制和订购两种减排合作模式下供应链成员均存在最优决策。在定制模式下,单位产品的初始排放量和制造商的减排成本系数提高一定会降低最优产量、单位产品减排量和减排服务价格,减排服务商的减排成本系数提高会降低最优产量和单位产品减排量,但不一定会降低减排服务价格;在订购模式下单位产品初始排放量、制造商和减排服务商的成本系数对企业决策的影响不一定如此。当需求函数满足均匀分布时,无论制造商和减排服务商的减排效率如何,订购模式对减排服务商更有利,定制模式对制造商更有利,但供应链系统总利润的高低与制造商的减排成本系数有关。     

考虑顾客策略行为和机器故障的加工排队系统最优定价

在加工系统中,顾客的决策行为不仅受价格影响,同时对交货时间敏感,而且不同的顾客对时间具有不同的敏感程度。本文采用排队理论,研究了垄断环境中策略顾客行为和机器故障干扰的加工系统最优定价问题,证明了最优定价的存在性,设计了最优定价的求解方法。通过数值算例,讨论了实际需求比例、最优定价和最大利润关于加工成本、单位时间维修成本、机器故障频率和平均维修时间的变化规律。数值结果说明机器故障修复时间增加比故障频率增加对企业利润造成影响更大。     

顾客参与研发过程的价值共创机理与策略研究

顾客参与企业研发是产品价值创造的最初始过程,不仅提高产品接受度、满足顾客需求,而且为企业增加收入,但同时也产生相应成本。文章探究顾客参与研发的系统中,顾客、企业和产品的价值共创行为以及企业决策如何影响三者价值;立足多目标视角,充分考虑企业与顾客的收益、成本,采用系统动力学方法建立顾客参与研发过程的动态价值共创模型,全面探究系统内部共创机理。在模型基础上,重点就企业产品价格、交互次数以及激励资金比例等策略进行仿真,使企业、顾客及产品实现价值共创。结论如下:(1)随着顾客、企业交互次数的增多,顾客参与研发过程同样具备一般产品生命周期导入期、成长期、成熟期以及衰退期的特点。(2)系统存在最优交互次数;且最优交互次数随着研发投入比例减少而增加。(3)在不考虑参与顾客获取激励资金的情况下,企业针对不同顾客群(参与研发顾客与普通购买顾客)进行定价,在最优交互次数状态下,统一定价模式优于差别定价模式,将为企业带来更大的收益。     

考虑销售策略的产品与增值性服务联合定价与协调契约研究

运用服务展开差异化竞争、增强产品竞争力已成为制造企业的战略选择.通过构建制造商和强势零售商的利润模型,研究了产品质量影响下产品与增值性服务捆绑销售的最优策略问题,对增值性服务单独及捆绑销售下的产品及增值性服务价格,产品质量的优化决策进行了分析,并进一步研究了强势零售商主导产业链背景下的产品与增值性服务协调问题.研究发现,不同销售策略下产品和增值性服务价格之和的高低与产品生产成本具有相关关系;制造商和强势零售商可以在一定范围内同时实现利润的帕累托改进;对于增值性服务成本的控制是降低产品零售价格的重要因素;协调前后强势零售商的利润变化情况与增值性服务和产品的互补性密切相关,协调契约可以提高捆绑销售下的产品和增值性服务价格,进而增加强势零售商和制造商的收益.并通过数值仿真验证了相关结论的有效性.     

MC模式下顾客需求与厂商供应的纳什均衡

在大规模定制(MC，Mass Customization)模式下，基于市场需求的复杂化，厂商对个性化的顾客需求很难做出及时准确的反应，而且由于其自身生产能力的限制，不可能对所有的个性化用户进行一一地满足，只可能对已经存在的个性化需求，根据自身的生产能力和规模，以利润最大化及顾客对产品的满意度为目标，对个性化需求进行较准确地预测，从而正确指导生产。本通过博弈论的方法，提出了一个基于顾客对产品的满意度及企业的利润的一个非合作博弈模型，并给出求解纳什均衡的方法。     

有剩余保修时间阈值的可更新产品检测和预防更换建模与优化

基于两阶段的故障过程概念,对可更新保修产品,进行了有剩余保修时间阈值的周期检测和预防更换建模与优化。产品保修期分为两阶段：检测更换期和最小维修期。检测更换期开始于产品开始运行,当剩余保修期等于阈值时结束。最小维修期是检测更新期结束后直到保修服务终止的一段时间。在检测更换期,制造商进行等间距的周期性检测。如果检测发现产品处于缺陷状态或发生故障,将立即更换。在最小维修期,制造商为了降低服务成本,不实施检测和更换,对发生的故障只进行最小维修。从制造商角度出发,得到使单位时间内平均保修费用最小的剩余保修时间阈值和检测间隔。     

基于网络顾客行为意向的物流服务供应链定价策略

就一个运营网络购物的供应链,分析物流服务需求方和服务提供方的定价和服务水平决策等问题。在成本共担优化模型中考虑基于顾客购买行为意向的产品需求函数,进而分别给出非合作、准合作和完全合作模式下供应链企业决策间的关系,以及网购顾客重购概率对最优定价策略的影响。结论有:证明三种合作模式下双方最优策略的存在性及存在条件;给出最优产品定价策略和服务定价策略间的数量关系,并证明其与网购顾客行为意向有关。数值分析表明,最优定价策略随服务水平和网购顾客重购概率的变化趋势受成本共担系数的影响;较小的成本分摊系数使最优产品定价随着服务水平和网购顾客重购概率的变化幅度增大。     

Product warranty and reliability

Product warranty is an important part of new product marketing and sales. Offering warranty implies additional costs in the form of warranty servicing cost. Product reliability has a serious impact on the warranty servicing cost. As such, effective management of product reliability must take into account the link between warranty and reliability. This paper deals with this topic and develops a framework needed for effective management of product reliability. It reviews the relevant literature and defines topics for future research.     

Warranty cost analysis: Increasing warranty repair times

In this study, we model the warranty servicing costs under nonrenewing and renewing free repair warranties. We assume nonzero increasing repair times with the warranty cost depending on the length of the repair time. An increasing geometric process is used to model the consecutive repair times. We introduce the generalised alternating renewal process, which is an alternating process with cycles consisting of an item's operational time followed by the corresponding repair time. We derive analytical results for a generalised alternating renewal process with a finite time horizon and use them to evaluate the warranty costs over the warranty period and over the life cycle of the product under the nonrenewing free repair warranty and renewing free repair warranty. Properties of the model are demonstrated through a simulation study and through the application to warranty claims data from an automotive manufacturer.     

Support vector regression for warranty claim forecasting

Forecasting the number of warranty claims is vitally important for manufacturers/warranty providers in preparing fiscal plans. In existing literature, a number of techniques such as log-linear Poisson models, Kalman filter, time series models, and artificial neural network models have been developed. Nevertheless, one might find two weaknesses existing in these approaches: (1) they do not consider the fact that warranty claims reported in the recent months might be more important in forecasting future warranty claims than those reported in the earlier months, and (2) they are developed based on repair rates (i.e., the total number of claims divided by the total number of products in service), which can cause information loss through such an arithmetic-mean operation.To overcome the above two weaknesses, this paper introduces two different approaches to forecasting warranty claims: the first is a weighted support vector regression (SVR) model and the second is a weighted SVR-based time series model. These two approaches can be applied to two scenarios: when only claim rate data are available and when original claim data are available. Two case studies are conducted to validate the two modelling approaches. On the basis of model evaluation over six months ahead forecasting, the results show that the proposed models exhibit superior performance compared to that of multilayer perceptrons, radial basis function networks and ordinary support vector regression models.     

The effect of lifetime buys on warranty repair operations

Lifetime buys are a common practice in the electronics and telecommunication industries. Under this practice, manufacturers procure their repair parts inventory in one order to support the spare part needs of a product for the duration of its warranty repair period. In this paper, we consider a repair operation in which defective items under warranty are returned to a manufacturer who either repairs these items using its spare parts inventory or replaces each defective unit with a new product. We show how fixed repair capability costs, variable repair costs, inventory holding costs, and replacement costs affect a firm's optimal repair and replacement decisions. The model is used to gain insights for products from a major mobile device manufacturer in the United States.     

基于市场需求增加的双渠道闭环供应链定价机制研究

针对制造商开辟在线销售渠道现象的普及,考虑混合双渠道销售会增加产品的潜在需求,构建制造商与零售商分散、集中定价两种决策模型,利用博弈理论对模型进行求解分析,研究表明在双方分散、集中两种定价策略模型中,随着双渠道开通导致的市场需求率的增加,制造商的批发价、零售商的销售价格上调,零售商的回收价格下降,闭环供应链系统总利润则呈现先下降后上升的变化。最后,运用数值算例进一步验证和讨论双渠道销售导致的市场需求增加对闭环供应链系统定价策略、双方利润及系统渠道效率的影响。     

Last time buy decisions for products sold under warranty

Manufacturers supplying products under warranty need a strategy to deal with failures during the warranty period: repair the product or replace it by a new one, depending on e.g. age and/or usage of the failed product. An (implicit) assumption in virtually all models is that new products to replace the failed ones are immediately available at given replacement costs. Because of the short life cycles of many products, manufacturing may be discontinued before the end of the warranty period. At that point in time, the supplier has to decide how many products to put on the shelf to replace failed products under warranty that will be returned from the field (the last time buy decision). This is a trade-off between product availability for replacement and costs of product obsolescence. In this paper, we consider the joint optimization of repair-replacement decisions and the last time buy quantity for products sold under warranty. We develop approximations to estimate the total relevant costs and service levels for this problem, and show that we can easily find near-optimal last time buy quantities using a numerical search. Comparison to discrete event simulation results shows an excellent performance of our methods.     

Dynamic pricing and warranty policies for products with fixed lifetime

We consider a repairable product with known market entry and departure times. A warranty policy is offered with product purchase, under which a customer can have a failed item repaired free of charge in the warranty period. It is assumed that customers are heterogeneous in their risk attitudes toward uncertain repair costs incurred after the warranty expires. The objective is to determine a joint dynamic pricing and warranty policy for the lifetime of the product, which maximizes the manufacturer’s expected profit. In the first part of the analysis, we consider a linearly decreasing price function and a constant warranty length. We first study customers’ purchase patterns under several different pricing strategies by the manufacturer and then discuss the optimal pricing and warranty strategy. In the second part, we assume that the warranty length can be altered once during the product lifetime in developing a joint pricing and warranty policy. Numerical studies show that a dynamic warranty policy can significantly outperform a fixed-length warranty policy.     

新产品定价决策的影响因素分析

新产品的成功销售取决于两个重要的因素:一是具有生产特性的工程变量,比如产品的可靠性水平;一是具有市场特征的影响因素,比如价格和保障机制。为了实现收益,制造商必须认真审视价格、产品可靠性和保障机制的选择。因此,本文将价格作为外生变量,将保障机制与可靠性作为决策变量,建立了以最大化为目标的收益模型,分析可靠性与保障机制的最优策略。另外,探讨当不同变量的敏感性参数发生变化时,最优保障机制与产品可靠性的变化规律。最后,通过算例分析收益函数的基本特性,结论显示消费者总是从产品保障机制的信号中判断产品的可靠性水平,这对新产品销售有一定的借鉴意义。     

Optimal maintenance strategy under renewable warranty with repair time threshold

In this paper, we consider a periodic preventive maintenance model, from the manufacturer's perspective, which can be implemented to reduce the maintenance cost of a repairable product during a given warranty period. The product is assumed to deteriorate with age and the warranty policy we adopt in this paper takes into account the two factors of failure time and repair time of the product when the product failure occurs. Under the proposed two-factor warranty, a repair time threshold is pre-determined and if the repair takes more time than that of the threshold, the failed product is replaced with a renewed warranty policy. Otherwise, the product is only minimally repaired to return to the operating state. During such a renewable warranty period, preventive maintenance is conducted to reduce the rate of degradation periodically while the product is in operation. By assuming certain cost structures, we formulate the expected warranty cost during the warranty period from the manufacturer's perspective when a periodic preventive maintenance strategy is adapted. Although more frequent preventive maintenance increases the warranty cost, the chance of product failures would be reduced. The main aim of this paper is to accomplish the optimal trade-off between the warranty cost and the preventive maintenance period by determining the optimal preventive maintenance period that minimizes the total expected warranty cost during the warranty period. Assuming the power law process for the product failures, we illustrate our proposed maintenance model numerically and study the impact of relevant parameters on the optimal preventive maintenance policy.