Infinite horizon optimal policy for an inventory system with two types of product sharing common hardware platforms

We consider a periodic review inventory system and present its optimal policy in the infinite horizon setting. The optimal inventory policy that maximizes the infinite horizon expected discounted profit for the model is analytically obtained by relating to the finite horizon setting using results from variational analysis. Results are provided that elucidate the operations of the inventory system in the long run.     

On optimal bidding and inventory control in sequential procurement auctions: the multi period case

We consider the problem of a firm that in each cycle of a planning horizon builds inventory of identical items that it acquires by participating in auctions in order to satisfy its own market demand. The firm’s objective is to have a procurement strategy that maximizes the expected present value of the profit for an infinite planning horizon of identical cycles. We formulate this problem as a Markov decision process. We establish monotonicity properties of the value function and of the optimal bidding rule.     

需求率为斜坡型的一类变质性物品最优库存策略

本文在考虑需求率服从斜坡型分布的情况下,研究了允许缺货且缺货完全回补、变质率服从威布尔分布、补货率为无穷、有限计划期内的库存模型,证明了最优补货策略的存在性,并给出了求解最优补货策略的算法.     

A non-stationary periodic review production–inventory model with uncertain production capacity and uncertain demand

In this paper we consider a nonstationary periodic review dynamic production–inventory model with uncertain production capacity and uncertain demand. The maximum production capacity varies stochastically. It is known that order up-to (or base-stock, critical number) policies are optimal for both finite horizon problems and infinite horizon problems. We obtain upper and lower bounds of the optimal order up-to levels, and show that for an infinite horizon problem the upper and the lower bounds of the optimal order up-to levels for the finite horizon counterparts converge as the planning horizons considered get longer. Furthermore, under mild conditions the differences between the upper and the lower bounds converge exponentially to zero.     

Games of stopping with infinite horizon

We consider two-person zero-sum games of stopping: two players sequentially observe a stochastic process with infinite time horizon. Player I selects a stopping time and player II picks the distribution of the process. The pay-off is given by the expected value of the stopped process. Results of Irle (1990) on existence of value and equivalence of randomization for such games with finite time horizon, where the set of strategies for player II is dominated in the measure-theoretical sense, are extended to the infinite time case. Furthermore we treat such games when the set of strategies for player II is not dominated. A counterexample shows that even in the finite time case such games may not have a value. Then a sufficient condition for the existence of value is given which applies to prophet-type games.     

Non-randomized policies for constrained Markov decision processes

This paper addresses constrained Markov decision processes, with expected discounted total cost criteria, which are controlled by non-randomized policies. A dynamic programming approach is used to construct optimal policies. The convergence of the series of finite horizon value functions to the infinite horizon value function is also shown. A simple example illustrating an application is presented.     

需求不确定的多周期的容量决策问题

研究每个周期的需求随机增加的情形下的容量扩充问题,建立起切合实际的有限周期随机动态规划模型及在期现值准则下的无限周期随机动态规划模型,进而探索生产单一产品的公司在面对随机增加的市场需求时,风险中立的管理者该如何扩充其生产容量,才能使得其公司在折扣意义下的总期望利润最大.研究无限阶段的容量扩充问题,得出某种约束条件下的优化策略解,给公司管理者提供了其长期可持续发展的优化策略和依据.     

Optimal production control of a failure-prone machine

We consider a problem of optimal production control of a single unreliable machine. The objective is to minimize a discounted convex inventory/backlog cost over an infinite horizon. Using the variational analysis methodology, we develop the necessary conditions of optimality in terms of the co-state dynamics. We show that an inventory-threshold control policy is optimal when the work and repair times are exponentially distributed, and demonstrate how to find the value of the threshold in this case. We consider also a class of distributions concentrated on finite intervals and prove properties of the optimal trajectories, as well as properties of an optimal inventory threshold that is time dependent in this case.     

Coordinating inventory control and pricing strategies: The continuous review model

We analyze an infinite horizon, single product, continuous review model in which pricing and inventory decisions are made simultaneously and ordering cost includes a fixed cost. We show that there exists a stationary (s,S) inventory policy maximizing the expected discounted or expected average profit under general conditions.     

Optimal inventory policies with two modes of freight transportation

Theoretical inventory models with constant demand rate and two transportation modes are analyzed in this paper. The transportation options are truckloads with fixed costs, a package delivery carrier with a constant cost per unit, or using a combination of both modes simultaneously. Exact algorithms for computing the optimal policies are derived for single stage models over both an infinite and a finite planning horizon.     

Optimal policy for a two-facility inventory problem with storage constraints and two freight modes

This paper considers a two-facility supply chain for a single product in which facility 1 orders the product from facility 2 and facility 2 orders the product from a supplier in each period. The orders placed by each facility are delivered in two possible nonnegative integer numbers of periods. The difference between them is one period. Random demands in each period arise only at facility 1. There are physical storage constraints at both facilities in each period. The objective of the supply chain is to find an ordering policy that minimizes the expected cost over a finite horizon and the discounted stationary expected cost over an infinite horizon. We characterize the structure of the minimum expected cost and the optimal ordering policy for both the finite and the discounted stationary infinite horizon problems.     

An Inventory Model with Finite Horizon and Price Changes

An inventory model is developed for a finite horizon and price changes. The structure and form of the optimal policy is determined along with sensitivity analysis with respect to the length of the horizon. This is a prelude to considering an infinite horizon problem in which at some a priori known time the purchase price of the item will increase. In this paper appropriate ordering policies are determined with respect to known information about an ensuing price rise.     

Managing inventories with one-way substitution: A newsvendor analysis

This paper presents an insightful approach to analyze two-item periodic inventory systems with one-way substitution. The objective is to minimize the expected total cost per period, which consists of expected purchasing costs, expected inventory holding costs, expected shortage costs, and expected adjustment costs. This approach helps derive the optimality conditions in both single-period and infinite horizon settings and yields useful insights into the impact of substitution on the service level, the optimality of a borderline case in which the order-up-to level of the inflexible item is reduced to zero, and the pivotal role of the purchasing cost.     

Optimal policies for inventory systems with discretionary sales, random yield and lost sales

We determine replenishment and sales decisions jointly for an inventory system with random demand, lost sales and random yield. Demands in consecutive periods are independent random variables and their distributions are known. We incorporate discretionary sales, when inventory may be set aside to satisfy future demand even if some present demand may be lost. Our objective is to minimize the total discounted cost over the problem horizon by choosing an optimal replenishment and discretionary sales policy. We obtain the structure of the optimal replenishment and discretionary sales policy and show that the optimal policy for finite horizon problem converges to that of the infinite horizon problem. Moreover, we compare the optimal policy under random yield with that under certain yield, and show that the optimal order quantity （sales quantity） under random yield is more （less） than that under certain yield.     

Finite horizon approximations of infinite horizon linear programs

This paper describes the class of infinite horizon linear programs that have finite optimal values. A sequence of finite horizon (T period) problems is shown to approximate the infinite horizon problems in the following sense: the optimal values of theT period problems converge monotonically to the optimal value of the infinite problem and the limit of any convergent subsequence of initialT period optimal decisions is an optimal decision for the infinite horizon problem.     

Optimal investment strategies with a reallocation constraint

We study a Merton type optimization problem under a reallocation constraint. Under this restriction, the stock holdings can not be liquidated faster than a certain rate. This is a common restriction in certain type of investment firms. Our main objective is to study the large time optimal growth rate of the expected value of the utility from wealth. We also consider a discounted infinite horizon problem as a step towards understanding the first problem. A numerical study is done by solving the dynamic programming equations. Under the assumption of a power utility function, an appropriate dimension reduction argument is used to reduce the original problem to a two dimensional one in a bounded domain with convenient boundary conditions. Computation of the optimal growth rate introduces additional numerical difficulties as the straightforward approach is unstable. In this direction, new analytical results characterizing the growth rate as the limit of a sequence of finite horizon problems with continuously derived utility are proved.     

Inventory returns and special sales in a lot-size system with constant rate of deterioration

The problem of returning or of selling the inventory excess to optimal stock level is considered for deteriorating items. Two inventory models, viz. the infinite and the finite horizon models, are developed, in which the deterioration is assumed to be a constant fraction of the on hand inventory. Both the models are developed under the assumptions of instantaneous delivery and no shortages. When there is no deterioration, the developed models are related to the corresponding inventory models for non-deteriorating items. Examples are given to illustrate the derived results.     

Optimal production stopping time for perishable products with ramp-type quadratic demand dependent production and setup cost

A single item economic production quantity (EPQ) model is discussed to analyse the behaviour of the inventory level after it’s introduction to the market. It is assumed that demand is time dependent accelerated growth-effect of accelerated growth-steady type. Unlike the conventional EPQ models, which are restricted to general production cycle over the finite or infinite time horizon, we consider the production sale scenario of the very first production cycle for newly introduced perishable product. Shortage is not allowed. Set up cost of an order cycle depends on the total amount of inventory produced. The finite production rate is proportional to demand rate. Optimal production stopping time is determined to maximize total unit profit of the system. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the development of the model. Sensitivity analysis of the model is carried out.     

Uniqueness of unbounded viscosity solutions for impulse control problem

We study here the impulse control problem in infinite as well as finite horizon. We allow the cost functionals and dynamics to be unbounded and hence the value function can possibly be unbounded. We prove that the value function is the unique viscosity solution in a suitable subclass of continuous functions, of the associated quasivariational inequality. Our uniqueness proof for the infinite horizon problem uses stopping time problem and for the finite horizon problem, comparison method. However, we assume proper growth conditions on the cost functionals and the dynamics.     

Coherent risk measures in inventory problems

We analyze an extension of the classical multi-period, single-item, linear cost inventory problem where the objective function is a coherent risk measure. Properties of coherent risk measures allow us to offer a unifying treatment of risk averse and min–max type formulations. For the single period newsvendor problem, we show that the structure of the optimal solution of the risk averse model is similar to that of the classical expected value problem. For a finite horizon dynamic inventory model, we show that, again, the optimal policy has a similar structure as that of the expected value problem. This result carries over even to the case when there is a fixed ordering cost. We also analyze monotonicity properties of the optimal order quantity with respect to the degree of risk aversion for certain risk measures.