Identifier

etd-0702103-012837

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Engineering Science (Interdepartmental Program)

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

This dissertation studies an operational policy for a lean supply chain system consisting of a manufacturer, multiple suppliers and multiple buyers. The manufacturer procures raw materials from the suppliers and converts them into finished products, which are then shipped in batches to the buyers at certain intervals of times. Three distinct but inseparable problems are addressed: single supplier and single buyer with fixed delivery size (FD), multiple suppliers and multiple buyers with individual delivery schedule (MD), and time dependent delivery quantity with trend demand (TD). The mathematical formulations of these supply systems are categorized as mixed-integer, nonlinear programming problems (MINLAP) with discrete, non-convex objective functions and constraints. The operations policy determines the number of orders of raw material, beginning and ending times of cycles, production batch size, production start time, and beginning and ending inventories. The goal is to minimize the cost of the two-stage, just-in-time inventory system that integrates raw materials ordering and finished goods production system. The policy is designed for a finite planning horizon with various phases of life cycle demands such as inception (increasing), maturity (level) and phasing out (declining). Analytical results that characterize the exact, optimal policy for the problems described above are devised to develop efficient and optimal computational procedures. A closed-form heuristic that provides a near-optimal solution and tight lower bound is proposed for the problem FD. A network model to represent the problems is proposed and network-based algorithms are implemented to solve the problems FD, MD and TD optimally. The computational complexities of the algorithms are Θ(N2) or O(N3) where N is the total number of shipments in the planning horizon. Numerical tests to assess the robustness and quality of the methods show that the present research provides superior results. Production and supply chain management play an important role in ensuring that the necessary amounts of materials and parts arrive at the appropriate time and place. A manager, using the models obtained in this research, can quickly respond to consumers' demand by effectively determining the right policies to order raw materials, to deliver finished goods, and to efficiently manage their production schedule.

Date

2003

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Bhaba R. Sarker

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.3037

Download

Share

COinS