Dynamic inventory control with limited capital and short‐term financing

For most firms, especially the small‐ and medium‐sized ones, the operational decisions are affected by their internal capital and ability to obtain external capital. However, the majority of the literature on dynamic inventory control ignores the firm's financial status and financing issues. An important question that arises is: what are the optimal inventory and financing policies for firms with limited internal capital and limited access to external capital? In this article, we study a dynamic inventory control problem where a capital‐constrained firm periodically purchases a product from a supplier and sells it to a market with random demands. In each period, the firm can use its own capital and/or borrow a short‐term loan to purchase the product, with the interest rate being nondecreasing in the loan size. The objective is to maximize the firm's expected terminal wealth at the end of the planning horizon. We show that the optimal inventory policy in each period is an equity‐level‐dependent base‐stock policy, where the equity level is the sum of the firm's capital level and the value of its on‐hand inventory evaluated at the purchasing cost; and the structure of the optimal policy can be characterized by four intervals of the equity level. Our results shed light on the dynamic inventory control for firms with limited capital and short‐term financing capabilities.Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 184–201, 2014     

A note on signature‐based expressions for the entropy of mixed r‐out‐of‐ n systems

We provide an expression for the Shannon entropy of mixed r‐out‐of‐ n systems when the lifetimes of the components are independent and identically distributed. The expression gives the system's entropy in terms of the system signature, the distribution and density functions of the lifetime model, and the information measures of the beta distribution. Bounds for the system's entropy are obtained by direct applications of the concavity of the entropy and the information inequality.Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 202–206, 2014     

Maintenance scheduling for modular systems: Modeling and algorithms

We study new models of scheduled maintenance management for modular systems, consisting of multiple components with respective cycle limits. The cycle limit of each component specifies the time interval in which this component must be repaired or replaced. The goal is to compute a feasible maintenance schedule that minimizes the cost associated with component maintenance. Applications of these models arise in Air Force aircraft maintenance as well as in other arenas with required preventive maintenance. The typical cost structures that arise in practical settings are submodular, which make the resulting models computationally challenging. We develop two efficient and operationally tenable approximation algorithms. We prove constant factor worst‐case guarantees for both algorithms, and present computational experiments showing that these algorithms perform within a few percent of optimality on operationally relevant instances. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 472–488, 2014     

Impact of tax reduction policies on consumer purchase of new automobiles: An analytical investigation with real data‐based experiments

We investigate and compare the impact of the tax reduction policies implemented in the United States and China to stimulate consumer purchase of new automobiles and improve manufacturers' profits. The U.S. policy provides each qualifying consumer with a federal income tax deduction on state and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase price (up to a cutoff level), whereas the Chinese policy reduces the vehicle sales tax rate for consumers. We observe that these policy designs are consistent with the tax management system and the economic environment in the respective country. We analytically determine the effects of the two tax reduction policies on the automobile sales and the manufacturer's and the retailer's profits. Numerical examples are then used to provide insights on the importance of certain factors that influence the effects of the two policies. Finally, a numerical experiment with sensitivity analysis based on real data is conducted to compare the merits and characteristics of the two policies under comparable conditions. We find that the U.S. policy is better than the Chinese policy in stimulating the sales of high‐end automobiles, whereas the Chinese policy is better than the U.S. policy in improving the sales of low‐end automobiles. The U.S. policy is slightly more effective in increasing the profitability of the automobile supply chain; but, in general, the Chinese policy is more cost effective. The methodology developed herein can be used to evaluate other tax reduction policies such as those related to the purchase of energy‐saving vehicles and to serve as a decision model to guide the choice of alternative tax reduction policies. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 61: 577–598, 2014     

The single and multi‐item transshipment problem with fixed transshipment costs

This article deals with supply chain systems in which lateral transshipments are allowed. For a system with two retailers facing stochastic demand, we relax the assumption of negligible fixed transshipment costs, thus, extending existing results for the single‐item case and introducing a new model with multiple items. The goal is to determine optimal transshipment and replenishment policies, such that the total centralized expected profit of both retailers is maximized. For the single‐item problem with fixed transshipment costs, we develop optimality conditions, analyze the expected profit function, and identify the optimal solution. We extend our analysis to multiple items with joint fixed transshipment costs, a problem that has not been investigated previously in the literature, and show how the optimality conditions may be extended for any number of items. Due to the complexity involved in solving these conditions, we suggest a simple heuristic based on the single‐item results. Finally, we conduct a numerical study that provides managerial insights on the solutions obtained in various settings and demonstrates that the suggested heuristic performs very well. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 61: 637–664, 2014     

Computational complexity of finding Pareto efficient outcomes for biobjective lot‐sizing models

In this article, we study a biobjective economic lot‐sizing problem with applications, among others, in green logistics. The first objective aims to minimize the total lot‐sizing costs including production and inventory holding costs, whereas the second one minimizes the maximum production and inventory block expenditure. We derive (almost) tight complexity results for the Pareto efficient outcome problem under nonspeculative lot‐sizing costs. First, we identify nontrivial problem classes for which this problem is polynomially solvable. Second, if we relax any of the parameter assumptions, we show that (except for one case) finding a single Pareto efficient outcome is an ‐hard task in general. Finally, we shed some light on the task of describing the Pareto frontier. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 386–402, 2014     

基于研制试验数据的可靠性综合评估方法

针对产品在研制阶段的试验项目多、时间短、样本少等特点,在可靠性增长Duane模型的基础上,提出一种基于研制阶段变母体变环境试验数据的可靠性综合评估方法与模型。考虑不同试验应力环境对产品的影响,引入环境折合系数,根据相似产品试验数据,采用综合考虑了增长趋势检验约束和增长模型检验约束的寻优方法求解环境折合系数,利用折合后的数据进行可靠综合评估。通过实例证明了该方法的工程实用性。     

局部状态检测的GPS/INS组合导航转发式干扰检验方法

针对GPS/INS(Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System)组合导航中GPS转发式干扰问题,在分析故障变化特性与故障诊断函数特性之间关系的基础上,提出了一种基于局部状态χ2检验的方法。通过观测值的变化、观测模型的变化和χ2检验中x赞1k的变化论证了方法的可行性,并得出组合导航受到转发式干扰是判断系统发生故障的充分而非必要条件的结论。最后通过在仿真轨迹中加入诱偏来模拟转发式干扰,仿真实验证明该方法能够以较高的灵敏度和较高的准确性判断转发式干扰的发生。     

大型试件砂尘试验风洞有效吹风截面的论证

通过分析大型试件砂尘试验需求和现行军用标准,提出采用直吹式砂尘试验方式,实现整车状态的砂尘试验,并说明这种试验实施方法的科学性.依据射流理论并通过计算,得出距离吹风口不同位置处各个截面上的理论有效吹风截面,通过有效吹风截面与大型试件尺寸比较,说明这种形式的砂尘试验设备对常规武器系统具有很强的适应性.这项研究工作对砂尘试验设备的设计、调试和操作使用等具有技术指导作用.     

Burning characteristics of microcellular combustible objects

Microcellular combustible objects for application of combustible case, caseless ammunition or combustible detonator-holding tubes are fabricated through one-step foaming process, in which supercritical CO₂ is used as foaming agent. The formulations consist of inert polymer binder and ultra fine RDX. For the inner porous structures of microcellular combustible objects, the cell sizes present a unimodal or bimodal distribution by adjusting the foaming conditions. Closed bomb test is to investigate the influence of both porous structure style and RDX content on burning behavior. The sample with bimodal distribution of cell sizes burns faster than that with unimodal distribution, and the concentration of RDX can influence the burning characteristics in a positive manner. In addition, the translation of laminar burning to convective burning is determined by burning rate versus pressure curves of samples at two different loading densities, and the resulting transition pressure is 30 MPa. Moreover, the samples with bigger sample size present higher burning rate, resulting in providing deeper convective depth. Dynamic vivacity of samples is also studied. The results show that the vivacity increases with RDX content and varies with inner structure.