Strategic dynamic sourcing from competing suppliers with transferable capacity investment

We study the supplier relationship choice for a buyer that invests in transferable capacity operated by a supplier. With a long‐term relationship, the buyer commits to source from a supplier over a long period of time. With a short‐term relationship, the buyer leaves open the option of switching to a new supplier in the future. The buyer has incomplete information about a supplies efficiency, and thus uses auctions to select suppliers and determine the contracts. In addition, the buyer faces uncertain demand for the product. A long‐term relationship may be beneficial for the buyer because it motivates more aggressive bidding at the beginning, resulting a lower initial price. A short‐term relationship may be advantageous because it allows switching, with capacity transfer at some cost, to a more efficient supplier in the future. We find that there exists a critical level of the switching cost above which a long‐term relationship is better for the buyer than a short‐term relationship. In addition, this critical switching cost decreases with demand uncertainty, implying a long‐term relationship is more favorable for a buyer facing volatile demand. Finally, we find that in a long‐term relationship, capacity can be either higher or lower than in a short‐term relationship. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

Energy‐efficient scheduling for sustainable manufacturing systems with renewable energy resources

Environmentally friendly energy resources open a new opportunity to tackle the problem of energy security and climate change arising from wide use of fossil fuels. This paper focuses on optimizing the allocation of the energy generated by the renewable energy system to minimize the total electricity cost for sustainable manufacturing systems under time‐of‐use tariff by clipping the peak demand. A rolling horizon approach is adopted to handle the uncertainty caused by the weather change. A nonlinear mathematical programming model is established for each decision epoch based on the predicted energy generation and the probability distribution of power demand in the manufacturing plant. The objective function of the model is shown to be convex, Lipchitz‐continuous, and subdifferentiable. A generalized benders decomposition method based on the primal‐dual subgradient descent algorithm is proposed to solve the model. A series of numerical experiments is conducted to show the effectiveness of the solution approach and the significant benefits of using the renewable energy resources.     

Optimal control policies for an inventory system with commitment lead time

We consider a firm which faces a Poisson customer demand and uses a base‐stock policy to replenish its inventories from an outside supplier with a fixed lead time. The firm can use a preorder strategy which allows the customers to place their orders before their actual need. The time from a customer's order until the date a product is actually needed is called commitment lead time. The firm pays a commitment cost which is strictly increasing and convex in the length of the commitment lead time. For such a system, we prove the optimality of bang‐bang and all‐or‐nothing policies for the commitment lead time and the base‐stock policy, respectively. We study the case where the commitment cost is linear in the length of the commitment lead time in detail. We show that there exists a unit commitment cost threshold which dictates the optimality of either a buy‐to‐order (BTO) or a buy‐to‐stock strategy. The unit commitment cost threshold is increasing in the unit holding and backordering costs and decreasing in the mean lead time demand. We determine the conditions on the unit commitment cost for profitability of the BTO strategy and study the case with a compound Poisson customer demand.     

基于大数据分析的网络管理智能化

军事通信网综合管理系统中,各专业网络运行情况的主要数据都可汇总到综合网管数据库中。这些网管数据中隐含了网络运行的几乎全部信息,但即使是最有经验的网络管理专家面对这些繁杂的数据也只能望洋兴叹。面对大数据的智能分析技术则有可能实现网络运行态势的高度可视化,充分理解和详细把握全网运行状态,像知识、经验、联想丰富的专家一样不知疲倦地对网络运行状况进行全面细致地分析,从海量的网管数据中发现网络故障的蛛丝马迹,发现隐含的问题,预知网络变化。论文介绍了利用大数据分析技术实现网络管理智能化的现实目标,基于性能的网络异常预测预报、基于性能和事件的故障分析诊断、网络运行知识的挖掘利用等方面的功能和技术途径。     

Dynamic inventory management with cash flow constraints

In this article, we consider a classic dynamic inventory control problem of a self‐financing retailer who periodically replenishes its stock from a supplier and sells it to the market. The replenishment decisions of the retailer are constrained by cash flow, which is updated periodically following purchasing and sales in each period. Excess demand in each period is lost when insufficient inventory is in stock. The retailer's objective is to maximize its expected terminal wealth at the end of the planning horizon. We characterize the optimal inventory control policy and present a simple algorithm for computing the optimal policies for each period. Conditions are identified under which the optimal control policies are identical across periods. We also present comparative statics results on the optimal control policy. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2008     

并行离散事件仿真中的DDM机制实现

在并行离散事件仿真系统中实现仿真模型间的互操作机制需要引入类似HLA中定义的声明管理(DM)和数据分发管理(DDM)服务.我们开发的KD-PADSE高性能并行离散事件仿真环境采用谓词断言和对象代理方法在面向对象的并行离散事件仿真系统中实现了基于平行结构和事件调度机制的声明管理(DM)和数据分发管理(DDM)服务.在以千兆以太网互联的10节点Linux集群计算机上,采用DDM机制后仿真模型每秒(物理时间)可以进行1万次属性更新,是没有采用DDM机制时的20倍,在功能性和性能上验证了该DDM机制在并行离散事件仿真系统中的适用性.     

风险评价在军队营区环境管理中的应用

分析了军队营区环境风险的概念,认为要消减军队营区环境风险,不能仅考虑降低风险概率或风险后果,而应从风险概率与风险后果两者的乘积效应出发,通过综合分析和控制环境风险系统来解决;着重探讨了军队营区环境风险评价的内容和方法,包括环境风险识别、环境风险预计、环境风险评价与对策.军队营区环境风险评价可从二个层次进行评价一是从事件及与之有关联的周围环境条件出发,按"环境风险系统"的思路,从风险源、初级控制条件、二级控制条件、目标4个阶段进行评价;二是从事件或行动的具体问题出发,评价其风险的重大性和可接受性.最后讨论了军队营区环境风险管理的内容和方法.     

焊接工艺对熔敷金属韧性的影响

探讨了改变焊接工艺对焊条熔敷金属冲击韧性的影响．研究表明：改变焊接工艺,将通过改变熔敷金属的化学成分,影响熔敷金属的强度和韧性;降低焊接线能量时,将降低熔敷金属中的氧含量及其氧化夹杂物的数量和大小,从而提高熔敷金属的韧性     

Managing components for assemble‐to‐order products with lead‐time‐dependent pricing: The full‐shipment model

We study a component inventory planning problem in an assemble‐to‐order environment faced by many contract manufacturers in which both quick delivery and efficient management of component inventory are crucial for the manufacturers to achieve profitability in a highly competitive market. Extending a recent study in a similar problem setting by the same authors, we analyze an optimization model for determining the optimal component stocking decision for a contract manufacturer facing an uncertain future demand, where product price depends on the delivery times. In contrast to our earlier work, this paper considers the situation where the contract manufacturer needs to deliver the full order quantity in one single shipment. This delivery requirement is appropriate for many industries, such as the garment and toy industries, where the economies of scale in transportation is essential. We develop efficient solution procedures for solving this optimization problem. We use our model results to illustrate how the different model parameters affect the optimal solution. We also compare the results under this full‐shipment model with those from our earlier work that allows for multiple partial shipments. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007