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     

Puzzle‐based storage systems

We introduce and develop models for a physical goods storage system based on the 15‐puzzle, a classic children's game in which 15 numbered tiles slide within a 4 × 4 grid. The objective of the game is to arrange the tiles in numerical sequence, starting from a random arrangement. For our purposes, the tiles represent totes, pallets, or even containers that must be stored very densely, and the objective is to maneuver items to an input–output point for retrieval or processing. We develop analytical results for storage configurations having a single empty location (as in the game) and experimental results for configurations with multiple empty locations. Designs with many empty locations can be made to form aisles, allowing us to compare puzzle‐based designs with traditional aisle‐based designs found in warehousing systems. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

Probabilistic solution and bounds for serial inventory systems with discounted and average costs

We consider the infinite horizon serial inventory system with both average cost and discounted cost criteria. The optimal echelon base‐stock levels are obtained in terms of only probability distributions of leadtime demands. This analysis yields a novel approach for developing bounds and heuristics for optimal inventory control polices. In addition to deriving the known bounds in literature, we develop several new upper bounds for both average cost and discounted cost models. Numerical studies show that the bounds and heuristic are very close to optimal.© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

Untruthful probabilistic demand forecasts in vendor‐managed revenue‐sharing contracts: Coordinating the chain

Vendor‐managed revenue‐sharing arrangements are common in the newspaper and other industries. Under such arrangements, the supplier decides on the level of inventory while the retailer effectively operates under consignment, sharing the sales revenue with his supplier. We consider the case where the supplier is unable to predict demand, and must base her decisions on the retailer‐supplied probabilistic forecast for demand. We show that the retailer's best choice of a distribution to report to his supplier will not be the true demand distribution, but instead will be a degenerate distribution that surprisingly induces the supplier to provide the system‐optimal inventory quantity. (To maintain credibility, the retailer's reports of daily sales must then be consistent with his supplied forecast.) This result is robust under nonlinear production costs and nonlinear revenue‐sharing. However, if the retailer does not know the supplier's production cost, the forecast “improves” and could even be truthful. That, however, causes the supplier's order quantity to be suboptimal for the overall system. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

Production to order and off‐line inspection when the production process is partially observable

This study combines inspection and lot‐sizing decisions. The issue is whether to INSPECT another unit or PRODUCE a new lot. A unit produced is either conforming or defective. Demand need to be satisfied in full, by conforming units only. The production process may switch from a “good” state to a “bad” state, at constant rate. The proportion of conforming units in the good state is higher than in the bad state. The true state is unobservable and can only be inferred from the quality of units inspected. We thus update, after each inspection, the probability that the unit, next candidate for inspection, was produced while the production process was in the good state. That “good‐state‐probability” is the basis for our decision to INSPECT or PRODUCE. We prove that the optimal policy has a simple form: INSPECT only if the good‐state‐probability exceeds a control limit. We provide a methodology to calculate the optimal lot size and the expected costs associated with INSPECT and PRODUCE. Surprisingly, we find that the control limit, as a function of the demand (and other problem parameters) is not necessarily monotone. Also, counter to intuition, it is possible that the optimal action is PRODUCE, after revealing a conforming unit. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

Kurtosis correction method for X̄ and R control charts for long‐tailed symmetrical distributions

This paper proposes a kurtosis correction (KC) method for constructing the X? and R control charts for symmetrical long‐tailed (leptokurtic) distributions. The control charts are similar to the Shewhart control charts and are very easy to use. The control limits are derived based on the degree of kurtosis estimated from the actual (subgroup) data. It is assumed that the underlying quality characteristic is symmetrically distributed and no other distributional and/or parameter assumptions are made. The control chart constants are tabulated and the performance of these charts is compared with that of the Shewhart control charts. For the case of the logistic distribution, the exact control limits are derived and are compared with the KC method and the Shewhart method. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

动基站时差探测系统定位方法研究

针对传统长基线时差探测系统的缺点,提出了全新的动基站时差测量系统并给出了目标的定位原理。在典型布站、信息存在冗余的前提下,通过子集选优法确定了最佳定位算法,并根据工程应用的需要确定了更加合理简捷的定位算法,统计仿真表明了该算法的有效性。最后,计算了目标高度测量精度并归纳了其特点,给出了有益的结论。     

用毁伤概率指标优化二点源诱饵系统布阵

两点源诱偏系统是应用有源干扰的方式,利用反辐射导弹(ARM)本身的缺陷来对反辐射导弹的导引头进行干扰,从而达到保护主战雷达目的的一种有源干扰系统。主要从反辐射导弹的基本原理和有源诱偏的概念入手,对两点源诱偏系统进行理论推导、数学建模、布站设想,后引入毁伤概率指标对各种布站方式进行分类、仿真,对每一种仿真结果进行分析、评估,再把各种分析结果加以比较,从中找出最佳的布站方式。最后利用以上的分析结果,得出几点有用的结论。     

基于Monte Carlo法的地空导弹火力分配优化问题研究

在确定地空导弹对目标的可射击系数、火力重叠修正系数和转火矛盾修正系数的基础上,结合Monte Carlo法的基本原理,介绍了解决地空导弹火力分配优化问题的一般步骤。运用计算机模拟技术,通过算例,证明了该方法的可行性,为有效解决地空导弹火力分配优化问题提供了一种较为科学的方法。     

伪线性卡尔曼滤波的观测器轨迹优化算法

单站被动式跟踪存在强非线性和弱可观测性,即便观测器的运动满足可观测性条件,滤波仍然可能发散.针对此问题,使用伪线性卡尔曼滤波器,应用费希尔信息量、罗美达下限等方法对轨迹进行优化,该优化方案避免了对目标与观测器的径距信息的近似.仿真表明:该方法与传统方法比较,计算量较小,优化得到的轨迹简单,滤波精度得到改善.最后给出了在一定条件下,观测器的"最优"运动规则.