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     

JavaKBB:集成框架与产生式规则的专家系统工具

描述了一个专家系统工具JavaKBB,其目标是设计一个容易使用、方便扩展的专家系统开发工具,可以同时表示领域概念知识与过程知识;既可以运行于商用操作系统Windows等,也可以运行于中标麒麟等军用国产操作系统。为此,提出了一种集成框架与产生式规则的知识表示模式,定义了五种抽象层次以设计一个专家系统,包括知识原语、知识单元、知识部件、知识库以及知识系统;在此基础上基于Java语言设计并实现了JavaKBB。JavaKBB的另外一个重要特征是它能以XML格式保存知识库,具备与其他知识库进行交互的潜力。目前,JavaKBB已经用来构建慢性肝炎防治专家系统、装备辅助决策系统等。     

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     

武器装备发展战略研究中的体系能力评估分析

随着武器装备发展战略研究的科学化决策需求越来越高,对体系能力评估的要求也变得愈发迫切,但这也是目前的一个技术难点。首先分析了发展战略研究中,可能遇到的体系能力评估问题种类及其特点。然后,针对每类问题,重点分析了各自的要求,给出了在评估分析建模方法选择上的建议。     

基于AD与IRMA的装备体系设计方法

论文综合集成AD方法与IRMA方法,构建了一种从装备体系的任务需求出发确定初始装备体系组成方案的方法。基于该方法得到的装备体系组成方案便于扩展、改进和升级。     

使命任务拓展后海军武器装备体系能力框架构建

新时期海军使命任务拓展对海军装备体系建设提出新的需求,需要突出能力在需求分析中的纽带作用。本文针对海军武器装备体系能力框架的概念和研究原则进行简要分析,对能力框架构成进行详细讨论。试用情况说明,以能力框架支撑装备体系规划发展,可更好地涵盖兵力战争运用和非战争运用,综合应对确定和不确定威胁。