This paper examines the extended two-echelon newsboy problem for a manufacturer and retailer in a supply chain with asymmetric market information. In this scenario, the retailer has better knowledge of the market s demand, and the manufacturer perceives the same demand. This applied model presents how the manufacturer can take advantage of the retailer s market information and improve the effic...

Clark and Scarf [1960] characterize optimal policies in a two-echelon, twolocation inventory model. We extend their result to the infinite-horizon case (for both discounted and average costs). The computations required are far easier than for the finite horizon problem. Further simplification is achieved for normal demands. We also consider the more interesting case of multiple locations at the...

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is shown to provide a robust, flexible framework to stabilize inventories yet still meet customer demand with minimal safety stock. The translation of available information in the supply chain problem into MPC variables is demonstrated with a two-node supply chain example. A six-node, two-product, threeechelon demand network simulation proposed by Intel Corp. is w...

The delivery of freight from its origin to its destination is often managed through one or more intermediate facilities where storing, merging and consolidation activities are performed. This type of distribution systems is commonly called multi-echelon, where each echelon refers to one level of the distribution network. Multi-echelon distribution systems are often considered by public administ...

s-This paper further extends the existing cost model for a fixed-life perishable product in a two-echelon inventory problem into the net profit model. The extended model is subsequently evaluated by comparing its results with those obtained from OptQuest, a commercial simulationoptimization package. Within a limited but reasonable time, the comparative results do not show a significant improvem...

The Guaranteed Service Model (GSM) computes optimal order-points in multiechelon inventory control under the assumptions that delivery times can be guaranteed and the demand is bounded. Our new Stochastic Guaranteed Service Model (SGSM) with Recourse covers also scenarios that violate these assumptions. Simulation experiments on real-world data of a large German car manufacturer show that polic...

This paper is concerned with the coordination of inventory control in divergent multiechelon inventory systems under periodic review and decentralized control. All the installations track echelon inventories. Under decentralized control the installations will decide upon replenishment policies that minimize their individual inventory costs. In general these policies do not coincide with the opt...

In 1998, the retail sales and marketing division of Time Inc., the largest publisher of consumer magazines in the US, reviewed its newsstand distribution principles and procedures for its magazines. This review affected the three major distribution decisions: the evaluation of each magazine’s national print order, the wholesaler allotment procedure, and the store distribution process. For this ...