Retailers of products with limited shelf life are faced with the dilemma of stocking the right mix of standard product and its customized stock keeping units, in each product category. In this paper we model the retailer multi-item inventory problem with demand cannibalization and substitution. The model focuses on the twin problems of optimal portfolio selection as well as optimal stocking und...

This paper addresses a multi-objective mixed-model two-sided assembly line balancing and worker assignment with bottleneck analysis when the task times are dependent on the worker’s skill. This problem is known as NP-hard class, thus, a hybrid cyclic-hierarchical algorithm is presented for solving it. The algorithm is based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Theory of Constraints (TOC) an...

A Heijunka Board is a Lean Production technique that helps to communicate a timed production plan to the factory floor. Lean advocates that production plans should be generated to level the volume and to level the mix. It is the mix levelling aspect of the Heijunka Board that we are concerned with. In particular, given that a number of products have to be produced on a production line, the orde...

Mixed-model assembly lines allow for the simultaneous assembly of a set of similar models of a product, which may be launched in the assembly line in any order and mix. As current markets are characterized by a growing trend for higher product variability, mixed-model assembly lines are preferred over the traditional single-model assembly lines. This paper presents a mathematical programming mo...

Facing new challenges and more uncertainty, manufacturers see the need for flexible solutions and the need to strive to achieve flexibility. However, flexibility is still not well understood and no unambiguous understanding of flexibility exists. The paper first summarizes the state of the field of flexibility, exploring different definitions and understandings of the flexibility concept from t...

The importance of optimal marketing communications mix decisions is well-recognized by both marketing scholars and practitioners. A significant volume of work has addressed the problem of dynamic marketing mix optimization assuming constant effectiveness of marketing instruments. However, the effectiveness of marketing communications varies over time for a variety of reasons. Moreover, due to f...

Yogurts are prepared by fermenting milk with bacterial cultures consisting of a mixture of Streptococcus ssp. thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus. The main aim of this investigation was to develop a majority goat yogurt, with the addition of sheep milk in order to have a final product with good physicochemical quality properties and sensorial attributes. Four types of yog...

The study was conducted to know the copro-prevalence of hookworm infection in relation to various risk factors in the pet dogs from in and around Ludhiana. Total 250 dog faecal samples were examined by flotation and Mc Master egg counting technique for qualitative and quantitative evaluation, respectively. The prevalence of hookworms was correlated with meteorological data, age, sex and breed. ...

This paper examines firms and the products they manufacture — and abandon — over time. We find strong relationships between product switching and a number of microand macroeconomic variables, including firm performance, aggregate manufacturing growth and product diversification. Most importantly, product switching is a very important — and active — margin of firm adjustment that is positively c...

In this paper, we describe a method for designing flexible mix-product lines. The word "flexible" means product-mix flexibility. Various production plans are executed in the flexible mixed-product line. Therefore, we have to solve problems that have widely expanded search trees to design the flexible mixed-product line, but it's difficult to find optimal answers of large scale design problems. ...