We consider a finite-horizon, periodic-review inventory model with demand forecasting updates following the martingale model of forecast evolution (MMFE). The optimal policy is a state-dependent base-stock policy, which, however, is computationally intractable to obtain. We develop tractable bounds on the optimal base-stock levels and use them to devise a general class of heuristic solutions. T...

We examine a single-item, periodic-review inventory system with stochastic leadtimes, in which a replenishment order is delivered immediately or one period later, depending probabilistically on costly effort. The objective is to determine an inventory policy and an effort-choice strategy that minimize the expected total costs. Our analytical and computational analysis suggests that (i) a state-...

We present a periodic review inventory model with multiple delivery modes. While base-stock policies are optimal for one or two consecutive delivery modes, they are not so otherwise. For multiple consecutive delivery modes, we show that only the fastest two modes have optimal base stocks, and provide a simple counterexample to show that the remaining ones do not. We investigate why the base-sto...

We consider a make-to-stock supplier who operates a production facility with limited capacity. The supplier receives orders from customers belonging to several demand classes. Some of the customer classes share advance demand information with the supplier by announcing their orders ahead of their due date. However, this advance demand information is not perfect because the customer may decide t...

We consider a make-to-stock supplier who operates a production facility with limited capacity. The supplier receives orders from customers belonging to several demand classes. Some of the customer classes share advance demand information with the supplier by announcing their orders ahead of their due date. However, this advance demand information is not perfect because the customer may decide t...

T paper considers a multicomponent, multiproduct periodic-review assemble-to-order (ATO) system that uses an independent base-stock policy for inventory replenishment. Product demands in each period are integer-valued correlated random variables, with each product being assembled from multiple units of a subset of components. The system quotes a prespecified response time window for each produc...

We consider a periodic-review inventory system in which multiple non-identical retailers replenish from a warehouse, which further replenishes from an outside ample source. Each facility faces Poisson customer demand and replenishes according to a base-stock policy in a fixed time interval. There are fixed costs incurred for placing an order. The warehouse fills the retailers’ orders in the sam...

Manufacturing managers face increasing pressure to reduce inventories across the supply chain. However, in complex supply chains, it is not always obviouswhere to hold safety stock to minimize inventory costs and provide a high level of service to the final customer. In this paper we develop a framework for modeling strategic safety stock in a supply chain that is subject to demand or forecast ...

Most research on supply chain management deals with settings where firms do not voluntarily get rid of inventory in the system. Since voluntary inventory reductions are often observed in practice, in this paper, we propose a (multi-echelon) model where the firm can dispose of excess stock through sales in the secondary market at each stage in the supply chain. What are called nested echelon bas...