Replenishment policies for a tree-type three echelon supply chain system

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my special thanks to Professor Bhaba R. Sarker, my major advisor. This work would have never been completed successfully without his incredible guidance and supervision in this pursuit. I appreciate the time and effort that he has given in educating me in research and completing the thesis. I did not learn only the art of research and the materials he taught in classes, but also his experience, philosophy of life, and many valuable words of wisdom that pertained to his experience with me while working on this project. All this experience and knowledge that I learnt from him will remain as an asset in my life. Also, I would like to thank Professor Fred Aghazadeh and Professor Pius J. Egbelu for serving on my thesis committee. Professor Fred Aghazadeh's questioning on simplifying the problem in layman's words was always a challenging task for me and I am still learning in the pursuit of answers to " how to simplify a problem " for him—I sincerely thank him for this learning exercise. Professor Pius Egbelu's comments and questions while defending the proposal caused me to think in different ways about a problem and that led to improve my research agenda in this project. I benefitted from the practical experience at Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, LA where I dealt with lean system to improve the system performance. My sincere thanks are due to Professors Fred Aghazadeh, Laura Ikuma, and Isabelina Nahmens for facilitating and advising me on this project. I would also like to thank Professor Lawrence Mann, Jr. who helped me correcting and editing the thesis that undoubtedly improving the quality of its presentation. I would not be here without my parents' blessing, who raised me to what I am today. Their supports to me meet no boundaries and I am always indebted to them for my life.