A just-in-time three-level integrated manufacturing system for linearly time-varying demand process

This paper considers a just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing system in which a single manufacturer procures rawmaterials from a single supplier, process them to produce finished products, and then deliver the products to a single-buyer. The customer demand rate is assumed to be linearly decreasing time-varying. In the JIT system, in order to minimize the suppliers as well as the buyers holding costs, the supply of raw materials and the delivery of finished products are made in small quantities. In this case, both the supply and the delivery may require multiple installments for a single production lot. We develop a mathematical model for this problem, propose a simple methodology for solving the model, and illustrate the effectiveness of the method with numerical examples. 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.