This paper addresses the integrated production-inventory-distribution decisions in a three-echelon supply chain (SC) network. The studied SC network is composed of a raw material processor that supplies different types of processed raw materials to a set of manufacturing facilities which in turn deliver their end products to a set of retailers facing external demand from end customers. A mixed ...

In this article we review the 2011 International Planning Competition. We give an overview of the history of the competition, discussing how it has developed since its first edition in 1998. The 2011 competition was run in three main separate tracks: the Deterministic (Classical) Track; the Learning Track; and the Uncertainty Track. Each track proposed its own distinct set of new challenges and...

With recent, dramatic changes in Arctic sea ice and the Antarctic ice sheets, the importance of monitoring the climate of the polar regions has never been greater. While many individual global satellite products exist, the AVHRR Polar Pathfinder products provide a comprehensive set of variables that can be used to study trends and interactions within the Arctic and Antarctic climate systems. Th...

In the article “The Availability of Competitive Foods and Beverages to Middle School Students in Appalachian Virginia Before Implementation of the 2014 Smart Snacks in School Standards,” the author made an error in calculating the order of data presented in Table 2. Changes do not affect study results. Numbers changed in all columns and rows of Table 2. In addition, changes were made to the text.

We derive approximations for the service levels of two-echelon inventory systems with lost sales and Poisson demand. Our method is simple and accurate for a very broad range of problem instances, including cases with both high and low service levels. In contrast, existing methods only perform well for limited problem settings, or under restrictive assumptions.

The initial database search cost deteriorates due to record additions, deletions and updates performed during the system operation. Previous studies proposed strategies for selecting the optimum maintenance points by making various assumptions about the rate of database deterioration, the database planning period, the maintenance interval, etc. However, the studies did not express the optimum m...

I this paper, we investigate the equilibrium behavior of decentralized supply chains with competing retailers under demand uncertainty. We also design contractual arrangements between the parties that allow the decentralized chain to perform as well as a centralized one. We address these questions in the context of two-echelon supply chains with a single supplier servicing a network of (competi...

With the emphasis on reducing costs and increasing efficiency, a record number of companies are embarking on different forms of advance manufacturing technologies (AMT). AMT are broadly defined by many authors (small and chen, Sheppard and stock) as “ an automated production system of people, machines and tools for the planning and control of the production process, including the procurement of...