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Simple expressions for finding recovery system inventory control parameter values

  • Theoretical Paper
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Journal of the Operational Research Society

Abstract

In recent years considerable effort has been devoted to the development of inventory control models for joint manufacturing and remanufacturing. Optimality of control policies is analyzed and algorithms for the determination of parameter values have been developed. However, there is still a lack of formulae or algorithms that allow for an easy computation of optimal or near optimal policy parameter values. This paper addresses the problem of computing the produce-up-to level S and the remanufacture-up-to level M in a periodic review inventory control model. We provide simple formulae for the policy parameter values, which can easily be implemented within spreadsheet applications. The approach is to derive news-vendor-type formulae that are based on underage and overage cost considerations. We propose different formulae depending on whether lead times for production and remanufacturing are identical or not. A numerical study shows that the obtained solutions provide relatively small cost deviations compared to the optimal solution within the investigated class of inventory control policies.

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Acknowledgements

The research presented in this paper has been supported by a European Union TMR network subsidy (ERB 4061 PL 97-650, REVLOG project).

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Correspondence to G P Kiesmüller.

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Kiesmüller, G., Minner, S. Simple expressions for finding recovery system inventory control parameter values. J Oper Res Soc 54, 83–88 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601480

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601480

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