Multi-class Dynamic Inventory Rationing with Stochastic Demands and Backordering

Dynamic inventory rationing is considered for systems with multiple demand classes, stationary stochastic demands, and backordering. In the literature, dynamic programming has been often applied to address this type of problems. However, due to the curse of dimensionality, computation is a critical...

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Main Authors: Liu, S., Song, M., Tan, Ka, Zhang, Changyong
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier BV * North-Holland 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8795
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author Liu, S.
Song, M.
Tan, Ka
Zhang, Changyong
author_facet Liu, S.
Song, M.
Tan, Ka
Zhang, Changyong
author_sort Liu, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Dynamic inventory rationing is considered for systems with multiple demand classes, stationary stochastic demands, and backordering. In the literature, dynamic programming has been often applied to address this type of problems. However, due to the curse of dimensionality, computation is a critical challenge for dynamic programming. In this paper, an innovative two-step approach is proposed based on an idea similar to the certainty equivalence principle. First the deterministic inventory rationing problem is studied, where the future demands are set to be the expectation of the stochastic demand processes. The important properties obtained from solving the problem with the KKT conditions are then used to develop effective dynamic rationing policies for stochastic demands, which gives closed-form expressions for dynamic rationing thresholds. These expressions are easy to calculate and are applicable to any number of demand classes. Numerical results show that the expressions are close to and provide a lower bound for the optimal dynamic thresholds. They also shed light on important managerial insights, for example, the relation between different parameters and the rationing thresholds.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2015
publisher Elsevier BV * North-Holland
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-87952017-09-13T14:36:24Z Multi-class Dynamic Inventory Rationing with Stochastic Demands and Backordering Liu, S. Song, M. Tan, Ka Zhang, Changyong Dynamic inventory rationing is considered for systems with multiple demand classes, stationary stochastic demands, and backordering. In the literature, dynamic programming has been often applied to address this type of problems. However, due to the curse of dimensionality, computation is a critical challenge for dynamic programming. In this paper, an innovative two-step approach is proposed based on an idea similar to the certainty equivalence principle. First the deterministic inventory rationing problem is studied, where the future demands are set to be the expectation of the stochastic demand processes. The important properties obtained from solving the problem with the KKT conditions are then used to develop effective dynamic rationing policies for stochastic demands, which gives closed-form expressions for dynamic rationing thresholds. These expressions are easy to calculate and are applicable to any number of demand classes. Numerical results show that the expressions are close to and provide a lower bound for the optimal dynamic thresholds. They also shed light on important managerial insights, for example, the relation between different parameters and the rationing thresholds. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8795 10.1016/j.ejor.2015.01.022 Elsevier BV * North-Holland restricted
spellingShingle Liu, S.
Song, M.
Tan, Ka
Zhang, Changyong
Multi-class Dynamic Inventory Rationing with Stochastic Demands and Backordering
title Multi-class Dynamic Inventory Rationing with Stochastic Demands and Backordering
title_full Multi-class Dynamic Inventory Rationing with Stochastic Demands and Backordering
title_fullStr Multi-class Dynamic Inventory Rationing with Stochastic Demands and Backordering
title_full_unstemmed Multi-class Dynamic Inventory Rationing with Stochastic Demands and Backordering
title_short Multi-class Dynamic Inventory Rationing with Stochastic Demands and Backordering
title_sort multi-class dynamic inventory rationing with stochastic demands and backordering
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8795