Browsing by Subject "Spare parts"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Unknown
End-of-life inventory management problem: new results and insights
(2020-09) Özyörük, Emin
We consider a manufacturer who controls the inventory of spare parts in the end-of-life phase and takes one of three actions at each period: (1) place an order, (2) use existing inventory, or (3) stop holding inventory and use an outside/alternative source. Two examples of this source are discounts for a new generation product and delegating operations. The novelty of our study is allowing multiple orders while using strategies pertinent to the end-of-life phase. Demand is described by a non-homogeneous Poisson process, and the decision to stop holding inventory is described by a stopping time. After formulating this problem as an optimal stopping problem with additional decisions and presenting its dynamic programming algorithm, we use martingale theory to facilitate the calculation of the value function. Comparison with benchmark models and sensitivity analysis show the value of our approach and generate several managerial insights. Next, in a more special environment with a single order and a deterministic time to stop holding inventory, we present structural properties and analytical insights. The results include the optimality of (s, S) policy, and the relation between S and the time to stop holding inventory. Finally, we tackle the issue of selecting the intensity function by allowing it to be a stochastic process. The demand process can be constructed by using a Poisson random measure and an intensity process being measurable with respect to the Skorokhod topology. We show the necessary properties of this process including Laplace functional, strong Markov property and its compensated random measure. In case the intensity process is unobservable, we construct a non-linear filter process and reduce the problem to one with complete observation.
Unknown
Spare parts inventory management with demand lead times and rationing
(Taylor & Francis, 2007) Koçaǧa, Y. L.; Şen, A.
We study an inventory system that consists of two demand classes. The orders in the first class need to be satisfied immediately, whereas the orders in the second class are to be filled in a given demand lead time. The two classes are also of different criticality. For this system, we propose a policy that rations the non-critical orders. Under a one-for-one replenishment policy with backordering and for Poisson demand arrivals for both classes, we first derive expressions for the service levels of both classes. The service level for the critical class is an approximation, whereas the service level for the non-critical class is exact. We then conduct a computational study to show that our approximation works reasonably, the benefits of rationing can be substantial, and the incorporation of demand lead time provides more value when the demand class with demand lead time is the critical class. The research is motivated by the spare parts service system of a major capital equipment manufacturer that faces two types of demand. For this company, the critical down orders need to be satisfied immediately, while the less critical maintenance orders can be satisfied after a fixed demand lead time. We conduct a case study with 64 representative parts and show that significant savings (as much as 14% on inventory on hand) are possible through incorporation of demand lead times and rationing.