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Optimal and Heuristic Lead-Time Quotation For an Integrated Steel Mill With a Minimum Batch Size

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper presents a model of lead-time policies for a production system, such as an integrated steel mill, in which the bottleneck process requires a minimum batch size. An accurate understanding of internal lead-time quotations is necessary for making good customer delivery-date promises, which must take into account processing time, queueing time and time for arrival of the requisite volume of orders to complete the minimum batch size requirement. The problem is modeled as a stochastic dynamic program with a large state space. A computational study demonstrates that lead time for an arriving order should generally be a decreasing function of the amount of that product already on order (and waiting for minimum batch size to accumulate), which leads to a very fast and accurate heuristic. The computational study also provides insights into the relationship between lead-time quotation, arrival rate, and the sensitivity of customers to the length of delivery promises.

    Original languageAmerican English
    JournalEuropean Journal of Operational Research
    Volume210
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Jan 1 2011

    Keywords

    • Supply Chain Management

    Disciplines

    • Business Administration, Management, and Operations

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