In this paper we pf(~s(mt a reference framework and a classification of warehouse design and control problems. Based on this framework, we review the existing literature on warehousing systems and indicate important gaps. In particular, we emphasi:r.e the need for design oriented studies, a..'l opposed to the strong analysis oriented research on isolated subproblems that seems to be dominant in the current literature.

No abstract

This paper reviews the theoretical and numerical analysis of stochastic multi-echelon systems. We discuss both production (assembly) and distribution models, with an emphasis on materials coordination problems. Extensions to capacitated systems are also treated. The emphasis of this paper is on applicability of the models; in particular we characterize environments where multi-echelon models naturally fit. In particular, we discuss numerical procedures which allow for a quick and accurate evaluation of systems of realistic size and show how to use them to arrive at target service levels in serial and assembly systems. Extensions to capacitated systems and more flexible production environments are also discussed.

No abstract

This paper deals with the analysis of a multi-item, continuous review model of a multi-location inventory system of repairable spare parts, in which lateral and emergency shipments occur in response of stock-outs. The objective is to determine close-to-optimal stocking policies minimizing the total cost for inventory holding, lateral transshipments, and emergency shipments subject to a target level for the average waiting times at all locations. We structure the optimization problem as a combinatorial problem and four different heuristics are developed and evaluated in terms of their total costs and computation times. It is shown that the greedy-type heuristic has the best performance. A numerical study is carried out to look at the relative cost savings obtained from the use of multi-item approach and lateral transshipments.