Article ID: | iaor19992975 |
Country: | Netherlands |
Volume: | 108 |
Issue: | 1 |
Start Page Number: | 74 |
End Page Number: | 93 |
Publication Date: | Jul 1998 |
Journal: | European Journal of Operational Research |
Authors: | Wilhelm Wilbert E., Som Pradip |
Keywords: | production: MRP |
This paper models a single-stage, single-product, stochastic assembly system, operating according to a Materials Requirements Planning controlled ordering philosophy. It deals explicitly with the underlying stochastic process that describes the end-product inventory position, enabling production lead times to be treated as independent and generally distributed random variables. The inventory position process is identified as a Markov renewal process, and this structure is exploited to determine system performance measures such as average inventory level, average backorder level, and the probability distribution of the end-product inventory position. An example, which demonstrates the type of analysis possible, focuses on quantifying the effect of kitting on the availability of end-products.