Managing Stochastic Multi-Product Systems: Model, Measures, and
Analysis
R. Anupindi and S. Tayur
*** Abstract ****
We consider a model for managing a single stage that produces multiple
items. The production rates are finite and there are switchover
times. The interarrival times and quantities of demands for the items
are random, and demand may occur for a set of items. We consider
order focussed measures: cost based on response times, service levels
based on quoted lead times and Type-1 service.
We operate the stage in the following manner: (1) There is a cyclic
schedule that determines the sequence of items and the number of times
a particular item is produced in a cycle; (2) Given a cyclic schedule,
production of each item follows a modified base-stock policy or a
(s,S) policy. We present a simulation based procedure to obtain good
values for the base stock levels or S (for any fixed S-s) for each of
the above performance measures. Numerical results indicate that good
solutions can be obtained with modest computational effort. We also
report on a real world implementation of this model.