Capacity expansion under a service-level constraint for uncertain demand with lead times

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2009-01-01
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Marathe, Rahul
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Ryan, Sarah
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Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering
The Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering teaches the design, analysis, and improvement of the systems and processes in manufacturing, consulting, and service industries by application of the principles of engineering. The Department of General Engineering was formed in 1929. In 1956 its name changed to Department of Industrial Engineering. In 1989 its name changed to the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering.
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Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Abstract

For a service provider facing stochastic demand growth, expansion lead times and economies of scale complicate the expansion timing and sizing decisions. We formulate a model to minimize the infinite horizon expected discounted expansion cost under a service-level constraint. The service level is defined as the proportion of demand over an expansion cycle that is satisfied by available capacity. For demand that follows a geometric Brownian motion process, we impose a stationary policy under which expansions are triggered by a fixed ratio of demand to the capacity position, i.e., the capacity that will be available when any current expansion project is completed, and each expansion increases capacity by the same proportion. The risk of capacity shortage during a cycle is estimated analytically using the value of an up-and-out partial barrier call option. A cutting plane procedure identifies the optimal values of the two expansion policy parameters simultaneously. Numerical instances illustrate that if demand grows slowly with low volatility and the expansion lead times are short, then it is optimal to delay the start of expansion beyond when demand exceeds the capacity position. Delays in initiating expansions are coupled with larger expansion sizes.

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This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Marathe, R. R. and S. M. Ryan, “Capacity Expansion under a Service Level Constraint for Uncertain Demand with Lead Times,” Naval Research Logistics, 56(3), 250-263 (2009), which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nav.20334. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

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Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2009
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