CAREER: Analysis and Control of Areas Undergoing Change in the Value-Chain

价值链涵盖了整个价值创造过程，将材料和信息转化为满足客户需求的产品。所有行业的价值链目前都在修订和重新设计。这笔赠款提供资金，以便更仔细地研究价值链中发生的变化的类型，分析它们的相对重要性，并提出管理这些变化的成功方法。特别是，它为价值链的三个具体方面提供资金：供应商管理和供应商所有的库存系统；批处理环境中的协调；价值链中的配给。这笔资金还用于：(1)将制造问题带入课堂的课程和课程开发；(2)增加课堂上的主动学习；(3)案例研究开发；(4)促进学生指导的计划；以及(5)促进学生参与研究的计划。这项研究的关键是与真实公司的互动。与工业界密切合作将有助于产生切实可行的成果。供应商管理和供应商所有的库存合同在工业中正变得越来越普遍；有效的建模将有助于有效和适当地使用它们。协调批量生产系统的综合理论可以节省生产成本，并通过提高供应商绩效来实现。对配给政策对客户基础的影响的评估，直接影响到美国零售商的生存能力。如果研究成功，本文的研究成果将在排队论和随机调度领域具有重要的学术贡献。上文提到的制造系统和随机过程课程的课程内容和案例研究将以这笔赠款资助的研究领域为基础。这将促进学术界历史上截然不同的教育和研究部门之间的协同作用。此外，有关制造系统和随机过程的课程提高了学生对制造业的兴趣，并为学生提供了分析此类系统所需的分析工具；因此，这些课程加强了致力于改善这个国家的制造业基础的人才库。

The value-chain encompasses the entire value creation process, which transforms material and information into product that satisfies customers' needs. Value-chains across all industries are currently being revised and re-engineered. This grant provides funding to take a closer look at the types of changes occurring in the value-chain, to analyze their relative importance, and to suggest successful methods for managing these changes. In particular, it provides funding for three specific aspects of the value-chain:vendor-managed and vendor-owned inventory systems; coordination in batch processing environments; and rationing in the value-chain. This grant also provides funding for: (1) course and curriculum development to bring manufacturing issues into the classroom; (2) increasing active learning in the classroom; (3) case study development; (4) programs to promote student mentoring; and (5) programs to promote student involvement in research. Key to this research is interaction with real companies. Working closely with industry will help to yield results that are practical and implementable. Vendor-managed and vendor-owned inventory contracts are becoming increasingly common in industry; effective modeling will help them to be used efficiently and appropriately. A comprehensive theory for coordinating batch production systems could save money both in production dollars spent and through improved supplier performance. An assessment of the impact of rationing policies on the customer base has direct implications to the viability of retailers in the US. If successful, the results of this research will have significant academic contributions in the areas of queueing theory and stochastic scheduling. The curriculum content and case studies mentioned above for courses on manufacturing systems and stochastic processes will be based on the research areas funded by this grant. This will foster a synergy between the historically disparate educational and research components of academia. Furthermore, courses on manufacturing systems and stochastic processes promote student interest in manufacturing and give students the analytic tools required to analyze such systems; hence, these courses strengthen the pool of talent devoted to improving this country is manufacturing base.