Queueing models of production and healthcare systems

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In today's competitive markets, a company able to fill customer orders quickly, as well offer a variety of custom products will have an advantage. However, these goals place conflicting pressures on manufacturers. To fill orders quickly requires firms to carry finished goods inventory - but this carries a risk of holding in inventory items not suitable for customer orders. To provide custom products, firms typically produce items only when the customer places an order. This reduces the risk of not selling items made ahead of time, but causes longer customer lead times. For this reason, many firms use a hybrid approach. They produce semi-finished goods ahead of customer demand (make-to-stock), and then customize the semi-finished goods when customer orders materialize (make-to-order). The first thrust area of this research deals with enhancing our understanding of production systems where products are made in this hybrid fashion. The focus is on exploring the use of various inventory control policies and production structures for these hybrid systems.