Optimizing Linkages in Multistage Production/Distribution Systems

这项研究拨款为开发新的数学决策模型提供资金，使复杂的多阶段生产和分销系统能够更有效和高效地响应不同的客户需求。这些决策模型将解决生产和分销系统中不同阶段之间的作业计划的最佳协调。建模和解决方法将强调个人客户需求属性的各种关键维度和材料供应灵活性的价值和重要性。将开发基于优化的解决方法来解决这些大规模决策问题，这些问题考虑了多个相互关联的阶段的经济成本和系统约束，这些阶段协同工作以有效地提供消费品和服务。这些模型和解决方案方法将进行测试和验证，重点是实证地展示它们对运营和参与大规模生产和分销系统的组织的价值。这项研究的结果将为组织提供新的运营规划和管理方法，使其运营能力更有效和高效地匹配广泛和多样化的客户需求。由此产生的模型将展示企业如何实现经济的材料供应灵活性，以便在服务于大众市场的同时提供单独定制的产量。将为这些模型开发的解决方案方法将有助于克服许多公司面临的重大运营规划复杂性，从而为各种组织提供创造大量经济价值的潜力。相关的建模、分析和算法开发也将有助于应用优化理论和大规模问题解决的进步。

This research grant provides funding for the development of new mathematical decision models to enable complex multistage production and distribution systems to more effectively and efficiently respond to diverse individual customer needs. These decision models will address the optimal coordination of operations planning between distinct stages in production and distribution systems. The modeling and solution methods will stress the value and importance of various critical dimensions of individual customer demand attributes and of material supply flexibility. Optimization-based solution methods will be developed for solving these large-scale decision problems, which account for the economic costs and system constraints of multiple inter-related stages that work together to efficiently deliver consumer goods and services. The models and solution methods will be tested and validated with an emphasis on empirically demonstrating their value to organizations that operate and participate in large-scale production and distribution systems.The results of this research will provide organizations with new approaches to operations planning and management that more effectively and efficiently match their operations capabilities to a broad and diverse set of customer demands. The resulting models will demonstrate ways in which firms can achieve economic material supply flexibility in order to provide individually customized output while serving mass markets. The solution methods that will be developed for these models will help to overcome significant operations planning complexities faced by many firms, thus providing the potential to create substantial economic value for a broad range of organizations. The associated modeling, analysis, and algorithmic development will also contribute to advances in applied optimization theory and large-scale problem solving.