Title

:

No-Holdback Allocation Rules for Continuous-Time Assemble-to-Order Systems

Speaker

:

Prof. Yao Zhao

Date

:

June 10th, 2008 (Tuesday)

Time

:

4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Venue

:

Room 513

William M.W. Mong Engineering Building

(Engineering Building Complex Phase 2)

CUHK

We consider continuous-review, multiproduct assemble-to-order (ATO) systems
with positive replenishment lead times under base-stock replenishment
policies. Specifically, we focus on the effectiveness of a class of dynamic
component allocation rules, termed no-holdback (NHB) rules. Under these
rules, a product demand is backordered if and only if at least one of its
required components is out of stock. We show that under certain product and
cost structures, the NHB rules outperform all possible allocation rules at
minimizing system-wide average inventory and backorder cost. We also develop
tools to evaluate key system performance measures under NHB rules. For
systems that exhibit certain material-flow topologies, we obtain exact
performance expressions. For general systems, we obtain performance bounds
and approximations. Finally, we show that while NHB rules always outperform
the commonly used FIFO allocation rule on the immediate fill rates, it may
underperform FIFO on fill rates within a specific time window.

Dr. Yao Zhao is an associate professor of Supply Chain Management and
Management Sciences at Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University - the
State University of New Jersey. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Industrial
Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University. He was a
visiting professor at Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and a
visiting scholar at MIT Operations Research Center.

Dr. Zhao\'s current research interests lie in supply chain management with a
focus on control, design and integration of stochastic production-inventory
systems. He has published papers in leading journals like Operations
Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, IEEE Transactions
of Automatic Control and Naval Research Logistics. He is the recipient of
Honorable Mention of the 2001 student paper competition in Manufacturing &
Service Operations Management. In 2008, he receives an National Science
Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award on a project that integrates supply chain
management and project management.

Dr. Zhao teaches core operations management and supply chain management
courses for undergraduate, MBA, executive certificate and PhD programs at
Rutgers Business School. Prior to joining Rutgers, he taught at Northwestern
University School of Engineering.

Dr. Zhao has collaborated with Estee Launder Companies Inc. and Merck
Manufacturing Division in the areas of forecasting and inventory control for
new product introduction. Dr. Zhao also collaborated with General Motors on
spare part operations.

Host

:

Prof. Frank Y. Chen

Tel

:

(852) 2609-8310

Email

:

yhchen@se.cuhk.edu.hk

Enquiries

:

Prof. Nan Chen or Prof. Sean X. Zhou

:

Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management

CUHK

Website

:

http://www.se.cuhk.edu.hk/~seg5810

Email

:

seg5810@se.cuhk.edu.hk