This paper presents an algorithm for minimizing the monthly cost of telecommunications networks characterized by multichannel queues with forced balking and hierarchical routing plans. The problem is of major interest to resellers of long distance services and corporate network managers who...

This paper is concerned with the general dynamic lot size model, or (generalized) Wagner-Whitin model. Let n denote the number of periods into which the planning horizon is divided. We describe a simple forward algorithm which solves the general model in 0(n log n) time and 0(n) space, as...

We address the problem of sequencing jobs, each of which is characterized by one of a large number of possible combinations of customer-specified options, on a paced assembly line. These problems arise frequently in the automotive industry. One job must be launched into the system at equal time...

In the standard search problem there is an infinite pool of items whose distribution of values is known. A decision maker draws an item from the pool, observes its value, and decides whether to keep it or to draw another item. He can keep only one item, and he seeks the item with the largest...

An ongoing production process produces defective parts at random intervals. Each defective part provides a learning opportunity which the decision maker may use to improve the process by investing resources to identify and remove the causes of the defective. For various cost criteria, it is...

Under sequential screening, a production lot is inspected item-by-item; the decision is made after inspecting each item whether to inspect another item or to reject the remainder of the lot; and thus uninspected items are never accepted. This screening process is a special case of the sequential...