We consider a production-inventory planning problem with time-varying demands, convex production costs and a warehouse capacity constraint. It is solved by use of the Lagrangian form of the maximum principle. The possible existence of strong decision and forecast horizons is demonstrated. When...

This paper describes a maximum principle for distributed parameter systems, i.e. systems characterized by partial differential equations. The maximum principle is applied to solve the problem of a cattle rancher who must decide the number of cattle in different age groups to be bought and sold...

In this paper, we identify a new class of stochastic Iinear convex optimal control problems, whose solution can be obtained by solving appropriate equivalent deterministic optimal control problems. The term 'linear convex' is meant to imply that the dynamics is linear and the cost function is...

This paper considers a production-inventory problem in which the manufacturer participates in an energy buy-back program, which offers him probabilistic opportunities with rewards for not using electricity. That is, the manufacturer will get paid for stopping production to save on electricity....

In this paper, we treat an optimal control problem of a stochastic two-machine flowshop with machines subject to random breakdown and repair. While the problem is difficult to solve, it can be approximated by a deterministic problem when the rates of machine failure and repair become large....

This paper presents an asymptotic analysis of hierarchical manufacturing systems with stochastic demand and machines subject to breakdown and repair as the rate of change in machine states approaches infinity. This situation gives rise to a limiting problem in which the stochastic machine...

This paper introduces recent developments in the analysis of inventory systems with partial observations. The states of these systems are typically conditional distributions, which evolve in infinite dimensional spaces over time. Our analysis involves introducing unnormalized probabilities to...

This paper considers the case of partially observed demand in the context of a multi-period inventory problem with lost sales. Demand in a period is observed if it is less than the inventory level in that period and the leftover inventory is carried over to the next period. Otherwise, only the...

This paper proposes a new methodology to solve partially observed inventory problems. Generally, these problems have infinitedimensional states that are conditional distribution of the inventory level. Our methodology involves linearizing the state transitions via unnormalized probabilities. It...

We extend the classical newsvendor problem by introducing a service constraint and a demand forecast update. The newsvendor orders an initial amount and has the possibility to adjust the initial order after she observes a demand updating signal. She also commits to a target service level before...