For an uncertain production system, the rule that controls the flow of material relies on parameters, such as the yield rates and the demand rate. These parameters are estimates, and they are usually inaccurate. In this paper, we analyze a type of "pull" rule called a proportional restoration...

The special structure of a class of Markovian decision problems is exploited to simplify the determination of optimum policies. For certain pairs consisting of a state i and decision k, the cost c^k_i separates (c^k_i - a_i + b_k), while the transition probabilities p^k_ij and transition time...

This paper treats a Markov decision problem with an infinite planning horizon and no discounting. This model is analyzed by application, perhaps repeated, of a simple linear program.

This paper describes a problem in which the "cost" of satisfying the demand at a particular location is a weighted average of the travel times for the items that are supplied. The greatest weight is given to the first-arriving item, with decreasing weights given to each succeeding item. In the...