Lectures
3 sessions / week, 2 hours / session.
Description
This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of simulations of logistics systems. The topics are introduced from an engineering perspective. Emphasis is given to theoretical foundations, mathematical tools, modeling, heuristic notions and algorithms.
The course is organised in three main topic areas.
Dynamic economic lot sizing
Multi-echelon inventory management
Coordinating inventory management
We will make use of numerical examples and MATLAB coding to illustrate the concepts in practice.
Class will be a mix of lectures and tutorials.
Objectives
This course has three main objectives.
To expose the students to a variety of modeling approaches to simulate logistics systems
To provide the students with a better understanding of analytical and numerical performance measures in supply chains
To improve the students' coding capabilities and numerical analytical insights in logistics and supply chains.
Grading
Final Exam (60%). A final exam at the end of the course will cover all topic areas. The class textbook and a reasonable amount of lecture notes will be allowed.
Weekly Individual Assignment (40%). Each student will need to develop a simulation code in MATLAB during the 2 sessions of computer Lab (4 hours per week). The student will write a brief report in response to the questions provided in each Assignment.
Topics
Week 1
Lecture 1: Dynamic economic lot sizing, Simple heuristics (Three-month rule, Use of a Fixed EOQ), Exact methods (Wagner-Whitin method), Ad-hoc heuristic (The Silver-Meal heuristic)
Assignment 1 (deadline 18 November, 23:59) Time management and working to tight deadlines and maintaining a high standard of work are important soft skills, therefore the deadline for the Assignment is tight and please do not ask for exceptions. Please upload your assignments (one pdf file) to Nestor. Make sure the name of your file reads: "WMIE18006 Assignment 1 - Albert Einstein"
Week 2
Lecture 2: Dynamic economic lot sizing, Exact methods, Mixed Integer Programming, Network Inventory Control, Linear Quadratic Regulator, Quadratic Programming
Assignment 2 (deadline 25 November, 23:59) the deadline for the Assignment is tight and please do not ask for exceptions. Please upload your assignments (one pdf file) to Nestor. Make sure the name of your file reads: "WMIE18006 Assignment 2 - Albert Einstein"
Week 3
Lecture 3: Stochastic lead time demand, Issues and terminology, Order point, order quantity $(s,Q)$ policy, An Example Using a Discrete Distribution, Common derivation
Assignment 3: (deadline 2 December, 23:59) the deadline for the Assignment is tight and please do not ask for exceptions. Please upload your assignments (one pdf file) to Nestor. Make sure the name of your file reads: "WMIE18006 Assignment 3 - Albert Einstein"
Week 4
Lecture 4: Multiechelon inventory management, Deterministic demand two-stage process, Echelon Inventory and its value, Analogies with EOQ, extension to multiechelon serial stocking points
Assignment 4: (deadline 9 December, 23:59) the deadline for the Assignment is tight and please do not ask for exceptions. Please upload your assignments (one pdf file) to Nestor. Make sure the name of your file reads: "WMIE18006 Assignment 4 - Albert Einstein"
Week 5
Lecture 5: Multiechelon inventory management, Deterministic time-varying demand, Probabilistic demand two-stage process
Assignment 5: (deadline 16 December, 23:59) the deadline for the Assignment is tight and please do not ask for exceptions. Please upload your assignments (one pdf file) to Nestor. Make sure the name of your file reads: "WMIE18006 Assignment 5 - Albert Einstein"
Week 6 (Reading week)
Seminar by Teaching Assistant Kevin Schultinga: the first slot of 45 minutes Kevin will talk about his MSc project on Air Traffic Network Flow Optimization. The second slot of 45 minutes Kevin will discuss example of Optimization Problems solved with Xpress.
Reading: Section 1-3 of the following paper discuss the Power of 2 policy:
Muckstadt, Roundy, Analysis of Multistage Production Systems, Handbooks in OR & MS, Vol. 4, 1993 (see on Nestor)
Assignment 6: (deadline 23 December, 23:59) the deadline for the Assignment is tight and please do not ask for exceptions. Please upload your assignments (one pdf file) to Nestor. Make sure the name of your file reads: "WMIE18006 Assignment 6 - Albert Einstein"
Week 7
Lecture 7: Coordinating inventory management, Bullwhip effect, Aligning incentives, Wholesale Price contract, Buyback contract, Revenue-Sharing contract
Assignment 7: (deadline 13 January, 23:59) the deadline for the Assignment is tight and please do not ask for exceptions. Please upload your assignments (one pdf file) to Nestor. Make sure the name of your file reads: "WMIE18006 Assignment 7 - Albert Einstein"
Week 8
Lecture 8: Coordinated Replenishments at a Single Stocking Point, Algorithmic procedure, Theoretical derivations
Assignment 8: (deadline 20 January, 23:59) the deadline for the Assignment is tight and please do not ask for exceptions. Please upload your assignments (one pdf file) to Nestor. Make sure the name of your file reads: "WMIE18006 Assignment 8 - Albert Einstein"
Readings
Textbook
Silver, Pyke and Thomas, Inventory and Production Management, CRC Press, 2016, Fourth Edition ISBN 9781466558618.
Additional material
Jensen, Bard, Operations Research, Models and Methods, Chapters 25, John Wiley and Sons. Available at https://www.me.utexas.edu/~jensen/ORMM/supplements/units/time\_series/time\_series.pdf