IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormsom/v16y2014i4p529-543.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Joint Pricing and Production Decisions in an Assemble-to-Order System

Author

Listed:
  • Sechan Oh

    (IBM Research, San Jose, California 95120)

  • Karthik Sourirajan

    (ZS Associates, Chicago, Illinois 60601)

  • Markus Ettl

    (IBM Research, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598)

Abstract

This paper studies coordinated pricing and production decisions in an assemble-to-order system. We first show that unlike in make-to-stock systems, a state-dependent base-stock list-price policy is optimal. The optimal state-dependent base-stock levels and list prices may increase or decrease as demand backlogs increase, whereas demand backlogs always improve the optimal expected profit. Because the problem easily becomes intractable under general system settings, we next develop a simple heuristic policy. The heuristic policy decouples inventory replenishment, pricing, and component allocation decisions in a coordinated way. We provide a sufficient condition that ensures the optimality of the heuristic policy, and present a numerical study to demonstrate its performance when the condition is not met. The numerical study also shows how the performance of the heuristic policy is affected by various market and operational conditions, and by the structure of the assemble-to-order system. By focusing on the simple W-model, we show how the heuristic pricing decisions are made in response to changes in inventory levels and various cost parameters.

Suggested Citation

  • Sechan Oh & Karthik Sourirajan & Markus Ettl, 2014. "Joint Pricing and Production Decisions in an Assemble-to-Order System," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 529-543, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:16:y:2014:i:4:p:529-543
    DOI: 10.1287/msom.2014.0492
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.2014.0492
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/msom.2014.0492?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Awi Federgruen & Aliza Heching, 1999. "Combined Pricing and Inventory Control Under Uncertainty," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(3), pages 454-475, June.
    2. Awi Federgruen & Aliza Heching, 2002. "Multilocation Combined Pricing and Inventory Control," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 275-295, March.
    3. T. M. Whitin, 1955. "Inventory Control and Price Theory," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 61-68, October.
    4. Yingdong Lu & Jing-Sheng Song, 2005. "Order-Based Cost Optimization in Assemble-to-Order Systems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(1), pages 151-169, February.
    5. Yalçin Akçay & Susan H. Xu, 2004. "Joint Inventory Replenishment and Component Allocation Optimization in an Assemble-to-Order System," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(1), pages 99-116, January.
    6. Mustafa K. Doğru & Martin I. Reiman & Qiong Wang, 2010. "A Stochastic Programming Based Inventory Policy for Assemble-to-Order Systems with Application to the W Model," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 58(4-part-1), pages 849-864, August.
    7. Youhua (Frank) Chen & Saibal Ray & Yuyue Song, 2006. "Optimal pricing and inventory control policy in periodic‐review systems with fixed ordering cost and lost sales," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(2), pages 117-136, March.
    8. Jan A. Van Mieghem & Nils Rudi, 2002. "Newsvendor Networks: Inventory Management and Capacity Investment with Discretionary Activities," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 313-335, August.
    9. Ebru K. Bish & Qiong Wang, 2004. "Optimal Investment Strategies for Flexible Resources, Considering Pricing and Correlated Demands," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 52(6), pages 954-964, December.
    10. Alex X. Zhang, 1997. "Demand Fulfillment Rates In An Assembleto‐ Order System With Multiple Products And Dependent Demands," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 6(3), pages 309-324, September.
    11. Fernando Bernstein & Gregory A. DeCroix & Yulan Wang, 2011. "The Impact of Demand Aggregation Through Delayed Component Allocation in an Assemble-to-Order System," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(6), pages 1154-1171, June.
    12. Narendra Agrawal & Morris A. Cohen, 2001. "Optimal material control in an assembly system with component commonality," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(5), pages 409-429, August.
    13. Woonghee Tim Huh & Ganesh Janakiraman, 2008. "( s, S ) Optimality in Joint Inventory-Pricing Control: An Alternate Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(3), pages 783-790, June.
    14. Yingdong Lu & Jing-Sheng Song & Yao Zhao, 2010. "No-Holdback Allocation Rules for Continuous-Time Assemble-to-Order Systems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 58(3), pages 691-705, June.
    15. Yuyue Song & Saibal Ray & Tamer Boyaci, 2009. "Technical Note---Optimal Dynamic Joint Inventory-Pricing Control for Multiplicative Demand with Fixed Order Costs and Lost Sales," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 245-250, February.
    16. Harrison, J. Michael & Van Mieghem, Jan A., 1999. "Multi-resource investment strategies: Operational hedging under demand uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 17-29, February.
    17. Erica L. Plambeck & Amy R. Ward, 2006. "Optimal Control of a High-Volume Assemble-to-Order System," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 453-477, August.
    18. Hausman, Warren H. & Lee, Hau L. & Zhang, Alex X., 1998. "Joint demand fulfillment probability in a multi-item inventory system with independent order-up-to policies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 646-659, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Oh, Sechan & Rhodes, James & Strong, Ray, 2016. "Impact of cost uncertainty on pricing decisions under risk aversion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 253(1), pages 144-153.
    2. Jing-Sheng Song & Zhengliang Xue, 2021. "Demand Shaping Through Bundling and Product Configuration: A Dynamic Multiproduct Inventory-Pricing Model," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 69(2), pages 525-544, March.
    3. de Kok, Ton & Grob, Christopher & Laumanns, Marco & Minner, Stefan & Rambau, Jörg & Schade, Konrad, 2018. "A typology and literature review on stochastic multi-echelon inventory models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(3), pages 955-983.
    4. Atan, Zümbül & Ahmadi, Taher & Stegehuis, Clara & Kok, Ton de & Adan, Ivo, 2017. "Assemble-to-order systems: A review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 866-879.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Willem van Jaarsveld & Alan Scheller-Wolf, 2015. "Optimization of Industrial-Scale Assemble-to-Order Systems," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 544-560, August.
    2. Martin I. Reiman & Qiong Wang, 2015. "Asymptotically Optimal Inventory Control for Assemble-to-Order Systems with Identical Lead Times," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 63(3), pages 716-732, June.
    3. Fernando Bernstein & Gregory A. DeCroix & Yulan Wang, 2011. "The Impact of Demand Aggregation Through Delayed Component Allocation in an Assemble-to-Order System," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(6), pages 1154-1171, June.
    4. Atan, Zümbül & Ahmadi, Taher & Stegehuis, Clara & Kok, Ton de & Adan, Ivo, 2017. "Assemble-to-order systems: A review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(3), pages 866-879.
    5. de Kok, Ton & Grob, Christopher & Laumanns, Marco & Minner, Stefan & Rambau, Jörg & Schade, Konrad, 2018. "A typology and literature review on stochastic multi-echelon inventory models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(3), pages 955-983.
    6. Zhan Pang & Frank Y. Chen & Youyi Feng, 2012. "Technical Note---A Note on the Structure of Joint Inventory-Pricing Control with Leadtimes," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(3), pages 581-587, June.
    7. David A. Goldberg & Martin I. Reiman & Qiong Wang, 2021. "A Survey of Recent Progress in the Asymptotic Analysis of Inventory Systems," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(6), pages 1718-1750, June.
    8. Fernando Bernstein & Yang Li & Kevin Shang, 2016. "A Simple Heuristic for Joint Inventory and Pricing Models with Lead Time and Backorders," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(8), pages 2358-2373, August.
    9. Levi DeValve & Saša Pekeč & Yehua Wei, 2020. "A Primal-Dual Approach to Analyzing ATO Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(11), pages 5389-5407, November.
    10. van Jaarsveld, Willem & Dollevoet, Twan & Dekker, Rommert, 2015. "Improving spare parts inventory control at a repair shop," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 57(PB), pages 217-229.
    11. Kai Huang, 2014. "Benchmarking non-first-come-first-served component allocation in an assemble-to-order system," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 223(1), pages 217-237, December.
    12. Xin Chen & Zhan Pang & Limeng Pan, 2014. "Coordinating Inventory Control and Pricing Strategies for Perishable Products," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(2), pages 284-300, April.
    13. Yiwei Chen & Cong Shi, 2019. "Joint Pricing and Inventory Management with Strategic Customers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 1610-1627, November.
    14. Yao Zhao & David Simchi-Levi, 2006. "Performance Analysis and Evaluation of Assemble-to-Order Systems with Stochastic Sequential Lead Times," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 706-724, August.
    15. Lijian Lu & Jing‐Sheng Song & Hanqin Zhang, 2015. "Optimal and asymptotically optimal policies for assemble‐to‐order n‐ and W‐systems," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(8), pages 617-645, December.
    16. Gurkan, M. Edib & Tunc, Huseyin & Tarim, S. Armagan, 2022. "The joint stochastic lot sizing and pricing problem," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    17. Boxiao Chen & Xiuli Chao & Cong Shi, 2021. "Nonparametric Learning Algorithms for Joint Pricing and Inventory Control with Lost Sales and Censored Demand," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 726-756, May.
    18. Qi Feng & Sirong Luo & J. George Shanthikumar, 2020. "Integrating Dynamic Pricing with Inventory Decisions Under Lost Sales," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(5), pages 2232-2247, May.
    19. Albrecht, Martin, 2017. "Optimization of safety stocks in models with an order service level objective or constraint," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 263(3), pages 900-909.
    20. Kai Huang & Ton de Kok, 2015. "Optimal FCFS allocation rules for periodic‐review assemble‐to‐order systems," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(2), pages 158-169, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:16:y:2014:i:4:p:529-543. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.