Motivated by challenges faced by a biopharmaceutical firm, we extend the traditional process flexibility modeling literature by integrating inventory storage capabilities into these models, and develop general guidelines on how to design an effective supply chain network in this setting. Given the expense of inventory storage in the biopharmaceutical industry, the firm is considering incorporating flexible plants that can produce multiple types of product into their current dedicated supply chain in order to better respond to demand uncertainty while limiting the need for inventory. We develop models leading to insights for related strategic questions, including whether or not a new plant should be flexible, and whether and which plants should be modified to include inventory storage capabilities.

中文翻译：

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具有库存的多周期过程灵活性

受生物制药公司面临的挑战的激励，我们通过将库存存储功能集成到这些模型中来扩展传统的过程灵活性建模文献，并针对如何在这种环境下设计有效的供应链网络制定通用指南。考虑到生物制药行业库存存储的费用，该公司正在考虑将可以生产多种类型产品的灵活工厂纳入其当前的专用供应链，以便更好地应对需求不确定性，同时限制库存需求。我们开发的模型可为相关战略问题提供见解，包括新工厂是否应该灵活以及是否以及应该修改哪些工厂以包括库存存储功能。