Abstract Shift design is an essential step in workforce planning in which staffing requirements must be obtained for a set of shifts which best cover forecasted demand given as a demand pattern. Existing models for this challenging optimization problem perform well when these demand patterns fluctuate around an average without any strong variability in demand. However, when demand is irregular, these

Abstract In this paper, we study a service parts inventory management system for a single product at a parts distribution center serving two priority-demand classes: critical and non-critical. Distribution center keeps a common inventory pool to serve the two demand classes, and provides differentiated levels of service by means of inventory rationing. We assume a continuous review one-for-one ordering

Abstract Remanufacturing capacities are constrained by the collected amount of end-of-life (EOL) products resulting in the make-from-stock model for remanufacturing industries. Remanufacturers may select quality choices in a strategic manner to improve their remanufacturing capacities. Thus, we examine a Cournot duopoly in which an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sells new products and an independent

Abstract This paper develops an integrated imperfect production-inventory system consisting of a retailer and a manufacturer who produces breakable items. As breakable items are very sensitive to transport, in this paper, to stimulate the retailer, the manufacturer offers (1) free transportation subject to the condition that the retailer must have to order a minimum replenishment quantity specified

Abstract In this paper we propose a heuristic approach that computes the order in which patients will be treated in an ambulatory chemotherapy center. Each patient follows an individual treatment plan that fixes dates for series of drug injections separated by recovery periods. The daily care process has three steps: consultation with the oncologist, drug preparation in the pharmacy and drug injection

Abstract This article presents a new model for constructing annual schedules for medical residents based on the regulations of a German teaching hospital as well as the program restrictions of the German Medical Association. Since resident programs of physicians do not only vary between disciplines but also between countries, it is essential to evaluate the main characteristics of the program. The

Abstract In acute care, a patient’s clinical deterioration is often a precursor to serious and often fatal outcomes. To reduce the severity and frequency of negative outcomes, care providers need to response rapidly by providing quick evaluation, triage, and treatment to patients with declining conditions. However, a provider’s availability to respond can be constrained when multiple patients are deteriorating

Abstract Appointment scheduling systems represent a method to manage patient waiting lists effectively. This work advances an innovative quantitative approach for the outpatient appointment scheduling problems, based on an optimization model, to manage outpatient Day Service operations. It focuses on outpatient appointment scheduling. We start from earlier works in the literature to design models with

Abstract In radiotherapy, treatment needs to be delivered in time. Long waiting times can result in patient anxiety and growth of tumors. They are often caused by inefficient use of radiotherapy equipment, the linear accelerators (LINACs). However, making an efficient schedule is very challenging, especially when we have multiple types of patients, having different service requirements and waiting

Abstract Cost-effectiveness analysis is an important topic in public health, which can provide valuable information for medical decisions. Several modeling methods are available for conducting cost-effectiveness analysis. However, it is difficult when the data is incomplete. To solve this problem, a Markov model is proposed to model patients’ health states transition, and two hybrid metaheuristics

Abstract Appointment overbooking has been commonly adopted for the mitigation of the adverse consequences of patient no-shows, such as reduced resource utilization and revenue. However, if there are more patients showing up than expected, the resource overtime and patient waiting time can increase. Due to the theoretical interest and the practical importance of the problem, there has been much research

Abstract The Emergency Department (ED) management presents a really high complexity due to the admissions of patients with a wide variety of diseases and different urgency, which require the execution of different activities involving human and medical resources. This can have an impact on ED overcrowding that may affect the quality and access of health care. In this paper we propose an ad hoc process

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore the cooperation issues in a consignment supply chain with complementary products under Online to Offline Business Mode (O2O mode). The centralized, decentralized and cooperative game-theoretic decision models are developed, analyzed and compared for a generic consignment supply chain with complementary products under O2O mode. Similar models are also

Abstract In this study, we address safety stock positioning when demand per period is a known constant but supply is uncertain. The supply is either available or not available, while the setting is that of a periodically reviewed, serial system following a base stock policy. Each stage is allowed to operate according to the guaranteed or stochastic service model. We use a Discrete Time Markov Chain

Abstract Managing patient to bed allocations is an everyday task in hospitals which in recent years has moved into focus due to a general rise in occupancy levels and the resulting need to efficiently manage tight hospital bed-capacities. This holds true especially when being faced with high volatility and uncertainty regarding patient arrivals and lengths of stay. In our work with a large German hospital

Abstract Failure-prone manufacturing systems facing dynamical market conditions that result in demand variations are considered. The combined production and corrective maintenance optimization problem for a one-machine-one-product system is addressed. Repairing the machine after the failure, the manager has to solve the dilemma: to choose an inexpensive (but lower) repair rate, or to use the higher

Abstract This paper addresses the solution methods for the stochastic home-caregiver scheduling and routing problem which arises in many service industries such as home care and home health care. In the problem, the caregiver’s travel times and service times for customers are stochastic. A chance constraint is introduced to ensure the on-time service probability for the customers. Such stochastic travelling

Abstract High-tech industries are experiencing accelerated technological change, which causes rapid obsolescence of invested manufacturing equipment. In such environment, the impact of the new technologies must be carefully considered while making decisions involved in resource acquisition or replacement. In this study, we consider a capacity planning problem with the presence of uncertain magnitude

Abstract Empirical studies show that the inter-event times of a production system are correlated. However, most of the analytical studies for the analysis and control of production systems ignore correlation. In this study, we show that real-time data collected from a manufacturing system can be used to build a Markovian arrival processes (MAP) model that captures correlation in inter-event times.

Abstract 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