Title: Cost models for lot streaming in multistage flow shops with unequal number of sublots between stages

Authors: Khalid Habib Mokhashi; Seung-Lae Kim

Addresses: Department of Decision Sciences, Drexel University, 229, Academic Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ' Department of Decision Sciences, Drexel University, 232, Academic Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Abstract: The paper develops a cost model and shows that substantial reduction in the total cost is achieved when unequal number of sublots transfer policy in a multistage flow shop is adopted compared to equal number of sublots transfer policy under the same setting. We conduct sensitivity analysis for the parameters and determine those that account for large percentage reduction in the total cost. We develop another deterministic cost model that includes the purchasing cost and inventory holding cost of the raw material into the first model. This cost model includes a multiple price break all-units discount pricing of raw material.

Keywords: lot streaming; variable sublot sizes; unequal sublot sizes; batch sizes; lot sizing; cost modelling; quantity discount; purchasing cost; inventory holding cost; multistage flow shops.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMOM.2012.046338

International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management, 2012 Vol.2 No.2, pp.153 - 172

Published online: 21 Aug 2014 *

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