| The 1980s witnessed the establishment of many new production strategies, including just-in-time manufacturing, lean manufacturing, kanban systems, and total quality management. These strategies have been applied by many companies to improve system management, enhance product and process quality, and reduce operating and inventory costs, in order to better compete in different markets. Recently, however, the strategies have focused more on improving supply chain management to achieve these goals. Many of the advances in supply chain management can be analyzed with the aid of a computer. Computer-aided decision-support tools play a very important role in assisting and supporting decision makers managing a complex supply chain.; This dissertation develops a computer-aided decision-support tool: an integer linear optimization model of a deterministic multi-item, multi-stage generalized network supply chain system. The model uses a kanban control system to plan and allocate production and delivery throughout the supply chain. The primary objective of the SFH model is to minimize the cost of kanban injection, the cost of finished goods inventory, and the cost of work-in-process inventory in the system. Practical problems of supply chain systems with associated optimal production and delivery allocation are also presented. |
