Efficient operations planning and its integration with cost accounting

This thesis studies the logistics of production, inventory and distribution and its integration with other disciplines. The thesis has three parts: production lot-sizing, inventory routing, and integrating operations planning and cost accounting.; Production/Inventory lot-sizing models are the important building block for most production planning systems and MRP-II systems, where the Dynamic Lot-Sizing Problem is one of the fundamental models for the lot-sizing literature. For nearly 40 years, the conventional wisdom that the classical Wagner-Whitin algorithm has {dollar}O(nsp2){dollar} running time has hindered the practical applications of optimal lot-sizing procedures. In the first part of this thesis, we demonstrate that the WW algorithm in fact runs in linear time under realistic assumptions. We also address the lot-sizing nervousness and conduct a worst-case analysis of the algorithm.; Supply Chain Management has become an industry standard in recent years, and people start to consider previously separated issues together. One important area is inventory-routing which combine inventory management and distribution planning together. The second part of my thesis study the inventory-routing decision for the one-warehouse multiple retailer systems. Our focus is on the simple direct shipping fully loaded strategy and we show that, under certain conditions, such strategies are in fact optimal among all possible inventory-routing strategies.; Modern firms organizes its operations through the joint efforts of operations analysts, management accountants, and information analysts. Traditionally, operations management and cost accounting are two distinct disciplines with little interaction. The reality is, however, that operational models need accounting data as inputs, while accounting cost estimates in turn depend on current operational policies. Therefore, from a practical point of view, we need to consider each of the two problems in a larger context. The third part of my thesis aims at integrating operations planning with cost accounting. We study the interaction between operations planning and cost pools, characterize the long-run equilibrium behavior, and draw a number of managerial implications.