Higher Echelon Research Articles

SYNTHESIS OF JOINT REPLENISHMENT POLICIES FOR INVENTORY SYSTEMS WHEN DEMAND IS LUMPY

This paper is concerned with the synthesis of control policies for inventory systems in which the items experience lumpy demands. The nature of the customer demands is approximated by a discrete stuttering Poisson distribution and a continuous review (s,S) inventory policy is used to control such items. A cutoff point is also incorporated into the control policy such that customer orders with transaction sizes greater than the cutoff point will be filtered out of the inventory system and satisfied by placing a special replenishment order to a higher echelon. Customer orders with transaction sizes less than or equal to the cutoff point will be met from stock. It is also specified that if the available inventory is below the order-up-to level S at the time when a special replenishment order is placed, such a replenishment order will also raise the available inventory level to S. A search procedure is presented for determining the optimal values of the control parameters w, j and S. A numerical example is us...

Policy and cost approximations of two-echelon distribution systems with a procurement cost at the higher echelon

This paper investigates a two-echelon (warehouse-retailer) inventory system with stochastic demand and a pull system of inventory allocation. We assume that ordering costs are charged at the warehouse for procuring the item from a supplier. However, the internal costs of ordering the item from the warehouse by the retailers are considered negligible. For this problem, the lower echelon uses a single critical number, an order-up-to-level policy, whereas a (s, S) inventory system is followed at the upper echelon. We develop a cost model for this problem and provide a simple algorithm for estimating the optimal policy. Simulation is used to test the accuracy of the model.

MAXIMUM ISSUE QUANTITY PROBLEM FOR INVENTORY SYSTEMS WHEN DEMAND IS LUMPY

This paper presents a mathematical model developed for the synthesis of optimal replenishment policies for items that experience lumpy demands. In order to avoid disrupting the inventory system, a maximum issue quantity restriction is introduced such that customer demands with sizes equal to or exceeding w units will be filtered out of the inventory system and satisfied by placing a special replenishment order to a higher echelon. Customer demands with sizes less than w units will be met from stock. The control discipline is the (s, S) inventory policy with continuous review and the nature of the demands is approximated by a discrete compound Poisson distribution. The optimal values of the control parameters, s and S, are determined. The theoretical results obtained are illustrated with a numerical example.

The Production of Information through Labor Market Contests

Considerable information is needed for the correct placement of individuals in various labor market positions. As economists, we expect to see market devices arise to reduce the cost of generating and transmitting this information. The purpose of this paper is to explain how labor market contests function as such a device. Labor market contests are a market organization in which participants compete for one or a small number of positions awarded on the basis of their relative performances. As noted by Jerry Green and Nancy Stokey (1983: 349-50): In most organizations one of the most important rewards is promotion. If the hierarchical structure of the organization is fixed, employees at any one echelon are competing for a fixed, smaller number of positions at the next higher echelon. The goal of these employees is not just to do well but to do better than their peers. This paper presents an economic analysis of labor market contests and emphasizes their use for the identification of individuals who have the talents or special skills required for particular occupations.'

Models in administration and the dean's exercise of power and leadership.

As a result of the investigation into theories of leadership in today's society, it is probably safe to assume that any one of the models presented does not exist in pure form. Rather, the principles of one system predominate with a reflection of other systems becoming apparent in a given situation. In an institution where governance can best be classified as following the traditional model, the ability of the dean to arrive at immediate decisions in the day-to-day activities or to institute minor changes promptly is seriously hampered. Emergency situations which tend to arise in a department of nursing, especially in conjunction with the practice component, become exceedingly stressful. Independent action is stifled and unless the chief officer is cognizant of the nature of nursing, the potential for a high degree of professionalism is thwarted. The human relations model ameliorates some of these effects by promoting a degree of communication horizontally and by placing the immediate superior officer in a role which contributes to this communication process. The ingredient that is missing is the free exchange vertically which often translates into lack of support from the higher echelon. The dean's position lacks credibility; hence, the sense of power is lacking and effective leadership suffers. The human resources model best promotes a unified effort toward excellence in nursing for students and faculty alike by encouraging the continued development of all persons within the department.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Administrative Justice in the Penitentiary: A Report on Inmate Grievance Procedures

The majority of prisons today have an internal grievance mechanism that gives inmates an opportunity to air complaints and seek solutions to individual and institution-wide problems. This study reports on the way the mechanism functions at two Illinois state prisons—one minimum security and one maximum security. The main findings are: (1) that the mechanism is heavily and repetitively used by only a portion of the inmate population, (2) that the grievances filed range widely in type as well as in merit, although it is clear that there is much frivolous activity, (3) that inmates win only a small percentage of their cases, either at the first-instance level or on appeal, and (4) that among both line prison staff (at least at one of the prisons) and inmates there is considerable dissatisfaction with the process, although a minority of prisoners and the higher echelon prison administrators can be counted on for more favorable assessments. The article goes on to compare these findings with the generally articulated objectives of the grievance process and concludes with a series of suggestions that have been made for improving its workings.

A neural systems theory of schizophrenia and tardive dyskinesia

Some systems ideas applied to individual persons are used to try to explain symptoms of schizophrenia and a syndrome of uncontrolled fragments of movement which sometimes occurs as a side effect of chronic, antipsychotic drug therapy. The behavior of normal organisms may be conceptualized in three echelons of control, with each successively higher echelon organizing, by selective disinhibition, semiautonomous, spontaneous fragments of activity which comprise the next lower echelon. It is hypothesized that schizophrenia involves a deficiency of inhibition by the frontal cortex, first echelon, on the corpus striatum, second echelon. This results first in insufficiently integrated fragments of behavior, and second in premature associative linkages among active elements. First echelon control develops as a normal person matures and gradually loses some of the playful activities of childhood. It is hypothesized that by disrupting certain aspects of activity in the corpus striatum, neuroleptic drugs reduce schizophrenic symptoms but also reduce the capacity of the second echelon to inhibit and integrate the smaller behavioral fragments wired into lower parts of the brain, third echelon. This results in uncontrolled movements. Though many researchers already favor the hypothesis that neuroleptic drugs act on the corpus striatum, the broader theory presented here is new and depends in large part on general living systems considerations. Emphasis is on conceptual decomposition of the integrated behavior of a whole organism into less complex subsystems. Individually, these have neither too much nor too little complexity to yield a plausible model. Some experimental predictions and predictions about possible therapies are made from the theory.

A Dynamic Model for the Optimal Loading of Linear Multi-Operation Shops

Because of the stochastic nature of the parameters in the general job shop problem (e.g., estimates of processing times; estimates of delay times; the sequence of operations; the availability of processing units; etc.), Monte Carlo simulation has been the principal tool of analysis. In particular, a large proportion of studies was focused on the indirect control of the functions of scheduling and loading by the device of assigning priorities to the various jobs in the shop. In this paper, we depart from this tradition for two good reasons. First, the linear characteristic of flow eliminates an important disrupting factor present in the general problem treated by the other authors. Second, priority decision rules are perhaps the last sphere of decision open to managers and may have a very limited effect since they are seriously constrained by previously-made decisions. In fact, priority decisions, coming as they do at the “tail” of the decision process, may prove ineffectual in the face of previously-established sales quantities, promised due dates, capacity limitations, etc. Consequently, a study of the “higher echelon” decisions of scheduling and loading is necessitated. Management Technology, ISSN 0542-4917, was published as a separate journal from 1960 to 1964. In 1965 it was merged into Management Science.

Bleeding Betty's Brakes; Or, the Army Names a Jeep

T WO COMMUNICATIONS to American Speech' on the naming of vehicles, civilian and military, prompt me to disinter some notes, now ten years old, on the names of army vehicles in the Second World War. Although it may have been true, as Mr. Hausknecht says, that the practice of naming vehicles was generally prohibited in this country, in at least one division (the 8th Armored) all vehicles regularly bore names long before we shipped overseas. It was an everyday matter to hear in the motor pool such orders as 'Wash Barbara,' 'Grease Gracie,' or 'Clean Connie's spark plugs.' Essentially, the practice of naming army vehicles was a carry-over of civilian custom. The anthropological aspects of this practice may be left to those better qualified to deal with them, but one can say that giving a vehicle a name personalizes it and gives it a spirit of its own. Sometimes this spirit can be an evil one, and there were jinx trucks and jeeps, just as there are jinx ships. Not infrequently, a driver assigned to a vehicle that had been in several accidents would ask permission to change its name. Naming army vehicles had a very practical advantage. It was immeasurably easier to refer to a truck as Helen than to use an eight-figure registration number. It is true that in addition to its registration number each vehicle also bore a company number (C-12, for example, being the twelfth vehicle in C Company), but even these numbers would be more awkward to use than names, especially in mechanized organizations with a large number of vehicles. Another reason for naming army vehicles was a psychological one, I believe, since it encouraged in drivers a sense of individual responsibility toward their vehicles. Each vehicle was to be driven only by its assigned driver or assistant driver, whose names were painted on the dashboard (in some units, on the windshield). The driver had to accompany his vehicle if it was sent to a higher echelon for extensive repairs. In short, he was to feel that the vehicle belonged to him and depended on him for its proper functioning. The practice of naming vehicles, especially if the soldier had a free choice of names, was a great factor in developing this personal attachment. Theoretically, each driver did name his own vehicle, but in practice he did