Service level

About: Service level is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7647 publications have been published within this topic receiving 126093 citations. The topic is also known as: service level.

Adaptive inventory management using RFID data

Abstract: In this paper, inventory management of time-sensitive materials using RFID data is studied using simulation. Based on the production data obtained from a manufacturing company, three inventory management models that rely on RFID data for tracking and dispatching of time-sensitive materials on a shop floor is presented. The complexity of the models ranges from statically-set, fixed baseline inventory models to dynamic, forecast-integrated inventory control schemes. This study compares the inventory models on the basis of service level, cost, inventory and waste reduction, and decision-making complexity. A comparative analysis of the models is presented in a simulation environment, which also demonstrates the overall benefits and effectiveness of RFID technologies in providing low-cost manufacturing solutions, reduced inventory levels, and lower overall waste. The forecast-integrated inventory model is developed based on a trend-adjusted exponential smoothing algorithm, with two smoothing parameters, α and β, used as coefficients for the average production demand and its trend, respectively. The study shows that the desired level of system performance can be achieved by adjusting the values of the smoothing parameters.

System and method for dynamic allocation of resources in a computing grid

Abstract: A system for dynamically allocating resources in a computing grid is provided The system comprises a resource management component, a service level agreement (SLA) management component and a job scheduling component The resource management component is configured to determine availability of a set of resources in a computing grid, for executing job requests submitted by users of the computing grid The SLA management component is configured to manage service level agreements (SLAs) corresponding to the users and perform a negotiation of resources for the users submitting the job requests, in real-time, based on a resource steerability attribute associated with the job requests The job-scheduling component is configured to schedule the job requests for the users, based on the resource steerability attribute associated with the job requests The job requests comprise at least one of a job having batch characteristics and a job having interactive characteristics The computing grid is configured to process the job based on the resource steerability attribute associated with the job request

The dynamics of emergency transhipment supply chains

Abstract: Considers the dynamical effect of lateral emergency transhipments within a supply chain. It tests various different strategies for improving customer service via the MIT Beer Game. Four distinct strategies are considered. “Electronic point of sales (EPOS)”, where marketplace information is forwarded to all players throughout the supply chain; “Excel”, where the stock levels in all echelons are controlled by the factory; “Emergency transhipments”, where an express transportation route bypassing an echelon in the supply chain is permitted; “Eliminate”, where an echelon is removed from the supply chain. The Beer Game strategies are also studied via a simulation exercise. Results show that the Excel strategy is flawed, whereas the EPOS strategy has a strong impact on inventory cost, Emergency transhipments has a strong impact on customer service level and Eliminate results in less stock for an improved customer service level. Combinations of the three viable strategies are also tested. This paper concludes that the three strategies can be integrated to significantly improve supply chain performance.

Maximizing Profit in Cloud Computing System via Resource Allocation

Abstract: With increasing demand for high performance computing and data storage, distributed computing systems have attracted a lot of attention. Resource allocation is one of the most important challenges in the distributed systems specially when the clients have some Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and the total profit in the system depends on how the system can meet these SLAs. In this paper, an SLA-based resource allocation problem for cloud computing is considered and a distributed solution to this problem is presented. The processing, data storage, and communication resources are considered as three dimensions in which optimizations are performed. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed heuristic algorithm is robust (produces high quality solutions independent of the initial solution provided) and produces solutions very close to the "optimum" (best solution found by Monte Carlo simulation).