On the Benefits of Pooling in Production-Inventory Systems
研究对称成本系统中库存集中的成本优势，分析负载、服务水平、需求和生产时间变异性等参数的影响，并与纯库存系统和产能集中进行比较。
We study inventory pooling in systems with symmetric costs where supply lead times are endogenously generated by a finite-capacity production system. We investigate the sensitivity of the cost advantage of inventory pooling to various system parameters, including loading, service levels, demand and production time variability, and structure of the production system. The analysis reveals differences in how various parameters affect the cost reduction from pooling and suggests that these differences stem from the manner in which the parameters influence the induced correlation between lead-time demands of the demand streams. We compare these results with those obtained for pure inventory systems, where lead times are exogenous. We also compare inventory pooling with several forms of capacity pooling.