Shabbir Ahmed This paper addresses a multi-stage stochastic integer programming formulation of the uncapacitated lot-sizing problem under uncertainty. We show that the classical (l,S) inequalities for the deterministic lot-sizing polytope are also valid for the stochastic lot-sizing polytope. We then extend the (l,S) inequalities to a general class of valid inequalities, called the (Q,S_Q) inequalities, and we … Read more
For a particular class of minimax stochastic programming models, we show that the problem can be equivalently reformulated into a standard stochastic programming problem. This permits the direct use of standard decomposition and sampling methods developed for stochastic programming. We also show that this class of minimax stochastic programs subsumes a large family of mean-risk … Read more
This paper proposes a stochastic programming model and solution algorithm for solving supply chain network design problems of a realistic scale. Existing approaches for these problems are either restricted to deterministic environments or can only address a modest number of scenarios for the uncertain problem parameters. Our solution methodology integrates a recently proposed sampling strategy, … Read more
This paper considers the following inverse optimization problem: given a linear program, a desired optimal objective value, and a set of feasible cost coefficients, determine a cost-coefficient vector such that the corresponding optimal objective value of the linear program is closest to the given value. The above problem, referred here as the inverse optimal value … Read more
This paper develops a solution strategy for two-stage stochastic programs with integer recourse. The proposed methodology relies on approximating the underlying stochastic program via sampling, and solving the approximate problem via a specialized optimization algorithm. We show that the proposed scheme will produce an optimal solution to the true problem with probability approaching one exponentially … Read more
The sample average approximation (SAA) method is an approach for solving stochastic optimization problems by using Monte Carlo simulation. In this technique the expected objective function of the stochastic problem is approximated by a sample average estimate derived from a random sample. The resulting sample average approximating problem is then solved by deterministic optimization techniques. … Read more
Robust optimization extends stochastic programming models by incorporating measures of variability into the objective function. This paper explores robust optimization in the context of two-stage planning systems. First, we propose the use of a generalized Benders decomposition algorithm for solving robust models. Next, we argue that using an arbitrary measure for variability can lead to … Read more
This paper addresses a multi-period investment model for capacity expansion in an uncertain environment. Using a scenario tree approach to model the evolution of uncertain demand and cost parameters, and fixed-charge cost functions to model the economies of scale in expansion costs, we develop a multi-stage stochastic integer programming formulation for the problem. A reformulation … Read more