Sequential Inspection Under Capacity Constraints

David D. Yao and Shaohui Zheng
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David D. Yao: Columbia University, New York, New York
Shaohui Zheng: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Operations Research, 1999, vol. 47, issue 3, 410-421

Abstract: We study the inspection process in the context of multistage batch manufacturing, focusing on interstage coordination under capacity limits. The problem is formulated as a constrained Markov decision program. We establish the optimality of a sequential policy that is characterized by a sequence of thresholds, with certain randomization at the thresholds. We further show that such an optimal policy can be completely derived through solving a linear program, and that randomization is needed at no more than two threshold values. We discuss an application in semiconductor wafer fabrication, which motivates our study.

Keywords: dynamic programming; Markov-finite state; constrained Markov decision processes; probability; stochastic model applications; K-submodularity and threshold optimal policy; reliability; quality control; sequential inspection with capacity constraints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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