在这份报纸,当买主面对二供应来源时,最佳的政策被考虑:一个人是买主在一个特定的合同时期上从订的合同供应商(说,一年) 以预先同意的价格,和其它是点市场。然而,当从合同供应商订时,买主必须完成预定全部的顺序数量,或所谓的明确的全部的顺序数量承诺,在整个合同时期上。换句话说,承诺固定买主固定价格但是强迫他 / 她在合同时期上的全部的顺序数量。尽管点市场以顺序数量给买主更多的灵活性,它的价格是不稳定的。合同和点获得的如此的联合经常在实践被观察。在合同时期以内,有多重亚时期,在买主考察库存的各个期间,发出一份单个订单,并且使用在手上库存遇见随机的需求。因此,在各个(订) 时期,买主将在当前的已知的点价格之间称(由从点市场取得) 并且更低的未来价格(由当消费留下的承诺时,等待) 。一条最佳的双订政策为每个时期被描绘,取决于在手上库存水平,点价格,和留下的承诺数量。在每个时期的最佳的政策也被显示独立于合同价格。通过数字研究,库存费用被表明是(1 ) 对合同价格感觉迟钝全部的承诺数量什么时候比总数低,在合同时期上期望需求并且(2 ) 在点价格的可变性非增加。
In this paper, the optimal policy is considered when the buyer faces two supply sources: one is the contract supplier from which the buyer orders over a specific contract period (say, a year) at a pre-agreed price, and the other is the spot market. However, when ordering from the contract supplier, the buyer must fulfill a pre-determined total order quantity, or the so-called definite total order quantity commitment, over the whole contract period. In other words, the commitment secures the buyer a fixed price but obliges him/her a total order quantity over the contract period. Although the spot market gives the buyer more flexibility in terms of order quantities, its prices are volatile. Such a combination of contract and spot procurements is often observed in practice. Within the contract period, there are multiple sub-periods, during each of which the buyer reviews the inventory, issues an individual order, and uses the on-hand inventory to meet the random demand. Thus, in each (ordering) period, the buyer will weigh between the current known spot price (by procuring from the spot market) and a lower future price (by waiting while consuming the remaining commitment). An optimal dual ordering policy is characterized for each period, depending on the on-hand inventory level, the spot price, and the remaining commitment quantity. The optimal policy in each period is also shown to be independent of the contract price. Through a numerical study, the inventory cost is demonstrated to be (1) insensitive to the contract price when the total commitment quantity is lower than the total expected demand over the contract period and (2) non-increasing in the variability of spot prices.