IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/navres/v46y1999i3p255-271.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Incorporating learning curve costs in acquisition strategy optimization

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew G. Loerch

Abstract

Each year, the U.S. Army procures billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment. The process of deciding what to buy, when to buy, and in what quantities is extremely complex, requiring extensive analysis. Two techniques used in this analysis are mathematical programming and cost estimation. Although they are related through constraints on available procurement funds, the use of nonlinear cost learning curves, which better represent system costs as a function of quantity produced, have not been incorporated into the mathematical programming formulations that compute the quantities of items to be procured. As a result, the solutions obtained could be either suboptimal, or even infeasible with respect to budgetary limitations. In this paper we present a piecewise linear approximation of the learning curve costs for a more accurate portrayal of budgetary constraints used in a mixed integer linear programming for acquisition strategy optimization. In addition, implementation issues are discussed, and performance results are given. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 46: 255–271, 1999

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew G. Loerch, 1999. "Incorporating learning curve costs in acquisition strategy optimization," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 255-271, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:navres:v:46:y:1999:i:3:p:255-271
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6750(199904)46:33.0.CO;2-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6750(199904)46:33.0.CO;2-2
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6750(199904)46:33.0.CO;2-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. A. Tomlin, 1971. "Technical Note—An Improved Branch-and-Bound Method for Integer Programming," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(4), pages 1070-1075, August.
    2. Andrew G. Loerch & Robert R. Koury & Daniel T. Maxwell, 1999. "Value added analysis for army equipment modernization," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 233-253, April.
    3. Paul B. Kantor & Willard I. Zangwill, 1991. "Theoretical Foundation for a Learning Rate Budget," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(3), pages 315-330, March.
    4. Dutton, John M. & Thomas, Annie & Butler, John E., 1984. "The History of Progress Functions as a Managerial Technology," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 204-233, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wei Xie, 2017. "Optimal pricing and two-dimensional warranty policies for a new product," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(22), pages 6857-6870, November.
    2. Andrew G. Loerch & Robert R. Koury & Daniel T. Maxwell, 1999. "Value added analysis for army equipment modernization," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 233-253, April.
    3. Gerald G. Brown & Robert F. Dell & Heath Holtz & Alexandra M. Newman, 2003. "How US Air Force Space Command Optimizes Long-Term Investment in Space Systems," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Gerald G. Brown & Robert F. Dell & Alexandra M. Newman, 2004. "Optimizing Military Capital Planning," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 34(6), pages 415-425, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Clemens Werkmeister, 2003. "Lerneffekte in einer prozessorientierten Variantenkalkulation," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 382-400, June.
    2. Chenxi Zhou & Jinhong Xie & Qi Wang, 2016. "Failure to Complete Cross-Border M&As: “To” vs. “From” Emerging Markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(9), pages 1077-1105, December.
    3. Anelí Bongers, 2017. "Learning and forgetting in the jet fighter aircraft industry," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Fioretti, Guido, 2009. "From men and machines to the organizational learning curve," MPRA Paper 19392, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. J. West & Arlene Fiore & Larry Horowitz, 2012. "Scenarios of methane emission reductions to 2030: abatement costs and co-benefits to ozone air quality and human mortality," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 441-461, October.
    6. Peter Thompson, 2001. "How Much Did the Liberty Shipbuilders Learn? New Evidence for an Old Case Study," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(1), pages 103-137, February.
    7. Linda Argote & Sunkee Lee & Jisoo Park, 2021. "Organizational Learning Processes and Outcomes: Major Findings and Future Research Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5399-5429, September.
    8. Harris, Richard & Keay, Ian & Lewis, Frank, 2015. "Protecting infant industries: Canadian manufacturing and the national policy, 1870–1913," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 15-31.
    9. Ibenholt, Karin, 2002. "Explaining learning curves for wind power," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(13), pages 1181-1189, October.
    10. Petty, Jeffrey S. & Gruber, Marc, 2011. ""In pursuit of the real deal": A longitudinal study of VC decision making," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 172-188, March.
    11. Alexopoulos, Michelle & Tombe, Trevor, 2012. "Management matters," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 269-285.
    12. Gavin J. Bell & Bruce W. Lamar & Chris A. Wallace, 1999. "Capacity improvement, penalties, and the fixed charge transportation problem," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(4), pages 341-355, June.
    13. Bradley R. Staats & Francesca Gino, 2012. "Specialization and Variety in Repetitive Tasks: Evidence from a Japanese Bank," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(6), pages 1141-1159, June.
    14. Thomas Boucher & Yuchen Li, 2016. "Technical note: systematic bias in stochastic learning," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(11), pages 3452-3463, June.
    15. Yeh, Sonia & Rubin, Edward S, 2007. "A centurial history of technological change and learning curves or pulverized coal-fired utility boilers," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt3zz2w2wr, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    16. Yeh, Sonia & Rubin, Edward S., 2007. "A centurial history of technological change and learning curves or pulverized coal-fired utility boilers," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt1f25b3xq, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    17. Susan Helper, 1997. "Complementarity and Cost Reduction: Evidence from the Auto Supply Industry," NBER Working Papers 6033, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Wang, Weijia & Plante, Robert D. & Tang, Jen, 2013. "Minimum cost allocation of quality improvement targets under supplier process disruption," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 228(2), pages 388-396.
    19. Yeh, Sonia & Rubin, Edward S., 2007. "A centurial history of technological change and learning curves for pulverized coal-fired utility boilers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1996-2005.
    20. Guido Fioretti, 2007. "A connectionist model of the organizational learning curve," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:navres:v:46:y:1999:i:3:p:255-271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1520-6750 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.