Analysis and optimization of recruitment stocking problems

TY - JOUR

T1 - Analysis and optimization of recruitment stocking problems

AU - Ninh, Anh

AU - Melamed, Benjamin

AU - Zhao, Yao

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

PY - 2020/12

Y1 - 2020/12

N2 - We study a new class of inventory control problems, the recruitment stocking problem (RSP), applicable to general recruitment systems and products with limited supplies. Recruitment stocking occurs routinely in many organizations with the goal of identifying qualified candidates rapidly and cost effectively. This activity may take place at multiple sites simultaneously to shorten the recruitment time. Examples include recruiting patients in clinical trials, enlisting personnel in the military, and recruiting customers for product sampling in market testing and promotion. RSP differs from the extant inventory management literature in that it stipulates a finite recruitment target, so that recruitment is terminated as soon as the total number of recruits across all locations reaches that prescribed target. This distinctive feature of RSP calls for the development of new stochastic models to evaluate and optimize system performance. Thus, we present a novel methodology of relaxation and decomposition to characterize the probability distribution of rejections in RSP (number of arrivals to an empty inventory). This method provides a basis for efficient and accurate evaluation of the Type 2 service level and expected recruitment time. We also leverage the attendant computational efficiency to develop optimization algorithms to compute the optimal stocking quantities.

AB - We study a new class of inventory control problems, the recruitment stocking problem (RSP), applicable to general recruitment systems and products with limited supplies. Recruitment stocking occurs routinely in many organizations with the goal of identifying qualified candidates rapidly and cost effectively. This activity may take place at multiple sites simultaneously to shorten the recruitment time. Examples include recruiting patients in clinical trials, enlisting personnel in the military, and recruiting customers for product sampling in market testing and promotion. RSP differs from the extant inventory management literature in that it stipulates a finite recruitment target, so that recruitment is terminated as soon as the total number of recruits across all locations reaches that prescribed target. This distinctive feature of RSP calls for the development of new stochastic models to evaluate and optimize system performance. Thus, we present a novel methodology of relaxation and decomposition to characterize the probability distribution of rejections in RSP (number of arrivals to an empty inventory). This method provides a basis for efficient and accurate evaluation of the Type 2 service level and expected recruitment time. We also leverage the attendant computational efficiency to develop optimization algorithms to compute the optimal stocking quantities.

KW - Allocation

KW - Clinical trials

KW - Inventory control

KW - Recruitment

KW - Stochastic

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U2 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-020-03822-2

DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-020-03822-2

M3 - Article

SN - 0254-5330

VL - 295

SP - 747

EP - 767

JO - Annals of Operations Research

JF - Annals of Operations Research

IS - 2

ER -