Decision Sciences Journal
Volume 32, Number 4
Fall 2001
Discrete Sequential Search with Group Activities
Bret J. Wagner
Department of Management, Haworth College of Business, Western
Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-3806, email: bret.wagner@wmich.edu
Darwin J. Davis
Department of Business Administration, College of Business and
Economics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716-2710
Abstract. Equipment failures can have significant implications
in terms of cost and customer satisfaction. Reducing the time
required to find the cause of a failure can provide large cost
savings and help preserve customer goodwill. Single-item discrete
sequential search models can be used to sequence the tasks in
diagnostic search to minimize the expected time required to find
the cause of the failure. We increase the utility of the single-item
discrete sequential search model by developing a formulation
that includes simple precedence relationships as well as sequence
dependent relationships defined by group activities. This formulation
can be applied to a number of other problems including determining
the sequence for multiple quality control tests on an item, scheduling
oil well workovers to maximize the expected increase in oil production,
and sequencing tasks in a research project where there is a technological
risk associated with each task.
Subject Areas: Integer/Binary Program, Linear Programming,
and Search Theory. |