1. ¹Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
2. ²Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA

Correspondence: EP Robinson, Mays Business School, Department of Information and Operations Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4217, USA. E-mail: probinson@cgsb.tamu.edu

Received August 2005; Accepted February 2006; Published online 19 April 2006.

Abstract

This paper considers the dynamic demand joint replenishment problem where there is a joint setup cost in each time period when any member of the product family is replenished and a separate setup cost for each different item replenished. We present two forward-pass heuristics, a two-phase heuristic, and a simulated annealing metaheuristic (SAM) and investigate their relative effectiveness in solving a comprehensive set of test problems. The experimental results indicate the two-phase heuristic and the SAM perform better than existing approaches for the problem.