Incentives for quality improvement efforts coordination in supply chains with partial cost allocation contract

In this paper, we consider quality improvement efforts coordination in a two-stage decentralised supply chain with a partial cost allocation contract. The supply chain consists of one supplier and one manufacturer, both of which produce defective products. Two kinds of failure cost occur within the supply chain: internal and external. The supplier and the manufacturer determine their individual quality levels to maximise their own profits. We propose a partial cost allocation contract, under which the external failure cost is allocated between the manufacturer and the supplier at different rates based on information derived from failure root cause analysis. If the quality levels of the supplier and the manufacturer are observable, we show that the partial cost allocation contract coordinates the supply chain, provided that the failure root cause analysis does not erroneously identify the manufacturer’s fault as the supplier’s, and the supplier does not take responsibility for the manufacture’s fault. In the single moral hazard model, where only the quality level of the supplier is unobservable, the optimal share rates require the supplier to take some responsibility for the manufacture’s fault. However, in the double moral hazard model, where quality levels of the supplier and the manufacturer are unobservable to each other, the optimal share rates require the supplier not to take responsibility for the manufacturer’s fault. It is noted that the root cause analysis conducted by the manufacturer may have its disadvantage in attributing the fault to the supplier when both sides are at fault. We also propose a contract based on the dual root cause analysis to reduce the supplier’s penalty cost. Numerical results illustrate that the partial cost allocation contract satisfies the fairness criterion compared with the traditional cost allocation contract.     

适合小管径空调器的分配器分流性能评价与结构优化

为了开发具有最佳流量分配性能的小管径空调分配器,本文采用数值仿真和空气-水实验相结合的方法评价了常用分配器的分流性能,提出分配器的结构优化方法,并利用空调整机实验验证了该结构优化方法的改进效果。对于三种比较适合于小管径空调器的分配器进行的实验和计算表明,插孔式分配器的分流性能最佳,在额定制冷和额定制热工况下流量分配不均匀度均小于6%;实验结果与仿真计算得出的分配器流量分配不均匀度结果吻合,计算结果与实验的偏差都在15%以内。利用验证过的仿真模型,对插孔式分配器进行结构优化,优化后的分配器应用于空调整机后,系统能效提高了2.2%~2.7%。