[pt] A necessidade de previsões de demanda é comum no processo de planejamento e controle. As previsões representam fator chave na gestão das diversas áreas das organizações e são fundamentais no gerenciamento da cadeia logística, especialmente, na gestão de estoques, níveis de serviço ao cliente e planejamento de compras. Nesse contexto, este trabalho teve como objetivo propor melhorias na cadeia de suprimentos de material de saúde da Marinha do Brasil (MB), através da implementação de um método de previsão de demanda que melhor se adapte com as características das séries temporais. Na MB, as séries temporais dos itens de saúde apresentam demandas intermitentes, tornando a modelagem e previsão uma tarefa difícil. Os métodos testados e avaliados são simples, práticos e de baixo custo de implantação. São eles: Amortecimento Exponencial, Croston e Poisson, além do próprio método utilizado pela MB. O produto gerado por esta dissertação possibilitou uma melhoria de 40 por cento nas previsões de demanda dos principais itens de saúde. Sua implementação proporcionará significativa economia de recursos financeiros e aumento do nível de serviço dos itens de saúde. Este trabalho serve de base para utilização em outras cadeias de suprimentos da MB (sobressalentes, combustíveis, munições, gêneros alimentícios e fardamentos), podendo ser implementado tanto na MB, quanto em outras Forças Armadas. / [en] The need for demand forecasts is common in the planning and control processes. Such predictions represent a key factor for managing the various organizational departments, especially those related to logistics and supply chain such as stock management, service level and purchasing. In this context, this study s objective was to propose improvements in Brazilian Navy s health material through the implementation of more effective demand forecasting methods. In the Brazilian Navy, the demand data series for essential health items have an erratic pattern, making the mathematical modeling for demand forecasting a complex task. The methods tested and evaluated are simple, practical, and low-cost deployment. Are they: Exponential Smoothing, Croston method and Poisson Distribution, besides the current demand forecasting currently applied by the Brazilian Navy itself. The results found in this dissertation showed a 40 percent improvement in the main items demand forecast when compared to the current method, It s implementation will provide significant savings of financial resources and increase the level of service of health items This work serves as a basis for use in other supply chains in Brazilian Navy (spare parts, fuels, ammunition, foodstuffs and uniforms), and can be implemented in both MB and other Armed Forces.

This PhD thesis focuses on using time series models for counts in modelling and forecasting a special type of count series called intermittent series. An intermittent series is a series of non-negative integer values with some zero values. Such series occur in many areas including inventory control of spare parts. Various methods have been developed for intermittent demand forecasting with Croston’s method being the most widely used. Some studies focus on finding a model underlying Croston’s method. With none of these studies being successful in demonstrating an underlying model for which Croston’s method is optimal, the focus should now shift towards stationary models for intermittent demand forecasting. This thesis explores the application of a class of models for count data called the Integer Autoregressive Moving Average (INARMA) models. INARMA models have had applications in different areas such as medical science and economics, but this is the first attempt to use such a model-based method to forecast intermittent demand. In this PhD research, we first fill some gaps in the INARMA literature by finding the unconditional variance and the autocorrelation function of the general INARMA(p,q) model. The conditional expected value of the aggregated process over lead time is also obtained to be used as a lead time forecast. The accuracy of h-step-ahead and lead time INARMA forecasts are then compared to those obtained by benchmark methods of Croston, Syntetos-Boylan Approximation (SBA) and Shale-Boylan-Johnston (SBJ). The results of the simulation suggest that in the presence of a high autocorrelation in data, INARMA yields much more accurate one-step ahead forecasts than benchmark methods. The degree of improvement increases for longer data histories. It has been shown that instead of identification of the autoregressive and moving average order of the INARMA model, the most general model among the possible models can be used for forecasting. This is especially useful for short history and high autocorrelation in data. The findings of the thesis have been tested on two real data sets: (i) Royal Air Force (RAF) demand history of 16,000 SKUs and (ii) 3,000 series of intermittent demand from the automotive industry. The results show that for sparse data with long history, there is a substantial improvement in using INARMA over the benchmarks in terms of Mean Square Error (MSE) and Mean Absolute Scaled Error (MASE) for the one-step ahead forecasts. However, for series with short history the improvement is narrower. The improvement is greater for h-step ahead forecasts. The results also confirm the superiority of INARMA over the benchmark methods for lead time forecasts.

This thesis explores forecasting for intermittent demand requirements. Intermittent demand occurs at random, with some time periods showing no demand. In addition, demand, when it occurs, may not be for a single unit or a constant size. Consequently, intermittent demand creates significant problems in the supply and manufacturing environment as far as forecasting and inventory control are concerned. A certain confusion is shared amongst academics and practitioners about how intermittent demand (or indeed any other demand pattern that cannot be reasonably represented by the normal distribution) is defined. As such, we first construct a framework that aims at facilitating the conceptual categorisation of what is termed, for the purposes of this research, “non-normal” demand patterns. Croston (1972) proposed a method according to which intermittent demand estimates can be built from constituent elements, namely the demand size and inter-demand interval. The method has been claimed to provide unbiased estimates and it is regarded as the “standard” approach to dealing with intermittence. In this thesis we show that Croston’s method is biased. The bias is quantified and two new estimation procedures are developed based on Croston’s concept of considering both demand sizes and inter-demand intervals. Consequently the issue of variability of the intermittent demand estimates is explored and finally Mean Square Error (MSE) expressions are derived for all the methods discussed in the thesis. The issue of categorisation of the demand patterns has not received sufficient academic attention thus far, even though, from the practitioner’s standpoint it is appealing to switch from one estimator to the other according to the characteristics of the demand series under concern. Algebraic comparisons of MSE expressions result in universally applicable (and theoretically coherent) categorisation rules, based on which, “non-normal” demand patterns can be defined and estimators be selected. All theoretical findings are checked via simulation on theoretically generated demand data. The data is generated upon the same assumptions considered in the theoretical part of the thesis. Finally, results are generated using a large sample of empirical data. Appropriate accuracy measures are selected to assess the forecasting accuracy performance of the estimation procedures discussed in the thesis. Moreover, it is recognised that improvements in forecasting accuracy are of little practical value unless they are translated to an increased customer service level and/or reduced inventory cost. In consequence, an inventory control system is specified and the inventory control performance of the estimators is also assessed on the real data. The system is of the periodic order-up-to-level nature. The empirical results confirm the practical validity and utility of all our theoretical claims and demonstrate the benefits gained when Croston’s method is replaced by an estimator developed during this research, the Approximation method.

El presente trabajo de investigación desarrolla una propuesta para mejorar el desempeño de la gestión de inventarios en el almacén de una empresa petrolera, considerando la presencia de demandas no suaves que no se ajustan para ser tratadas como si tuvieran una distribución normal. Una demanda no suave presenta alta variabilidad en la cantidad solicitada y la posibilidad considerable de tener varios periodos sin demanda. El objetivo es mejorar el nivel de servicio al cliente interno sin tener que incrementar el valor de inventario promedio. Se inicia indicando la importancia de la gestión de inventarios en una empresa y explicando cada etapa en la gestión de la demanda, para luego revisar más a detalle los modelos de inventarios tradicionales y así como los que son recomendados para demandas no suaves. En la siguiente parte se examina la situación actual de la gestión de inventarios en el almacén en estudio, obteniendo un diagnóstico de la misma, y exponiendo los aspectos que pueden mejorarse. Por último, se presenta la propuesta que incluye los métodos de pronóstico y los modelos de control de inventarios elegidos según criterios adecuados que consideran la naturaleza y el patrón de la demanda. / This research develops a proposal to improve the performance of inventory management in the warehouse of an oil company, considering the presence of non-smooth demands that do not fit to treat them like if they would have a normal distribution. A non-smooth demand presents high variability on the required quantity and the chance to have several periods without a demand. The objective is to improve the service level for the internal customer without needing to increase the average inventory value. It is started indicating the importance of inventory management in a company and explaining each phase of demand management, then proceeds to review in detail traditional inventory models, as well as, those are recommended for non-smooth demand. The next part examines the current situation of inventory management in the warehouse that is under study, getting a diagnostic of it, and exposing the aspects that can be improved. Finally, is presented the proposal which to include the forecasting methods and the inventory control models, these are chosen according to suitable criteria which to consider the nature and pattern of demand. / Trabajo de investigación

Application of multisource feedback (MSF) increased dramatically and became widespread globally in the past two decades, but there was little conceptual work regarding self-other agreement and few empirical studies investigated self-other agreement in other cultural settings. This study developed a new conceptual framework of self-other agreement and used three samples to illustrate how national culture affected self-other agreement. These three samples included 428 participants from China, 818 participants from the US, and 871 participants from globally dispersed teams (GDTs). An EQS procedure and a polynomial regression procedure were used to examine whether the covariance matrices were equal across samples and whether the relationships between self-other agreement and performance would be different across cultures, respectively. The results indicated MSF could be applied to China and GDTs, but the pattern of relationships between self-other agreement and performance was different across samples, suggesting that the results found in the U.S. sample were the exception rather than rule. Demographics also affected self-other agreement disparately across perspectives and cultures, indicating self-concept was susceptible to cultural influences. The proposed framework only received partial support but showed great promise to guide future studies. This study contributed to the literature by: (a) developing a new framework of self-other agreement that could be used to study various contextual factors; (b) examining the relationship between self-other agreement and performance in three vastly different samples; (c) providing some important insights about consensus between raters and self-other agreement; (d) offering some practical guidelines regarding how to apply MSF to other cultures more effectively.

[pt] Demanda intermitente é definida por períodos de vendas nulas intercaladas com vendas positivas e de quantidade altamente variável. A maior parte das unidades de manutenção de estoque (stock keeping units, em inglês) ao nível loja pode ser caracterizada como contendo demanda desse tipo. Assim, modelos acurados para prever séries com demanda intermitente trazem grandes impactos em relação à gestão de estoque. Nesta dissertação nós propomos o uso do framework GAS com as distribuições adequadas para dados de contagem, além de suas versões com excesso de zeros, e aplicamos os modelos derivados a dados reais obtidos com uma grande rede varejista brasileira. Nós demonstramos que os modelos com excesso de zeros propostos são estimados de forma consistente por máxima verossimilhança e a distribuição dos estimadores é assintóticamente normal. A performance dos modelos propostos é comparada com benchmarks adequados das literaturas de séries temporais para dados de contagem e previsão de demanda intermitente. A avaliação das previsões é feita com base tanto na precisão da distribuição preditiva quanto na precisão das previsões pontuais. Nossos resultados mostram que os modelos propostos, em especial o modelo derivado sob distribuição hurdle Poisson, performam melhor do que os benchmarks analisados. / [en] Intermittent demand is defined by periods of zero sales interleaved with positive sales with highly variable quantities. Most stock keeping units at the store level can be characterized as containing such demand. Thus, accurate models for predicting series with intermittent demand have major impacts in relation to inventory management. In this dissertation we propose the use of the GAS framework with the appropriate distributions for count data, in addition to their versions with excess of zeroes, and apply the derived models to real data obtained from a large Brazilian retail chain. We demonstrate that the proposed models with excess of zeros are consistently estimated via maximum likelihood and the distribution of the estimator is asymptotically normal. The performance of the proposed models is compared to adequate benchmarks from the time series literature for count data and intermittent demand forecast. Forecasting is evaluated based on the accuracy of both the entire predictive distribution and point forecasts. Our results show that the proposed models, specially the one derived from hurdle Poisson distribution, perform better than the analyzed benchmarks.