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Two-dimensional warranty policies exist for certain consumer products, such as automobiles. Here, warranty is specified in terms of the time since the sale of the product as well as mileage incurred during that period. Thus, at the time of purchasing the product, the manufacturer may offer a warranty of three years or 30,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Failures in the product within this specified period of time or mileage will be covered by the manufacturer.

In this chapter, we consider the scenario of enterprise warranty programs, where customers are given the option of extending the original warranty. Thus, the buyer could be given an option to purchase a five year—50,000 mile warranty, whichever occurs first. Of course, the buyer will be expected to pay a premium to purchase this extended warranty. Such enterprise warranty programs are also found in other consumer durables, such as refrigerators, washers, dryers, and cooking ranges.

This chapter explores determination of the decision variables, such as product price, warranty time, and usage limit under the original conditions and further, for the enterprise warranty, that is, the extended warranty time and extended usage limit, as well as the premium to be charged to the buyer who selects the extended warranty. Mathematical models are developed based on maximizing the expected unit profit by selecting an enterprise warranty program. Additionally, some other objectives are also considered based on the proportional increase in the expected unit profit due to the increased market share attained through the offering of an enterprise warranty program. Some results are obtained through consideration of various goal values of the chosen objectives.

This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

This study examined use of preventive health care services, for working-age adults with mobility limitations (uses mobility aids, has difficulty walking, difficulty standing for extended periods of time, or difficulty climbing steps) and for working-age adults reporting no mobility limitation, in order to identify similarities and disparities between the two populations. We analyzed data from the 1994 National Health Interview Survey Disability Supplement and NHIS Year 2000 file with cross-tabulation and logistic regression procedures to examine the relationship between mobility limitation and use of health screenings, immunizations, and health behavior counseling. Results were mixed, but disparities in preventive service use were identified.