Stochastic inventory control in multi-echelon systems poses hard problems in optimisation under uncertainty. Stochastic programming can solve small instances optimally, and approximately solve large instances via scenario reduction techniques, but it cannot handle arbitrary nonlinear constraints or other nonstandard features. Simulation optimisation is an alternative approach that has recently ...

Globalization, product proliferation, and fast product innovation have significantly increased the complexities of supply chains in many industries. One of the most important advancements of supply chain management in recent years is the development of models and methodologies for controlling inventory in general supply networks under uncertainty and their widefspread applications to industry. ...

We consider a single-echelon, single-item inventory system where both demand and lead-time are stochastic. Continuous review policy is used to control the inventory system. The objective is to calculate the reorder point level under stochastic parameters. A case study is presented in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Keywords—Inventory control system, reorder point level, stochastic demand, stochas...

We consider a multi-item two-echelon inventory system in which the central warehouse operates under a (Q,R) policy, and the local warehouses implement basestock policy. An exact solution procedure is proposed to find the inventory control policy parameters that minimize the system-wide inventory holding and fixed ordering cost subject to an aggregate mean response time constraint at each facility.

Firms with omni-channel multi-echelon distribution networks (OMDC) integrate all of their sale channels and echelons to achieve an effective matching multi-type orders a shared inventory. However, the high operational cost caused by insufficient use inventory resources unreasonable order allocation restricts sustainable development firms. To this end, joint decisions optimization (IO) (OA) are ...

The research in this paper is motivated by a real life spare parts networks for complex technical systems in oil refining sector. At the customers the availability of the installed technical systems often is essential for the primary process. Hence, they require a high availability. For improve the management of the spare parts inventory the main company (the customer) has developed a new strat...

The effective management of supply chains depends upon the ability of decision makers to control inventory while maintaining customer service at low cost. This paper examines an analytical model for the two-echelon one warehouse and multiple retailers system using (R, Q) inventory policies. A simulation model was developed to analyze the performance of the analytical model under conditions that...

An arborescent distribution system is a multi-level system in which each installation receives input from a unique immediate predecessor and supplies one or more immediate successors. In this paper, it is shown that a distribution system with an arborescent structure can also be modelled using an echelon stock concept where at any instant the total echelon holding cost is accumulated at the sam...

Abstract: Inventory control systems development is one of the most appealing issues of the supply chain management which have recently been studied by academicians and practitioners. In this paper, an inventory management framework and deterministic cost models within the context of this framework are structured for effective supply chain (SC) in an agile environment. To do so, we propose a thr...

Previous researchers have developed ways of managing forward-oriented supply chains, and gave insight to solve single-stage inventory systems. In this study, we analyze an inventory system with traditional forward-oriented material flow as well as a reverse material flow supply chain. In the reverse material flow, the used products are returned, remanufactured and shipped to the retailer for re...