Reference : An Integrated Guaranteed- and Stochastic-Service Approach to Inventory Optimization i...
Scientific journals : Article
Business & economic sciences : Production, distribution & supply chain management
http://hdl.handle.net/10993/30921
An Integrated Guaranteed- and Stochastic-Service Approach to Inventory Optimization in Supply Chains
English
Klosterhalfen, Steffen[University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance (FDEF) > Center for Research in Economic Analysis (CREA) > ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance (FDEF) > Center for Research in Economic Analysis (CREA) > Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LCL)]
[en] Inventory ; Multi-echelon ; Guaranteed service ; Stochastic service ; Partitioning
[en] Multi-echelon inventory optimization literature distinguishes stochastic- (SS) and guaranteed-service (GS) approaches as mutually exclusive frameworks. While the GS approach considers flexibility measures at the stages to deal with stockouts, the SS approach only relies on safety stock. Within a supply chain, flexibility levels might differ between stages rendering them appropriate candidates for one approach or the other. The existing approaches, however, require the selection of a single framework for the entire supply chain instead of a stage-wise choice. We develop an integrated hybrid-service (HS) approach which endogenously determines the overall cost-optimal approach for each stage and computes the required inventory levels. We present a dynamic programming optimization algorithm for serial supply chains that partitions the entire system into subchains of different types. From a numerical study we find that, besides implicitly choosing the better of the two pure frameworks, whose cost differences can be considerable, the HS approach enables additional pipeline and on-hand stock cost savings. We further identify drivers for the preferability of the HS approach.