Inventory optimization in a retail multi-echelon environment

The objective of the study is to find an optimal inventory distribution in a retail three-echelon environment, consisting of a supplier, a DC, and stores. An inventory model is built by replicating the echelons' periodic, order-up-to-level policies with all echelons' transactions integrated. Network carrying cost is set as an objective function, while the store target service level and the store's minimum order-up-to-levels are set as constraints. A heuristic approach, that combines the optimization and simulation methods, is used to find the optimal inventory distribution. The results show that the optimal network carrying cost can be achieved by having low inventory and low service level at the DC. In addition, the impact of the echelons' deviations from the optimal policies as well as the impact of the upstream echelon's service disruptions on the other echelons confirms the interrelation between the echelons in the network. The analyses also illustrate that high target service level can be accomplished by keeping high inventory at the stores and the DC.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Arkaresvimun, Rintiya

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Larry Lapide.

• Engineering Systems Division.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45251

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45251