The Johnson and Johnson journey deploying SmartOps for multi-echelon inventory optimization

Multi-echelon inventory technology enables firms to significantly reduce inventory costs. It gives managers the ability to make tradeoffs based on information from the entire supply chain, which results in a more powerful supply chain strategy and stronger competitive advantage. This thesis provides a case study exploring the deployment of SmartOps multi-echelon inventory optimization technology in Johnson and Johnson's Medical Devices and Diagnostics supply chain. The basis for this thesis is an internship project that focused on implementing SmartOps in the Transfusion Medicine and Mainframe Slides businesses within Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a group within the Medical Devices and Diagnostics sector. Through a pilot program, this internship analyzed the level of complexity involved in deploying multi-echelon inventory optimization tools such as SmartOps. In addition, this internship identified key challenges associated with data quality, especially in decentralized supply chains. The results of this study show that while IT investment decisions are challenging, senior executives should strongly consider investing in multi-echelon inventory optimization software. Recommendations for implementation include automation, people development, and forecast data centralization.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Hayden, Arnita

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Tauhid Zaman and David Simchi-Levi.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Engineering Systems Division.
• Leaders for Global Operations Program.

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/1721.1/90786

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/90786