Inventory strategy

Definition of best practices for process Definition of supply chain metrics Supply chain planning Inventory strategies Facilitation of horizontal processes, like S OP Evaluation of new technologies Network design Establishment of goals Supplier development Other... 

Step 6 - Create Order Forecast. In this step, POS data, causal information, and inventory strategies are combined to generate a specific order forecast that supports the shared sales forecast and the joint business plan. Actual volume numbers are time-phased and reflect inventory objectives by product and receiving location. The short-term portion of the forecast is used for order generation, while the longer-term portion is used for planning. 

In the second paper, Thomas considers a related problem but incorporates a general stochastic demand function and backlogging of excess demand. Specifically, Thomas considers a periodic review, finite horizon model with a fixed ordering cost and stochastic, price-dependent demand. The paper postulates a simple policy, referred to by Thomas as (5,5,p), which can be described as follows. The inventory strategy is an (5, S) policy If the inventory level at the beginning of period t is below the reorder point, st, an order is placed to raise the inventory level to the order-up-to level, St. Otherwise, no order is placed. Price depends on the initial inventory level at the beginning of the period. Thomas provides a counterexample which shows that when price is restricted to a discrete set this policy may fail to be optimal. Thomas goes on to say ... 

In case of the additive demand model, Chen and Simchi-Levi prove that the (s,5,p) policy identified by Thomas is indeed optimal. On the other hand, for the general demand model, they show that a different policy, referred to as an (5, S, A, p) policy is optimal policy. In such a policy, the optimal inventory strategy is characterized by two parameters st and St and a set At C [st st + St)/2], possibly empty. When the inventory level, xt at the beginning of period t is less than st or if xt E At an order of size St — Xt is made. Otherwise, no order is placed. Thus, it is possible that an order will be placed when the inventory level xt E [st, (st 4- St)/2], depending on the problem instance. On the other hand, if xt > (st + St)/2 no order is placed. Price depends on the initial inventory level at the beginning of the period. 

Besides the type of distribution channel it is helpful for a holistic consideration of the AS-IS configuration of the supply chain to evaluate additional information on how the transport strategy, the inventory strategy, and the location strategy are organized for a customer segment (Ballou 1999) ... 

There are two inventory control strategies that can be used for this system. The first inventory control strategy (Inventory Strategy 1) uses entrainer makeup flow to control the organic phase level in the decanter. This inventory control strategy was successfully used in Chien... 

After deciding the inventory control strategy, there are three variables left that can be used in some composition control strategy. The three candidate variables for Inventory Strategy 1 are OR flow, aqueous reflux flow, and the reboiler duty. The three candidate variables for Inventory Strategy 2 are entrainer makeup, aqueous reflux flow, and the reboiler duty. The control objective is to hold the bottom and the top aqueous product specifications at base-case condition under +10% feed flow and +10% feed water composition changes. 

Figure 9.8 Sensitivity analysis of the three manipulated variables under Inventory Strategy 1.

The maximum and the minimum of this function as suggested by Mooie are selected as the two tray locations for the temperature control points. For an example, Figure 9.10 shows the Z, for the Inventory Strategy 1 with two manipulated variables of aqueous reflux and reboiler duty. From this figure, temperatures at Stage 6 and Stage 16 are selected as the two controlled... 

CSIQA Using Inventory Strategy 1 with reboiler duty and aqueous reflux as two manipulated variables for dual-point temperature control. 

CSS Using Inventory Strategy 2 in the previous subsection, with temperamre at Stage 6 controlled by manipulating aqueous reflux flow, while the other two manipulated variables, reboiler duty and entrainer makeup, are ratioed to the feed flowrate. 

JIT It is an inventory strategy implemented to improve the return on investment of a business by reducing in-process inventory and its associated costs. 

To this end, TLC divided its customer base into segments for the purpose of establishing inventory strategies. The segments and associated policies were as follows ... 

Inventory strategy Minimize Inventory to lower cost Maintain buffer inventory to deal with demand/supply uncertainty... 

Just-in-time denotes an inventory strategy that aims at an optimized supply of products or services without wasting time, material, manpower or energy in order to meet the customer s requirements. Refer, for example, to Boyd et ah (2002). 

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