A Data-Driven Approach to Inventory Control under Uncertain Demand for Pharmaceutical Products using Continuous Review Policy

With the continuous growth of Bangladesh's GDP, healthcare expenditure has been steadily increasing, highlighting the importance of efficient resource management in healthcare facilities. Pharmacy, being a significant contributor to overall operational costs, plays a crucial role in ensuring high-quality patient care. Proper inventory management of pharmaceutical products is essential to meet patient demands while minimizing costs. This research focuses on analyzing pharmaceutical inventory management practices at Sylhet Women's Medical College Hospital, a tertiary healthcare facility, and their impact on customer service levels. Secondary data from January 2016 to March 2018 was collected to assess the current inventory management practices. Through a comparison of actual inventory levels with ideal scenarios, a continuous review policy was implemented to optimize inventory levels. Additionally, cycle counting based on ABC classification was utilized to enhance inventory record accuracy and minimize waste. The analysis revealed that a significant portion of pharmaceutical items at the hospital were overstocked. Implementation of a continuous review process has the potential to yield substantial cost savings, estimated at BDT 2,815,482 (39% of total inventory value)

Economic Assessment of Biomass Based Power Generation

Biomass based power generation systems can play a significant role to alleviate energy crisis and reduce fossil fuel dependency in the countries that possess abundance of agricultural and forest biomass resources. Particularly the countries to go for biomass energy in a large scale must know power and energy potential for biomass based commercial production with proper economic assessment of the possibilities. In-depth knowledge is must to assess the profitability and sustainability of the projects. Profitability measures how the investment in the project can be secured to have an ensured surplus to be shared by the stake holders and sustainability ensures the long-term existence in the business with a positive trend of gaining market share day by day or simply to be in the business. This chapter will present the details of the economic assessment of biomass- based energy projects in terms of net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), discounted payback period (DPB), and cost of energy. The economic profitability measure is a must before advancing to a venture whether it is self-financed or loan financed. So, it is hoped that readers of the chapter should develop a proper evaluation capability and know how to analyze the biomass-based energy projects