Using RFID to Overcome Inventory Control Challenges: A Proof of Concept

Using a Proof of Concept approach, this paper examines RFID’s impact on inventory control of a small-to-medium retailer. Results indicate that RFID technology can function effectively in a small-to-medium hardware environment. Also, the majority of the simulations recorded reasonable read rates even though the simulations were set up over a short period of time without a great deal of fine-tuning. Moreover, RFID could have a positive impact on the inventory-related processes of the organisation by either streamlining or formalizing them and facilitate the electronic storage of information captured in real-time, relating to the movement of stock and the amount of stock held, providing visibility to members of the organisation. Despite these encouraging findings in relation to using RFID for inventory control purposes within the small-to-medium retailer, it is recommended that other alternatives aimed at improving the inventory control practices of the organisation be investigated before committing to the implementation of RFID

Joint pricing and ordering policies for deteriorating item with retail price-dependent demand in response to announced supply price increase

[[abstract]]Recently, due to rapid economic development in emerging nations, the world's raw material prices have been rising. In today's unrestricted information environment, suppliers typically announce impending supply price increases at specific times. This allows retailers to replenish their stock at the present price, before the price increase takes effect. The supplier, however, will generally offer only limited quantities prior to the price increase, so as to avoid excessive orders. The retail price will usually reflect any supply price increases, as market demand is dependent on retail price. This paper considers deteriorating items and investigates (1) the possible effects of a supply price increase on retail pricing, and (2) ordering policies under the conditions that special order quantities are limited and demand is dependent on retail price. The purpose of this paper is to determine the optimal special order quantity and retail price to maximize profit. Our theoretical analysis examines the necessary and sufficient conditions for an optimal solution, and an algorithm is established to obtain the optimal solution. Furthermore, several numerical examples are given to illustrate the developed model and the solution procedure. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is conducted on the optimal solutions with respect to major parameters.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙

Controlling lead times and minor ordering costs in the joint replenishment problem with stochastic demands under the class of cyclic policies

In this paper, we consider the periodic review joint replenishment problem under the class of cyclic policies. For each item, the demand in the protection interval is assumed stochastic. Moreover, a fraction of shortage is lost, while the other quota is backordered. We suppose that lead times and minor ordering costs are controllable. The problem concerns determining the cyclic replenishment policy, the lead times, and the minor ordering costs in order to minimize the long‐run expected total cost per time unit. We established several properties of the cost function, which permit us to derive a heuristic algorithm. A lower bound on the minimum cost is obtained, which helps us to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed heuristic. The heuristic is also compared with a hybrid genetic algorithm that is specifically developed for benchmarking purposes. Numerical experiments have been carried out to investigate the performance of the heuristic

A coordination mechanism for supply chains with capacity expansions and order-dependent lead times

This paper considers a supply chain consisting of a retailer for short life cycle products facing stochastic customer demand and a manufacturer that initiates production upon receipt of retail orders. Departing from the common view of the newsvendor problem, we assume that the delivery lead time is not fixed, but that both the retailer and the manufacturer have the option to shorten it. Shorter lead times enable the retailer to place orders closer to the start of the selling season where additional information on customer preferences has become available, reducing demand uncertainty. In the work at hand, lead time is assumed to depend on the order quantity, on the supplier's production capacity, and a fixed transportation delay. This paper proposes a model for determining the optimal order quantity and production capacity in centralized and decentralized settings. For the uncoordinated case, we show that if the retailer's ability to gather and analyze additional demand information is revealed to the manufacturer, the arising information asymmetry between the two parties can aggravate the double marginalization effect and, in turn, erode supply chain efficiency. In a coordinated supply chain, however, both parties have an incentive to align both order quantity and investments in lead time reduction. To coordinate the decentralized supply chain, we propose a buy-back contract that helps to leverage supply chain profitability. We conclude with an outlook on future research opportunities

Principles of Inventory and Materials Management

xvi, 591 p. : Il.; 20 c