A continuous approximation procedure for determining inventory distribution schemas within supply chains
Academic Article
Overview
Identity
Additional Document Info
Other
View All
Overview
abstract
This paper presents an integrated inventory distribution optimization model that simultaneously incorporates the issues of location, production, inventory, and transportation within a supply chain. The objective is to determine the optimal number and size of shipments under varying but commonly practiced production and shipping scenarios. A continuous approximation procedure is proposed to determine the optimal number and size of shipments. Three production and shipping scenarios are investigated and closed form expressions for the optimal number of shipments for each scenario are obtained. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the model. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.