Designing a Multi-Product Multi-Echelon Inventory System,

Abstract

Large scale inventory distribution systems typically require a hierarchy of retail stores and warehouses to satisfy the demands of their customers. This paper presents a 0-1 nonlinear programming model for finding the best design of such systems. To use this model, it is necessary to know the optimal inventory policies for multi-echelon system. Therefore, part of this paper is devoted to describing how a dynamic programming approach, first suggested by Andrew Clark, can be used to obtained these policies. The paper presents examples of the use of the nonlinear programming model to find the design of an inventory distribution system. Finally, we present a reformulation of the nonlinear programming model as a 0-1 linear programming model, incorporate capacity constraints at the retail stores and warehouses, and illustrate the use of the new model. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 22, 1979
Accession Number
ADA073453

Entities

People

  • Charles E. Pinkus
  • Donald Gross
  • Richard M. Soland

Organizations

  • George Washington University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Commerce
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Dynamic Programming
  • Engineering
  • Inventory
  • Linear Programming
  • Mathematical Models
  • Military Research
  • Models
  • Nonlinear Programming
  • Operations Research
  • Social Sciences
  • Systems Engineering
  • Transportation

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Operations Research