• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.21 no.48
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• pp.37-52
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• 1998

In many distribution systems important cost reductions and/or service improvements may be achieved by adopting an efficient inventory policy and proper selection of facilities. These efficiency improvements and service enhancements clearly require an integrated approach towards various logistical planning functions. The areas of inventory control and transportation planning need to be closely coordinated. The purpose of this paper is to construct an integrated model that can minimize the total cost of the transportation and inventory systems between multiple origin and destination points, where in origin point i has the supply of commodities and in destination point j requires the commodities. In this case, demands of the destination points are assumed random variables which have a known probability distribution. Using the lot-size reorder-point policy and the safety stock level that minimize total cost we find optimal distribution centers which transport the commodities to the destination points and suggest an optimal inventory policy to the selected distribution center. We also show if a demand greater than one unit will occur at a particular time, we describe the approximate optional replenishment policy from computational results of this lot-size reorder-point policy. This model is formulated as a 0-1 nonlinear integer programming problem. To solve the problem, this paper proposes heuristic computational procedures and a computer program with UNIX C language. In the usefulness review, we show the meaning and validity of the proposed model and exhibit the results of a comparison between our approach and the traditional approach, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.55-64
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• 2001

The main objective of this research is to develop a model to select the optimal input service level for a distribution center-multi branch inventory distribution system. With the continuous review policy, the distribution center places an order for specific order quantity to an outside supplier, and the order quantity is replenished after a certain lead time Also, each branch places an order for particular order quantity to the distribution center to satisfy the customer demands, and receives the replenishment after a lead time. When an out of stock condition occurs during an order cycle, a backorder is placed to the upper level to fill the unfilled demands. With these situation, variable demand and variable lead time are used for better industrial practice. Further, actual lead times with a generic lead time distribution are used in developing the control model. Under the actual lead time model, the customer service measures actually attained for the distribution center and each branch are explained as the effective customer service measures. Thus, throughout the optimal control (using computer search procedures), we can select the optimal input service levels for the distribution center and each branch to attain the effective service levels for each branch which is consistent with the goal level of service for each branch. At the same time, the entire distribution system keeps minimum inventories.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.152-161
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• 2011

The operation of vending machine system presents a decision-making problem which consists of determining the product allocation to vending-machine storage compartments, replenishment intervals of vending machines, and vehicle routes, all of which have critical effects on system profit. Especially, it becomes more difficult to determine the operation variables optimally when demand for a product that is out-of-stock spills over to another product or is lost. In this paper, we propose a heuristic for solving the operation problem of the vending machine system and evaluate it by comparing with Yang's algorithm on various test problems with respect to system profit via a computer simulation. The results of computational experiments show a substantial profit increase of the proposed heuristic over Yang's algorithm. Sensitivity analysis indicates that some input variables impact the profit increase significantly.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.23-48
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• 2007

Category management has been implemented to enhance competitiveness in the food distribution industry since 2000 in Korea. This study helps to understand why suppliers achieve better or worse performance than competitors in a category. The major objective of this article is to explore which category tactics are effective to have influence on category performance when suppliers as a category captain implement category management with variety enhancer categories like shampoo, toothpaste, and detergent. The Nielsen data were analyzed using regression and Chow test. The empirical results that were varied upon the store type and market position found out which specific actions on product assortments, pricing, shelving, and product replenishment can increase category sales. Specifically, in the case of market leader in large supermarket, the significant indicators of category sales with respect to category tactics are the out-of-stock rate, the variance across brand shares, the forward inventory, and the days supply of a product. However, in the case of follower in large supermarket, the significant indicators of category sales are the variance across brand shares, the forward inventory, and the days supply of a product. On the other hand, in the case of small supermarket, the significant factors on category sales for both market leader and follower are the retail distribution rate, the variance across brand shares, the forward inventory, and the days supply of a product category. In sum, regardless of the store type and market position, dominant brands in a category, the forward inventory, and short days supply of a product improved performance in all categories. Critical difference is that the out-of-stock rate acted as a key ingredient for the market leader between large and small supermarket and the retail distribution rate for the follower between large and small supermarket. This article presents some theoretical and managerial implications of the empirical results and finalizes the paper by addressing limitations and future research directions.