Closed loop supply chain aims at integrating return products in the traditional supply chain processes. The return flows generate new uncertain elements (returns and leadtimes) and optimization of inventory control in this context is a complex issue. Inventory policies have to generate good performances (service level, cost) and be easy to implement in practice. A supply chain model based on si...

In this paper, we study a logistics network design problem with vendor managed inventory in which the company is in charge of managing inventory for its downstream warehouses and retailers, and can choose whether to satisfy each retailer’s demand. The problem incorporates the location, transportation, pricing, and warehouse-retailer echelon inventory replenishment decisions. Traditionally, thes...

A major issue in supply chain inventory management is the coordination of inventory policies adopted by different members in a supply chain including suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, etc. This paper presents a fractal-based approach for inventory management in order to minimize inventory costs and smooth material flows between supply chain members while responsively meeting customer dema...

T paper studies a periodic-review, serial supply chain in which materials are ordered and shipped according to R nQ policies. Three information scenarios are considered, depending on the level of information available: echelon, local, and quasilocal. In the echelon scenario, each stage can access the inventory and cost information within its echelon (comprising the stage itself and all downstre...

This paper deals with a two-echelon inventory system for a non-repairable item where the system consists of one warehouse and m identical retailers and uses continuous-review (R,Q) ordering policy. To find an effective stocking policy for this system, a mathematical model with the objective of minimizing the total annual inventory investment subject to constraints on the average annual order fr...

In this paper, for effective multi-echelon supply chains under stochastic and fuzzy environments, an inventory management framework and deterministic/stochastic-neuro-fuzzy cost models within the context of this framework are structured. Then, a numerical application in a three-echelon tree-structure chain is presented to show the applicability and performance of proposed framework. It can be s...

Vendor managed inventory (VMI) is an integrated approach for buyer–vendor coordination, according to which the vendor (supplier or manufacturer) decides on the appropriate buyer’s (retailer’s) inventory levels. The time value of money has not traditionally been considered in evaluating VMI supply chain’s total inventory cost in any studies up to now. Therefore, in the present study a new model ...

We provide a broad characterization of the supply chain settings in which perfect coordination can be achieved with a simple wholesale pricing scheme based on constant unit wholesale prices or a single quantity discount scheme. We confine ourselves to two-echelon chains with a single supplier servicing a network of retailers who compete with each other by selecting retail prices (Bertrand compe...

We consider N-stage serial production/distribution systems with stationary demand at the most downstream stage. First, we study classical Clark-Scarf model with both average cost and discounted cost criteria. The optimal echelon base-stock levels are obtained in terms of only probabilistic distributions of leadtime demand. This analysis yields a novel approach for developing bounds and simple h...