The Inventory Routing Problem (IRP) involves the distribution of one or more products from a supplier to a set of customers over a discrete planning horizon. The version treated here, the so-called Vendor Managed Inventory Routing Problem (VMIRP), is the Inventory Routing problem arising when the replenishment policy is decided a priori. We consider two replenishment policies. The first is know...

This paper studies a single-product supply chain, in which the supplier needs to manage its own inventory to fulfill requests from a set of heterogonous retailers. The retailers’ requests are determined by the supplier in a fashion of vendor-managed inventory (VMI). Under a VMI arrangement, the supplier agrees to pay all the order setup costs and a portion of unit holding costs for the retailer...

a r t i c l e i n f o This study examines the dynamic performance of vertically decentralized two-echelon channel coordination for deteriorating goods under consignment and vendor-managed inventory (VMI) contracts with revenue sharing from retailer-centric business-to-business transactions in both traditional markets and electronic markets (EMs). The research presents the profit-maximization pr...

A widely accepted performance measures in supply chain management practice, frequency-based service levels such as fill rate and stockout rate are often considered in supply contracts under vendor-managedinventory (VMI) programs. Using a decentralized two-party capacitated supply chain model consisting of one manufacturer and one supplier in a VMI environment, we demonstrate that supplier’s ser...

Many strategies have been developed to manage supply chain operations effectively. Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) system is one of the prevalent strategic tools of the supply side logistics based on the electronic data exchange and business process automation among the suppliers and customers to enhance the competitive advantage. VMI is widely used in different industries including automotive s...

We consider a distribution problem in which a product has to be shipped from a supplier to several retailers over a given time horizon. Each retailer defines a maximum inventory level. The supplier monitors the inventory of each retailer and determines its replenishment policy, guaranteeing that no stockout occurs at the retailer (Vendor Managed Inventory policy). Every time a retailer is visit...

The use of Information and communication technology (ICT) in supply chain collaboration has received substantial attention among researchers and practitioners. The multiple aspects of ICT offer a wide selection of research and application arenas. This paper discusses information sharing and takes a particular focus on the level of data integration when ICT is applied to support the replenishmen...

Vendor managed inventory (VMI) is a concept in which stock is monitored, planned and managed by suppliers based on expected demand and previously established threshold levels. Although manufacturing and retail companies have relied on these practices for some time, top pharmaceuticals companies only began experimenting with this concept for R&D supplies management in the early 1990s. At that ti...

This paper compares the bullwhip properties of a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) supply chain with those of a traditional “serially-linked” supply chain. The emphasis of this investigation is the comparative impact the two structures have on the “Bullwhip Effect” generated. Particular attention is paid to the manufacturer’s production ordering activities as demonstrated using a simulation model ...

The paper compares the expected performance of a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) supply chain with a traditional “serially-linked” supply chain. The emphasis of this investigation is the impact these two alternative structures have on the “Bullwhip Effect” generated in the supply chain. We pay particular attention to the manufacturer’s production ordering activities via a simulation model based ...