Inventory control (International series in operations research & management scie nce, Vol. 90) (2^nd Ed.)

The strategic importance of efficient Supply Chain Management is today fully recognized by top management. The total investment in inventories is enormous, and the control of capital tied up in raw material, work-in-progress, and finished goods offers an important potential for improvement. At the same time, advances in information technology have drastically changed the possibilities to apply improved inventory control techniques. Furthermore, the recent progress in research has resulted in new and more general methods that can reduce the supply chain costs substantially. Scientific methods for production and inventory control can give a significant competitive advantage. This book deals with a range of different approaches and models that can be used when developing inventory management systems and practices. The book's primary purpose is to serve as a core textbook in various university courses. In addition, it serves as a source book to industry practitioners to understand inventory control techniques and thereby simplify and promote implementation in practice. This second edition, which has been extended by more than 50 percent, satisfies both these objectives. It covers traditional approaches for forecasting, lot sizing, determination of safety stocks and reorder points, KANBAN policies, and Material Requirements Planning. But it also includes very recent advances in inventory theory, for example, new techniques for multi-echelon inventory systems and Roundy's 98 percent approximation. The book also considers methods for coordinated replenishments of different items, and various practical issues in connection with industrial implementation. The second edition incorporates several new topics. The additions include: alternative forecasting techniques, more material on different stochastic demand processes and how they can be fitted to empirical data, generalized treatment of single-echelon periodic review systems, capacity constrained lot sizing, short sections on lateral trans-shipments and on remanufacturing, coordination and contracts. There are eleven chapters compared to six in the previous version. The explanations of different results are more detailed, and a considerable number of exercises have been added.

Preface.- Introduction.- Forecasting.- Costs and concepts.- Single-echelon systems: deterministic lot sizing.- Single-echelon systems: reorder points.- Single-echelon systems: integration - optimality.- Coordinated ordering.- Multi-echelon systems: structures and ordering policies.- Multi-echelon systems: lot sizing.- Multi-echelon systems: reorder points.- Implementation.- Appendix 1.- Answers and hints to problems.- Appendix 2.- Normal distribution tables.- Index.

From the reviews of the second edition:"This book states clearly the role of inventory control in supply chain management. ... The author has done an excellent job in bringing practice and theory together for the benefit of researchers, students, and professionals. I recommend the book highly ... . Thus, it is an excellent resource for any supply chain, inventory-management, or production-management professional." (Benjamin Botchway, Interfaces, Vol. 37 (6), 2007)