COMPLEXITY-INDUCED PRODUCTION AND INVENTORY COST IN CONSUMER GOODS SUPPLY CHAINS

摘要

In virtually every branch of manufacturing industries, ever growing assortment variety leads to an increasing complexity of production and distribution systems. For consumer-driven industries like the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, the cost effects of this growing complexity have to be considered in all strategic decisions regarding assortment size and structure. As stated in earlier works of the authors, the important practical question to be answered is what effects on the configuration of the production and distribution network and related costs can be expected if the assortment is changed in a particular way? This paper presents the results of the development and application of the decision support system (DSS) Complana. This system was applied to the cloths' supply chain of an international household product manufacturer to evaluate the most relevant assortment dependent cost positions for a production and distribution network, focusing on the areas of inventory management and production execution.