Shared information in a serial inventory system

摘要

In this study, a supply chain model consisting of a single product, one supplier and one retailer is considered. Transportation times are constant and demands at the retailer are assumed to be generated by a stationary Poisson process. Demands not covered immediately from inventory are backordered. The retailer carries inventory and replenishes stock according to a (Q, R) policy. The supplier has online information about the demand at the retailer and uses this information to replenish its stock. The order size at the supplier is a multiple integer to the retailer's order size. Considering order costs for the retailer and the supplier, we derive the exact cost function for this inventory system. Then, using a search method, the optimal solution for the exact value of the expected system costs is found. Furthermore, for utilising information in the supplier's decision making, we resort to solve several numerical examples.