An effective integrated inventory model to coordinate inventory replenishment and shipment consolidation

摘要

This paper proposed a quantity-based integrated model to coordinate inventory replenishment and outbound shipment consolidation for vendor-managed inventory system. An analytical model is developed to derive the optimum replenishment quantity and economic shipment quantity simultaneously. The quantity-based integrated model is a more effective integration of the different logistical activities. It results in a total cost less than that of the time-based integrated model. In the vendor-managed inventory (VMI) system we developed, a supplier can simultaneously reduce the logistical costs and provide a high customer service level. This result can help a supplier to obtain substantial benefits from the integrated model.