Application of Meteor to the Evaluation of Multi-Echelon Inventory Models

摘要

The Navy supply system forms a complex multi-indenture, multiechelon system designed to provide support to operating units both afloat and ashore. The current inventory models used by the Navy do not consider explicitly the multi-echelon nature of the system, possibly resulting in misallocations of material and sub-optimal uses of funds. A simulation computer program, called Multi-Echelon Technique for Evaluating Readiness (METEOR), was developed in an earlier thesis to provide a means of evaluating the effects of the inventory models in existence at that time. This thesis enhances METEOR to model the Navy supply system and its current multi-echelon structure. Additionally, a heuristic, see-through model was developed that attempts to improve supply system performance by making shipboard demands visible to both intermediate and wholesale echelons. A preliminary comparison between this model and existing procedures and was conducted showed that the see-through model significantly improved effectiveness.