Controlling a Divergent 2-Echelon Network with Transshipments Using theConsistent Appropriate Share Rationing Policy

摘要

Consider a two-echelon inventory system consisting of a central depot (CD) and anumber of retailers. At the central depot, incoming stock is allocated by using the consistent appropriate share rationing (CAS) policy. When the orders arrive at the retailers, an instantaneous rebalancing of the total net stock of the retailers takes place, so as to maintain all end stockpoint inventory at a balanced position. This rebalancing is realized by the transshipment of stock, assuming that the time to transship stock from one retailer to another is negligible compared to the replenishment lead time. The object of this analysis is the determination of all the control parameters (integral order-up-to-level, parameters of allocation policy at the CD and of the rebalancing policy at the retailer), so that the desired (different) service levels are attained at the retailers at minimal expected total costs. Exact expressions are developed to determine these parameters. However, we will use some heuristics to actually compute these parameters. All analytical results are validated by Monte-Carlo simulation. The model developed will be compared with the same model without periodic, instantaneous rebalancing at the retailer. This yields insight into the conditions under which transshipment could be useful.