Title: A JIT integrated inventory model for a buyer and a vendor considering the impact of quality improvement

Authors: Mallika Parveen, T.V.V.L.N. Rao

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering Department, BITS, Pilani-Dubai, International Academic City, P.O. Box No. 500022, Dubai, UAE. ' Mechanical Engineering Group, BITS, Pilani – 333 031, India

Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of quality improvement using the integrated vendor–buyer inventory model of Banerjee and Kim (1995). The quality improvement investment (Yang and Pan, 2004) is explored under the conditions of buyer and vendor quality improvement efforts (Zhu et al., 2007). The integrated joint optimal policy for buyer–vendor yields minimum total cost when compared with independent buyer–vendor optimal policies. Buyer integration with high-quality vendor is preferred owing to lower total costs. Constraints on the quality improvement yield a higher Total Relevant Cost (TRC) for buyer and vendor coordination.

Keywords: JIT inventory; just-in-time; lot size; inventory integration; vendor–buyer inventory models; quality improvement; total relevant cost.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2009.026194

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2009 Vol.18 No.2, pp.210 - 227

Received: 29 Oct 2006
Accepted: 01 Aug 2007

Published online: 28 May 2009 *

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