Title: Inventory and internal logistics management as critical factors affecting the supply chain performances

Authors: Duilio Curcio, Francesco Longo

Addresses: Modelling and Simulation Centre, Laboratory of Enterprise Solutions (MSC-LES), Mechanical Department, University of Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, Cubo 44 C, III Floor, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy. ' Modelling and Simulation Centre, Laboratory of Enterprise Solutions (MSC-LES), Mechanical Department, University of Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, Cubo 44 C, III Floor, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy

Abstract: This paper focuses on the inventory and internal logistics management problem within a specific Supply Chain (SC) node (a Distribution Centre (DC)). The objective is twofold: to monitor the performance of different inventory control policies under distinct operative scenarios and to reduce the Internal Logistic Costs (ILCs) by investigating the effect of some critical parameters (i.e., the number of incoming/outgoing trucks from suppliers/to retailers, the number of forklifts and lift trucks, etc.) for increasing the service level provided to final retailers and allocating internal resources efficiently. To this end, a simulation model of a real DC is implemented.

Keywords: inventory control policies; internal logistics management; SCM; supply chain management; supply chain performance; DOE; design of experiments; simulation; service levels; resource allocation; inventory management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSPM.2009.032591

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling, 2009 Vol.5 No.4, pp.278 - 288

Received: 08 Nov 2008
Accepted: 15 Jan 2009
Published online: 08 Apr 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article