Determining inventory service support levels in multi-national companies.

Taylor, G Don; Love, Doug M; Weaver, Miles W; Stone, James

Abstract

Multi-national manufacturing companies are often faced with very difficult decisions regarding where and how to cost effectively manufacture products in a global setting. Clearly, theymust utilize efficient and responsive manufacturing strategies to reach low cost solutions, but they must also consider the impact of manufacturing and transportation solutions upon their ability to support sales. One important sales consideration is determining how much work in process, in-transit stock, and finished goods to have on hand to support sales at a desired service level. This paper addresses this important consideration through a comprehensive scenario-based simulation approach, including sensitivity analysis on key study parameters. Results indicate that the inventory needs vary considerably for differentmanufacturing and deliverymethods in ways that may not be obvious when using common evaluative tools.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 14, 2008
• Online Publication Date: Jul 26, 2008
• Publication Date: 2008-11
• Deposit Date: Jul 31, 2012
• Journal: International Journal of Production Economics
• Print ISSN: 0925-5273
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 116
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-11
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2008.05.020
• Keywords: Service level; Product sourcing; Global manufacturing
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/5573
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2008.05.020