Article ID: | iaor1990419 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 41 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 1 |
End Page Number: | 7 |
Publication Date: | Mar 1990 |
Journal: | Journal of the Operational Research Society |
Authors: | Chen Miao-Sheng, Lin Chin-Tsai. |
This paper deals with a single-period, single-product inventory model. It is a multilocation problem with an opportunity for centralization. In the centralized system, the location’s demands are satisfied from one central warehouse whose orders are processed on a first come, first served basis. The inventory size will be constrained to meet a specific maximum probability of being out of stock at each location. Under these assumptions, Stulman argues that a centralized system requires a lower total starting inventory than the equivalent decentralized one. The authors shall present a counter example showing that, under conditions where an 86% probability of stockouts is the maximum acceptable, a higher total starting inventory may be required by centralizing two locations’ stock-holdings.