Effectiveness of stock transshipment under various demand distributions and nonnegligible transshipment times

This paper investigates the operational characteristics of a pooling group consisting of two stocking locations, supplied periodically by a central warehouse. The two locations may collaborate by moving inventory between them. The lateral transshipment times are shorter than the regular replenishment lead times, but they are not negligible. Several alternative types of ordering and transshipment policies are examined. Extensive experimentation by simulation leads to the conclusion that the benefits of risk pooling are substantial only when demand is highly variable. Moreover, the type and variability of the demand distributions are key determinants of the appropriate transshipment policy and pooling groups design.