Comparison of push and pull control strategies for supply network management in a make-to-stock environment

The performance differences of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ strategies for operational planning and control of a make-to-stock supply network under different environmental conditions (forecast error and initial levels of inventory) were explored. Results suggest that control strategy, forecast error and levels of inventory buffer all significantly affect each of the performance measures studied. Under all combinations of different conditions of inventory buffer level and forecast error, push outperforms pull in terms of customer service level and throughput, while pull outperforms push in terms of total inventory. In terms of throughput and customer service level, push is more sensitive to forecast error but less sensitive to levels of inventory buffer than pull.