Just-in-Time purchasing: Single or multiple sourcing?

The authors consider two Just-In-Time purchasing models, one utilizing a few sources, and the other using the more conventional single source. They address the issue of splitting a large order quantity into multiple deliveries, taking account of the increase in the aggregate ordering, transportation, and inspection costs. For multiple sourcing, the authors formulate and solve a mathematical programming problem to obtain the optimal selection of suppliers and the size of the split orders. For single sourcing, they provide a procedure that yields the optimal number of deliveries.