Multi-Echelon vs. Single-Echelon Inventory Control Policies for Low-Demand Items
利用实际需求数据，比较了低需求高成本物品在单级与多级库存控制策略下的绩效，发现单级策略参数设置适当时，次优性损失仅为3%至5%。
Multi-echelon inventory systems are often controlled as a network of single-echelon inventory systems for simplicity of managerial authority, organizational control, and performance monitoring. This paper explores the amount of suboptimization in such a situation, using an actual demand data set provided by other researchers. We consider low-demand, high-cost items controlled on an (S − 1, S) basis, with all warehouse stockouts met on an emergency-ordering basis. We demonstrate that the suboptimality penalty for this data set is 3% to 5% when single-echelon systems are appropriately parameterized.