Are Multi-Echelon Inventory Methods Worth Implementing in Systems with Low-Demand-Rate Items?
通过大型工业库存系统数据，证明针对低需求物品的多层级库存方法相比单点方法能大幅降低库存投资，同时达到相同服务水平。
In practice, most multi-echelon inventory systems are managed using adaptations of single location methods. This paper shows that such methods can be dramatically inferior to methods designed to take advantage of a system's structure. This is especially true in repair parts inventory systems where most items have low demand rates. In this paper we describe a multi-echelon method adapted to a particular situation. Data taken from a large (over $100 million investment) industrial inventory system are used to provide comparative results on overall inventory required to meet a given service level. The multi-echelon method used involves an (s − 1, s) ordering policy and Poisson demand, both of which are appropriate for low demand items; this method requires much lower total investment than the single-location method requires to achieve the same average level of performance. Thus it appears that multi-echelon methods are worthwhile in many situations.