Responding to Shipment Delays: The Roles of Operational Flexibility & Lead‐Time Visibility
研究了企业应对运输延迟的多种策略，从运营灵活性和交货期可见性两个维度分析，发现两者结合使用能最大化效益，为库存管理者提供决策参考。
ABSTRACT We consider inventory management of a firm that orders periodically from a distantly located supplier and faces random delays in shipment. We analyze various response strategies that the firm may employ to mitigate the risk of demand–supply mismatch resulting from shipment delays. We categorize these strategies along two dimensions: operational flexibility , defined by the flexible resource employed; and lead‐time visibility , defined by the availability of information on shipment delays. For each of the response strategies, we provide analytical characterization of the optimal inventory policy. By comparing the optimal policies across response strategies, we offer insights into the effect of operational flexibility and lead‐time visibility on firm's inventory performance. Using an extensive set of numerically solved examples, we provide cost comparison across these strategies—we show that while the operational flexibility mitigates the adverse effect of long lead‐times, the lead‐time visibility provides protection from lead‐time uncertainty. Further, operational flexibility and lead‐time visibility enhance each other's values, hence must be employed together to gain their full benefits.