Intelligent inventory management with autonomation and service strategy

Area of Science:

• Operations Research
• Supply Chain Management
• Industrial Engineering

Background:

• Customer service is crucial for maximizing manufacturer profits.
• Service-dependent demand necessitates integrated inventory and service strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an innovative (Q, r) inventory policy combined with automated inspection and service strategies.
• To determine optimal investment in automated inspection and select the best service strategy.
• To analyze the impact of these strategies on profit and customer satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• Development of an integrated inventory (Q, r) policy model.
• Incorporation of automated inspection for product error reduction.
• Analysis of three service models: unpaid, partially paid, and fully paid.
• Numerical and sensitivity analyses to evaluate different strategies and parameters.

Main Results:

• Fully paid service is 84.88% more beneficial than unpaid service.
• Automated inspection policy yields 5.02% benefit over traditional methods.
• Increased unit servicing costs consistently lead to higher company profits.

Conclusions:

• Integrated automated inspection and optimized service strategies are vital for enhancing profitability.
• The choice of service strategy significantly impacts financial outcomes.
• Investment in automated inspection provides a measurable competitive advantage.