Changing Paradigm for Inventory Management in a Supply Chain Context

The aim of the study was to identify the main issues and key areas typical for decisions taken in supply chains, demonstrating a new approach to inventory management as a process of value added creation. The problems discussed by the authors have been identified as several key areas requiring a more profound analysis in order to understand the modern approach to inventory management in supply chains and distribution networks. The range of analysed problems is really wide: from the inventory strategy of postponement and speculation in modern supply chains, through forecasting and planning as the direct tools of realization of the strategic decision concerning the location of Material Decoupling Point, to the issues of trade-offs between lean and agile operations in supply chains, supporting different patterns of inventory efficiency. Finally, a large part of the study has been dealing with new modern concepts of supply chain management, resulting from the growing complexity of business processes and their increased discontinuity.

INTRODUCTION 9 Chapter I. INVENTORY STRATEGY OF POSTPONEMENT AND SPECULATION IN MODERN SUPPLY CHAINS 11 1. The concept and types of postponement and speculation strategies in supply chains 11 2. The impact of inventory strategy of postponement and speculation on supply chain performance in the retail sector 17 2.1. The concept of logistics postponement in a traditional retail supply chain 17 2.2. The application of inventory strategy of logistics postponement in the retail supply chain of Wal-Mart 19 2.3. The results of application of logistics postponement strategy and its future implications in retail supply chains 23 3. Selected aspects of research into determinants of postponement and speculation strategies – empirical results obtained from companies operating in Polish supply chains 26 3.1. Determinants of postponement and speculation strategies within supply chains 26 3.2. The location of central inventory as a classification criterion of companies 28 3.3. The analysis of product-market determinants of postponement and speculation strategies in Polish manufacturing companies 32 3.4. The results of the empirical studies on determinants of postponement and speculation strategies in companies operating in Polish supply chains 39 4. Practical implementation of inventory strategy of postponement and speculation in contemporary supply chains – some operational issues 41 Chapter II. DEMAND PLANNING PROCESS 45 1. Basic definitions concerning demand planning process 45 2. Demand management 47 3. Demand planning process 51 4. Demand forecasting requirements in a company 57 5. Demand planning in a service company 59 5.1. Demand planning of existing products 63 5.2. Demand planning of new products 69 5.3. Replanning process 72 6. Conclusions 77 Chapter III. LEAN LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDERS: OPTION OR UTOPIA? EXPERIENCES FROM THE NETHERLANDS 78 1. Introduction 78 2. Logistics service providers 79 2.1. The role of logistics service providers 79 2.2. The relationships between shippers and logistics service providers 80 2.3. The primary processes of logistics service providers 82 3. Lean Management 85 3.1. Principles 86 3.2. Lean Bundles 87 4. Lean Logistics Service providers 89 4.1. Differences between LSPs and manufacturing 89 4.2. LSPs create value 91 4.3. Waste in LSP processes 92 4.4. LSPs can improve continuously 95 5. Discussion 95 Chapter IV. SUPPLY CHAIN AS A VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION: DREAM OR REALITY? 98 1. Relationships in a supply chain 98 2. Most important aspects of virtual organization 103 2.1. Virtual organization: what does it really mean? 103 2.2. Discontinuity as the main feature of virtual supply chains 103 3. Are average companies prepared to function within the frameworks of virtual supply chains? 105 3.1. Approach and methodology 105 3.2. Interconnectivity of the surveyed companies 106 3.3. Potential of logistics service providers 109 3.4. Logistics potential of firms for their operations in virtual supply chains 110 4. Virtual logistics as a model concept of resource support for virtual supply chains 111 5. Behavioural aspects of virtual supply chains 115 5.1. Application of structuration theory 115 5.2. Human resources in logistics and supply chains 118 5.3. Changes of manager competencies and employment patterns in constantly virtualizing supply chains 119 5.3.1. Methodology 119 5.3.2. Human resource aspects 120 6. Conclusions 124 Chapter V. THE EVALUATION OF VIRTUAL ACTIVITIES IN A SUPPLY CHAIN 127 1. Introduction 127 2. Some improvement of Grubbström's MRP model 128 3. The impact of virtual enterprises on changes of NPV 132 4. Conclusions 135 Chapter VI. THE EVOLUTION OF MRP THEORY WHICH COULD ALSO SUPPORT VIRTUAL SUPPLY CHAIN 136 1. Introduction to the problem of Virtual Enterprise and Virtual Supply Chain 136 2. The Linköping and Ljubljana early writings related to the topics of MRP and I/O Analysis 139 3. The basic approach to MRP theory and the directions of research after Storlien conference 143 4. The directions of further research and recommendations 150 Chapter VII. THE REVERSE LOGISTICS INCLUDING VIRTUAL ACTIVITIES 154 1. Introduction 154 2. Presentation of the extended model 158 2.1. General characterization of the input matrix 159 2.2. General characterization of the output matrix 161 2.3. General characterization of the net production 164 3. Numerical example 165 4. NPV of recycling activities 170 5. Conclusion 172 REFERENCES 175 AUTHORS’ AFFILIATION 195