Multi-criteria ABC inventory classification with mixed quantitative and qualitative criteria

Large firms usually employ the well-known ABC inventory classification technique to have an efficient control on a huge amount of inventory items. While the traditional inventory classification method only considers one criterion, namely the annual dollar usage to classify inventory items, the recent literature shows a focus on multi-criteria inventory classification (MCIC) techniques. Surprisingly, among several methods that have been developed for the MCIC problem, there are just a few, which clearly account for qualitative criteria, while most of the affecting criteria are of qualitative type in nature. This paper presents a modified linear optimisation method that enables inventory managers to classify a number of inventory items in the presence of both qualitative and quantitative criteria without any subjectivity. Furthermore, an efficient procedure is proposed to maximise the minimum importance attached to various criteria leading to improvement of discriminating power among inventory items. For validating the proposed method, it is applied on a case study taken from the literature and a comparative study with the existing competent methods is also provided.     

On measuring company performance within a supply chain

Emerging research strengthens the connection between supply chain performance and a company's financial performance (D’Avanzo, R., Von Lewinski, H. and Van Wassenhove, L. N., 2003. The link between supply chain and financial performance. Supply Chain Management Review, November/December, 40–47). The focus on integrating functional internal processes has expanded to include the need for integrating these with external processes of business partners (Edwards, P., Peters, M. and Sharman, G., 2001. The effectiveness of information systems in supporting the extended supply chain. Journal of Business Logistics, 22(1), 1–27). This need for enterprise efficiency is compelling companies to review, to identify, and to adopt supply chain initiatives. This research investigates the use of common measurement metrics in an attempt to determine which one(s) are most useful for measuring performance as companies implement SCM practices. For firms that were engaged in SCM we found inventory and cycle time to be the most significant metrics.     

FAHP 在包装材料库存分类管理中的应用

目的解决在包装企业的生产库存管理中,由于包装材料的价格差异不大,ABC分类库存控制法不能很好地进行分类管理,使用层次分析法分类则不够客观,而且其矩阵一致性检验过于繁琐的问题。方法采用模糊层次综合评价法(FAHP)对包装材料进行分类,并与目前使用的方法分类结果进行对比。结果模糊层次综合评价法可以更加客观系统地对包装材料库存进行分类。结论模糊层次综合评价法比ABC分类法和层次分析法更加科学有效。     

Inventory performance of some supply chain inventory policies under impulse demands

This paper attempts to study the impact of impulsive demand disturbances on the inventory-based performance of some inventory control policies. The supply chain is modelled as a network of autonomous supply chain nodes. The customer places a constant demand except for a brief period of sudden and steep change in demand (called demand impulse). Under this setting, the behaviour of each inventory policy is analysed for inventory performance of each node. It is found that the independent decision-making by each node leads to a bullwhip effect in the supply chain whereby demand information is amplified and distorted. However, under a scenario where the retailer places a constant order irrespective of the end customer demand, the inventory variance was actually found to decrease along the supply chain. The variance of the inventory remained constant along the chain when only the actual demands are transmitted by each node. The results also showed that the inventory policy which is best for one supply chain node is generally less efficient from a supply chain perspective. Moreover, the policy which performs poorly for one node can be most efficient for the supply chain. In a way, our results also provide a case for coordinated inventory management in the supply chain where all members prepare a joint inventory management policy that is beneficial for all the supply chain nodes. The results have significant industrial implications.     

维修备件基于AHP的ABC分类模型

针对ABC分类在设备维修备件管理中不足以区分重点备件的缺陷,将层次分析法与ABC分类相结合应用于设备维修备件的分类。将维修备件的易得性、关键性和经济性作为分类准则,通过ABC分类来求解备件对分类准则的权重,然后运用层次分析法计算备件的组合权重,再根据组合权重对备件进行ABC分类。该方法用于设备维修备件的分类可以快速有效地找出重点备件．提高备件管理工作的针对性和有效性。     

包装企业库存优化管理模型分析

就包装企业库存管理信息系统的特点、实行库存优化控制管理的必要性、库存控制数学模型、ＡＢＣ库存分类控制法及库存管理功能模块的作了一些探讨。     

物流能力要素与供应链绩效关系实证研究

针对中国企业进行了问卷调查,根据产品需求的特点,将问卷样本分为两类,第一类行业产品的市场需求变化快;第二类行业产品的市场需求稳定.用统计学的因子分析和回归分析方法,针对两类行业分别分析了物流能力要素和供应链绩效之间的关系,得出了以下结论:信息能力和售前售后服务能力对第一类行业影响显著,客户服务能力和匹配能力对第二类行业影响显著,配送能力对两类行业的影响都很显著.     

The inverse hockey stick effect: an empirical investigation of the fiscal calendar’s impact on firm inventories

We empirically investigate how manufacturers’ inventory decisions relate to the fiscal calendar. Although optimal firm inventories should depend on demand and supply, we find that the artificial accounting construct of the fiscal year frequently drives inventory dynamics. In an effort to manage earnings and cash flows (CFs) towards the fiscal year-end (FYE), firms significantly reduce their inventories in the fourth fiscal quarter only to increase their inventories in the next fiscal year. Using a sample of 4877 US manufacturing firms for the period 1990–2010, we find that inventories are 3.9–6.0% lower on average in the fourth fiscal quarter. In the analysis, we control for inventory theory-related factors that have been identified in prior literature. Because this pattern is the inverse of that observed for sales, we refer to this phenomenon as the inverse hockey stick effect. The effect holds for all three individual inventory types: raw materials, work in progress and finished goods. We find that inventory reductions in the fourth fiscal quarter are particularly substantial if firms have an incentive to beat CF targets. In contrast to our expectations, we do not find evidence that financial distress links to inventory reductions at the FYE.     

绩效评估过程中组织公平感结构的实证研究

采用自编问卷调查了296名在职员工,探讨了绩效评估过程中组织公平感结构。研究结果：①探索性因素分析揭示组织公平感由分配公平感、程序公平感、互动公平感和信息公平感构成。②验证性因素分析显示四维度模型的拟合度指标较理想。     

What happened to inventory and cost after a vertical integration? A longitudinal analysis considering demand uncertainty

This study provides empirical analyses on the changes in inventory and cost of goods sold (COGS) after vertical integration. Theoretical studies suggest contradictory influences of vertical integration on operations due to operational conflicts and coordination improvement: (1) operational conflicts that raise inventory level and COGS and (2) coordination improvement that lowers inventory level and cost. Hence, the changes in inventory and COGS associated with vertical integration become an empirical question. This study applied Econometrics models to analyse proprietary data associated with a vertical integration. The results suggest non-monotonic patterns of changes in inventory level and cost of goods sold. Specifically, when various fixed effects are controlled, inventory and COGS increase first then decrease after vertical integration. Furthermore, increases are amplified while decreases are weakened by higher demand uncertainty. These findings provide managers with a comprehensive understanding of the operational consequences of vertical integration decisions and some implications to managing the benefits associated with vertical integration.     

基于供应链的企业库存成因及优化控制研究（二）

基于企业全面库存的管理思想,对库存成本、库存控制、库存系统优化等管理经验与前人研究成果进行分析,借鉴先进企业的库存管理理念和方法,以大型制造企业为核心研究对象,在集供应商、制造商、经销商为一体的供应链作为研究框架的基础上,运用供应链系统理论作为研究方法,分析了库存管理现状、影响因素及产生原因,从优化生产管理、整合企业内部供应链和跨企业供应链的角度提出了库存控制的相应对策,以实现全面库存优化,提高经营效益.     

辐射吊顶换热性能的实验研究

对两种不同形式的辐射吊顶板的换热性能进行了实验研究。测试结果表明,并联毛细管型辐射吊顶换热性能优于串联盘管型辐射吊顶,在供回水平均温度与室温之差为8℃时,毛细管型辐射吊顶供冷量为64.4W/m2,盘管型为55.0W/m2。对于同一辐射吊顶板,在同样的供回水平均温度与室温差下,供冷量与供热量相差不大于10%,因此从供冷量可以初略推算出供热量。所测试的两种辐射吊顶板的供热量、供冷量与供回水温度和室内温度之差接近线性关系,因此可以推算辐射吊顶在不同供回水温度下的换热量。另外,毛细管型辐射吊顶比串联盘管型辐射吊顶板的流动阻力小。     

Empowering Kanban through TPS-principles – an empirical analysis of the Toyota Production System

The purpose of this paper is the empirical investigation of the Toyota Production System in order to test existing relationships as they are proposed in theory. The underlying model consists of seven factors reflecting the key practices of the Toyota Production System. Using data from 188 manufacturing plants participating in the High Performance Manufacturing research project, the model's measurement characteristics were validated through confirmatory factor analysis. Path analysis of the model showed that the majority of the relationships can be confirmed. Furthermore, a comparison of mean analysis based on a conducted cluster analysis indicates that plants with a higher implementation degree of the practices of the Toyota Production System also show a higher perceived performance in terms of the key criteria of production, i.e. time, cost, quality, and flexibility.     

我国控制权转移并购中目标公司绩效的实证研究

以我国1993～2003年上市公司控制权转移并购为样本,研究了目标公司在并购前后的股价反应和财务业绩变化.结果表明,公司股票在并购首次公告日前后各1个月内获得显著为正的累积反常收益,但股东因并购增加的财富很可能随时间推移而消散.财务业绩方面,目标公司资产管理效率并未在并购后得到多大改善,盈利能力的大幅提升也以成长性的降低为代价,反映了部分收购者在获取上市公司控制权后行为的短期性.研究还指出,在我国应防止控制权过多转让对上市公司质量的损害.     

Analyzing the effect of inventory policies on the nonstationary performance with transfer functions

In this paper we apply transfer function methods to analyze the performance of supply chains in response to nonstationary demand and, in particular, we investigate how various inventory policies and demand forecasting parameters affect supply chain responsiveness. In a single-echelon inventory system we investigate the performance of a common base stock policy. Specifically, we describe the order and inventory trajectories using discrete transfer functions, and we derive closed-form analytical expressions for the transient behavior in response to a step change in demand. We introduce performance measures commonly used to analyze nonstationary performance and derive closed-form expressions for these measures. Next, we study the performance of a two-echelon supply chain under installation stock and echelon stock policies. We explicate the performance tradeoff in response to stationary versus nonstationary demand, and show that the transient response of orders and inventory levels can be either underdamped or overdamped depending on the exponential smoothing parameter. We show that the echelon stock policy is more responsive than the installation stock policy when both policies have similar stationary performances.     

市场调查人员个性特征与调查效果研究

以135名杭州市市场调查人员为被试,使用艾森克人格问卷(EPQ)测定人格维度,以项目完成率、完成质量2个客观指标与责任心、热情2个主观指标为评价标准,综合论述了市场调查人员个性特征与调查效果的关系。结果发现:市场调查人员个性特征与调查效果之间有一定关系,其中精神质是影响调查效果的重要因素。低精神质,外倾,且神经质得分较高和较低者调查效果好。     

作业成本制下的成本函数结构

介绍企业生产系统的决策对象和相关成本信息的特性，给出在作业成本制下的成本函数表达式，并在此基础上分析作业成本法的应用条件。