IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v291y2021i1p178-193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A redistribution model with minimum backorders of spare parts: A proposal for the defence sector

Author

Listed:
  • García-Benito, Juan Carlos
  • Martín-Peña, María-Luz

Abstract

The operational availability of systems is the main performance measure in maintenance, repair and overhaul organisations focused on fleet maintenance. In these organisations, spare part inventory management is a crucial issue. Two key aspects set contexts such as the defence sector apart. First, shipment times between secondary warehouses are longer than shipment times between the main warehouse and any given secondary warehouse. Second, the cost of the shipment is fixed, so each new delivery incurs no extra cost. To investigate such a scenario, this study examines how best to redistribute stock amongst several secondary warehouses in a two-echelon network. The supply response time for spare parts due to backorders must be minimised to maximise the fleet's operational availability. For each spare part, the goal is to find the optimal allocation to each warehouse to minimise the expected waiting time in repair shops. A stochastic redistribution model is developed. Extensive numerical examples from real cases in Spanish Army are used to demonstrate the model's effectiveness. The results are satisfactory in terms of the number of positive cases, the reduction in waiting days and solution accuracy. The approach is valid in most cases, and it is particularly suitable in situations with non-negligible transport times where the organisation's own vehicles ply regular routes. The model is designed for the defence sector, thereby tackling a real problem, although it is equally applicable to other maintenance, repair and overhaul environments with similar characteristics. The proposed model offers an innovative application to operations research, describing a novel way to solve a real-life problem.

Suggested Citation

  • García-Benito, Juan Carlos & Martín-Peña, María-Luz, 2021. "A redistribution model with minimum backorders of spare parts: A proposal for the defence sector," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(1), pages 178-193.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:291:y:2021:i:1:p:178-193
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2020.09.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221720308006
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.09.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tiacci, Lorenzo & Saetta, Stefano, 2011. "A heuristic for balancing the inventory level of different locations through lateral shipments," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(1), pages 87-95, May.
    2. Lee, Young Hae & Jung, Jung Woo & Jeon, Young Sang, 2007. "An effective lateral transshipment policy to improve service level in the supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 115-126, March.
    3. Uday S. Karmarkar, 1981. "The Multiperiod Multilocation Inventory Problem," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 215-228, April.
    4. Craig C. Sherbrooke, 1968. "Metric: A Multi-Echelon Technique for Recoverable Item Control," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 122-141, February.
    5. Sven Axsäter & Christian Howard & Johan Marklund, 2013. "A distribution inventory model with transshipments from a support warehouse," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 309-322.
    6. Turrini, Laura & Meissner, Joern, 2019. "Spare parts inventory management: New evidence from distribution fitting," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 273(1), pages 118-130.
    7. Hochmuth, Christian A. & Köchel, Peter, 2012. "How to order and transship in multi-location inventory systems: The simulation optimization approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 646-654.
    8. Zijm, W. Henk & Avsar, Zeynep Muge, 2003. "Capacitated two-indenture models for repairable item systems," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 573-588, January.
    9. Agrawal, Vipul & Chao, Xiuli & Seshadri, Sridhar, 2004. "Dynamic balancing of inventory in supply chains," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(2), pages 296-317, December.
    10. de Kok, Ton & Grob, Christopher & Laumanns, Marco & Minner, Stefan & Rambau, Jörg & Schade, Konrad, 2018. "A typology and literature review on stochastic multi-echelon inventory models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(3), pages 955-983.
    11. Dreyfuss, Michael & Giat, Yahel, 2017. "Optimal spares allocation to an exchangeable-item repair system with tolerable wait," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(2), pages 584-594.
    12. Wong, Hartanto & Cattrysse, Dirk & Van Oudheusden, Dirk, 2005. "Stocking decisions for repairable spare parts pooling in a multi-hub system," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 309-317, January.
    13. Meissner, Joern & Senicheva, Olga V., 2018. "Approximate dynamic programming for lateral transshipment problems in multi-location inventory systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(1), pages 49-64.
    14. Alfredsson, Patrik, 1997. "Optimization of multi-echelon repairable item inventory systems with simultaneous location of repair facilities," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 584-595, June.
    15. Tiacci, Lorenzo & Saetta, Stefano, 2011. "Reducing the mean supply delay of spare parts using lateral transshipments policies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 182-191, September.
    16. Stephen C. Graves, 1985. "A Multi-Echelon Inventory Model for a Repairable Item with One-for-One Replenishment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(10), pages 1247-1256, October.
    17. S. G. Allen, 1961. "A Redistribution Model with Set-Up Charge," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(1), pages 99-108, October.
    18. Kennedy, W. J. & Wayne Patterson, J. & Fredendall, Lawrence D., 2002. "An overview of recent literature on spare parts inventories," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 201-215, March.
    19. John E. Boylan & Aris A. Syntetos, 2008. "Forecasting for Inventory Management of Service Parts," Springer Series in Reliability Engineering, in: Complex System Maintenance Handbook, chapter 20, pages 479-506, Springer.
    20. Paterson, Colin & Kiesmüller, Gudrun & Teunter, Ruud & Glazebrook, Kevin, 2011. "Inventory models with lateral transshipments: A review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 210(2), pages 125-136, April.
    21. Dreyfuss, Michael & Giat, Yahel, 2018. "Optimal allocation of spares to maximize the window fill rate in a two-echelon exchangeable-item repair system," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(3), pages 1053-1062.
    22. John A. Muckstadt, 1973. "A Model for a Multi-Item, Multi-Echelon, Multi-Indenture Inventory System," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4-Part-I), pages 472-481, December.
    23. Chandrasekhar Das, 1975. "Supply and Redistribution Rules for Two-Location Inventory Systems: One-Period Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(7), pages 765-776, March.
    24. Tai, Allen H. & Ching, Wai-Ki, 2014. "Optimal inventory policy for a Markovian two-echelon system with returns and lateral transshipment," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 48-55.
    25. Paterson, Colin & Teunter, Ruud & Glazebrook, Kevin, 2012. "Enhanced lateral transshipments in a multi-location inventory system," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(2), pages 317-327.
    26. Pinto, Roberto, 2012. "Stock rationing under service level constraints in a vertically integrated distribution system," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 231-240.
    27. Sleptchenko, A. & van der Heijden, M. C. & van Harten, A., 2002. "Effects of finite repair capacity in multi-echelon, multi-indenture service part supply systems," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 209-230, October.
    28. Ying Rong & Lawrence V. Snyder & Yang Sun, 2010. "Inventory sharing under decentralized preventive transshipments," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(6), pages 540-562, September.
    29. Banerjee, Avijit & Burton, Jonathan & Banerjee, Snehamay, 2003. "A simulation study of lateral shipments in single supplier, multiple buyers supply chain networks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 103-114, January.
    30. Peres, Igor T. & Repolho, Hugo M. & Martinelli, Rafael & Monteiro, Nathália J., 2017. "Optimization in inventory-routing problem with planned transshipment: A case study in the retail industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 748-756.
    31. Hau L. Lee, 1987. "A Multi-Echelon Inventory Model for Repairable Items with Emergency Lateral Transshipments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(10), pages 1302-1316, October.
    32. Wong, Hartanto & Cattrysse, Dirk & Van Oudheusden, Dirk, 2005. "Inventory pooling of repairable spare parts with non-zero lateral transshipment time and delayed lateral transshipments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(1), pages 207-218, August.
    33. H. Jönsson & E. A. Silver, 1987. "Analysis of a Two-Echelon Inventory Control System with Complete Redistribution," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 215-227, February.
    34. Seidscher, Arkadi & Minner, Stefan, 2013. "A Semi-Markov decision problem for proactive and reactive transshipments between multiple warehouses," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 230(1), pages 42-52.
    35. Michael Dreyfuss & Yahel Giat, 2018. "Window Fill Rate in a Two-Echelon Exchangeable-Item Repair-System," Operations Research Proceedings, in: Andreas Fink & Armin Fügenschuh & Martin Josef Geiger (ed.), Operations Research Proceedings 2016, pages 293-299, Springer.
    36. Topan, Engin & Bayındır, Z. Pelin & Tan, Tarkan, 2017. "Heuristics for multi-item two-echelon spare parts inventory control subject to aggregate and individual service measures," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(1), pages 126-138.
    37. Jovan Grahovac & Amiya Chakravarty, 2001. "Sharing and Lateral Transshipment of Inventory in a Supply Chain with Expensive Low-Demand Items," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(4), pages 579-594, April.
    38. Bacchetti, Andrea & Saccani, Nicola, 2012. "Spare parts classification and demand forecasting for stock control: Investigating the gap between research and practice," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 722-737.
    39. Burton, Jonathan & Banerjee, Avijit, 2005. "Cost-parametric analysis of lateral transshipment policies in two-echelon supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 169-178, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paterson, Colin & Kiesmüller, Gudrun & Teunter, Ruud & Glazebrook, Kevin, 2011. "Inventory models with lateral transshipments: A review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 210(2), pages 125-136, April.
    2. de Kok, Ton & Grob, Christopher & Laumanns, Marco & Minner, Stefan & Rambau, Jörg & Schade, Konrad, 2018. "A typology and literature review on stochastic multi-echelon inventory models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(3), pages 955-983.
    3. Meissner, Joern & Senicheva, Olga V., 2018. "Approximate dynamic programming for lateral transshipment problems in multi-location inventory systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(1), pages 49-64.
    4. Naderi, Siamak & Kilic, Kemal & Dasci, Abdullah, 2020. "A deterministic model for the transshipment problem of a fast fashion retailer under capacity constraints," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    5. Fritzsche, R., 2012. "Cost adjustment for single item pooling models using a dynamic failure rate: A calculation for the aircraft industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1065-1079.
    6. Dehghani, Maryam & Abbasi, Babak & Oliveira, Fabricio, 2021. "Proactive transshipment in the blood supply chain: A stochastic programming approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    7. Dijkstra, Arjan S. & Van der Heide, Gerlach & Roodbergen, Kees Jan, 2019. "Transshipments of cross-channel returned products," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 70-77.
    8. Patriarca, Riccardo & Costantino, Francesco & Di Gravio, Giulio & Tronci, Massimo, 2016. "Inventory optimization for a customer airline in a Performance Based Contract," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 206-216.
    9. Dhahri, Akrem & Gharbi, Ali & Ouhimmou, Mustapha, 2022. "Integrated production-transshipment control policy for a two-location unreliable manufacturing system," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    10. Bhatnagar, Rohit & Lin, Bing, 2019. "The joint transshipment and production control policies for multi-location production/inventory systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(3), pages 957-970.
    11. Costantino, Francesco & Di Gravio, Giulio & Patriarca, Riccardo & Petrella, Lea, 2018. "Spare parts management for irregular demand items," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 57-66.
    12. Tiacci, Lorenzo & Saetta, Stefano, 2011. "A heuristic for balancing the inventory level of different locations through lateral shipments," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(1), pages 87-95, May.
    13. Tiacci, Lorenzo & Saetta, Stefano, 2011. "Reducing the mean supply delay of spare parts using lateral transshipments policies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 182-191, September.
    14. Guangyuan Yang & Rommert Dekker, 2010. "Service Parts Inventory Control with Lateral Transshipment that takes Time," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 10-025/4, Tinbergen Institute, revised 10 Mar 2010.
    15. Topan, E. & Eruguz, A.S. & Ma, W. & van der Heijden, M.C. & Dekker, R., 2020. "A review of operational spare parts service logistics in service control towers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 282(2), pages 401-414.
    16. Zhou, Zihan & Wang, Xinhui, 2023. "Replenishment and transshipment in periodic-review systems with a fixed order cost," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(3), pages 1240-1247.
    17. Griffin, Emily C. & Keskin, Burcu B. & Allaway, Arthur W., 2023. "Clustering retail stores for inventory transshipment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 311(2), pages 690-707.
    18. Brandimarte, Paolo & Craparotta, Giuseppe & Marocco, Elena, 2024. "Inventory reallocation in a fashion retail network: A matheuristic approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 317(2), pages 603-615.
    19. Zümbül Atan & Lawrence V. Snyder & George R. Wilson, 2018. "Transshipment policies for systems with multiple retailers and two demand classes," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 40(1), pages 159-186, January.
    20. Moghaddam, Mohsen & Nof, Shimon Y., 2016. "Real-time optimization and control mechanisms for collaborative demand and capacity sharing," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(P4), pages 495-506.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:291:y:2021:i:1:p:178-193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.