The literature on inventory control discusses many methods to establish the level of decision parameters -like reorder levels or safety factors-, necessary to attain a prescribed service level. In general, however, these methods are not easy applicable: they often use time-consuming iterations,...

Inventory models need information about the demand distribution. In practice, this information is not known with certainty and has to be estimated with often relatively few historical demand observations. Using these estimates leads to underperformance. This paper focuses on gamma distributed...

To model demand, the normal distribution is by far the most popular; the disadvantage that it takes negative values is taken for granted.This paper proposes two modi.cations of the normal distribution, both taking non-negative values only.Safety factors and order-up-to-levels for the familiar...

For the familiar (R; s; S) inventory control system only approximate expressions exist for the fill rate, i.e. the fraction of demand that can be satisfied from stock.Best-known are the approximations derived from renewal theory by Tijms & Groenevelt (1984), holding under specific conditions; in...

Inventory models need some specification of the distribution of demand in order to find the optimal order-up-to level or reorder point.This distribution is unknown in real life and there are several solutions to overcome this problem.One approach is to assume a distribution, estimate its...

Most organizations can manage reverse logistics operations strategically but very few of them have successfully streamlined material flow of the return process and information due to lack of integration within the overall process. This research aims at analysing complete reverse logistics...

In this paper we discuss a real-life case study in the optimization of the logistics network for the collection of containers from end-of-life vehicle dismantlers in the Netherlands.Advanced planning concepts like dynamic assignment of dismantlers to logistic service providers are analyzed by a...

This research involves the combination of spare parts management and reverse logistics. At the end of the product life cycle, products in the field (so called installed base) can usually be serviced by either new parts, obtained from a Last Time Buy, or by repaired failed parts. This paper,...