Abstract
Inventory management remains a key challenge in supply chain management. Many companies recognize the benefits of a good inventory management system. An effective inventory management helps reaching a high customer service level while dealing with demand variability. In a complex supply chain network where inventories are found across the entire system as raw materials or finished products, the need for an integrated approach for managing inventory had become crucial. Modelling the system as a multi-echelon inventory system allows to consider all the factors related to inventory optimization. On the other hand, the high criticality of the pharmaceutical products makes the need for a sophisticated supply chain inventory management essential. The implementation of the multi-echelon inventory management in such supply chains helps keeping the stock of pharmaceutical products available at the different installations. This paper provides an insight into the multi-echelon inventory management problem, especially in the pharmaceutical supply chain. A classification of several multi-echelon inventory systems according to a set of criteria is provided. A synthesis of multiple multi-echelon pharmaceutical supply chain problems is elaborated.
Highlights
Controlling the material flow from suppliers of raw material to final customers has always been a critical problem
Innovation leaders focused on effective inventory management as an essential part of supply chain management
The high responsibility of the multi-echelon pharmaceutical supply chain to ensure the delivery of medicine in the right conditions makes the inventory management of this system more complex [5]
Summary
Controlling the material flow from suppliers of raw material to final customers has always been a critical problem. Innovation leaders focused on effective inventory management as an essential part of supply chain management. It leads to enable shorter lead times to customers, makes working capital available for sustained profitability and helps dealing with demand variability. The high responsibility of the multi-echelon pharmaceutical supply chain to ensure the delivery of medicine in the right conditions makes the inventory management of this system more complex [5]. We consider the multiechelon inventory management in the pharmaceutical supply chain.
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