The importance of fuzzy logic integrated to inventory management: case study in a company x in the industrial district of manaus

Abstract

Inventory management is a practice of fundamental importance for the success of companies in the most varied segments. Companies that operate with low levels of profitability depend on efficient inventory management, under penalty of losing competitiveness. Efficient inventory maintenance is not characterized by the existence of large batches of products for prompt customer service or, on the contrary, by the lack of inventories in an attempt to minimize maintenance costs. Inventories must be managed in a balanced way to ensure an adequate level of service to customers and generate profits. This work aimed to develop a Fuzzy model for stock management of an organization, to reduce the lack of material in stock, resulting from the "lead time". The work is justified by the importance of having a management monitoring the control of inventory costs, which includes the expenses resulting from the lack of items, the costs related to the replacement of the stock, and the expenses of a stopped stock. To accomplish this, it was necessary to map the Material Purchasing Process and thus identify which were the most significant variables in inventory management. The use of Fuzzy Logic, idealized for a model like this, is to reach an inventory level close to zero, immediately before physical replacement, thus minimizing unnecessary costs. Therefore, experimental research aims to manipulate and control the research variables. The application of the developed model shows that the evaluation of Inventory Management through the Need for Replacement of Input and Type of Transport to be used through the fuzzy methodology proved to be viable to assist the desired observations, allowing to understand the impact of each linguistic variable in the research result, pointing out how company X can use the information obtained to improve the structure of its Logistics Process, thus reducing the lack of material in stock due to the lead time.