Supply Chain Operations Research Insights | PerformanSC

Operations Research: A Supply Chain Perspective In this final introduction to OR in the supply chain, we discuss facility location choices, and the common techniques that are used to geographically position plants and DCs, in order to provide demanded services.  These methods are essential to the optimal design of network structures.  They are widely applied, […]

Operations Research: A Supply Chain Perspective Part 2 Last month, we introduced operations research (OR) and discussed how its methodology is applied to assist us in finding feasible or optimal solutions to supply chain problems.  The role of the OR model continues to pervade supply chain operations, and this has stimulated a wealth of decision […]

Operations Research: a supply chain perspective Background Operations Research (OR) deals with the efficient allocation of scarce resources and is regarded as the discipline that applies advanced analytical methods to help improve decision making.  It originated the 1930s by military scientists who developed many analyses that were crucial to the war effort.  Following the war, […]

Seasonality and Inventory Management Demand seasonality is generally associated with a boost in sales that occur at specific times of the year, e.g. Black Friday and Back-to-School (BTS).  These cyclic patterns play an important role in supply chain management, and can make it challenging for businesses to accurately plan inventory levels.  The degree of seasonality […]

Impact of order pick policies on warehouse efficiency Across all warehouse activities, order picking is one of the most labour intensive and costly.   Within this, industry estimates show that travel occupies 55% of the order picking time, while searching consumes up to 15%. The balance, 30%, relates largely to item extraction and other activities. Aside […]

Inventory optimisation – how much inventory should I hold? Inventory provides a necessary buffer in the supply chain to meet the expected demand for product, during the expected lead time to replenish. This is true at a raw material, component, and finished goods levels. The inventory held has a critical impact on customer service, warehouse […]

Warehouse design – capacity, layout, throughput and efficiency For many companies, calendar Q4 represents the peak season focus on physical inventory and warehouse activity.  The challenges in 2020 are exacerbated, not only by changes in business profiles, which is associated with increased eCommerce volumes, but also the need to ensure social distancing within operations. While […]