Authors
Nicola Saccani, Filippo Visintin, Renata Mansini, Marco Colombi
Publication date
2017/4/1
Journal
IMA Journal of Management Mathematics
Volume
28
Issue
2
Pages
185-204
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Description
The Repair Kit Problem is about determining the stock of service parts carried by field service engineers for on-site product support. Models that optimize cost or service performances have appeared in the literature, but two important managerial decisions have not received enough attention. They are the maximum amount of stock to be carried (referred to as inventory budget) and how often the repair kit should be restocked (replenishment frequency). In this article, we propose a solution method based on the sequential use of optimization and simulation that addresses these issues. The application study was inspired by a real case of an equipment provider and tested on real data. We assess the impact on the overall cost of combinations of inventory budget and replenishment frequency values. Our proposed method aims to improve the managerial understanding of how these decisions interact and to bridge a …
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