Читать книгу Intermittent Demand Forecasting - John E. Boylan - Страница 39

There is great scope for advancing the inventory control practices for intermittent demand items. We treat intermittent demand as independent and do not expand further on MRP because the principal forecasting task relates to independent demand items. Dependent demand items present challenges relating to the planning of manufacturing but do not require a forecasting system if orders are known in advance and the items can be obtained within the requisite time frame.

In Section 2.3, we address a fundamental problem in this area, which is whether to stock an item or not. Given a positive stocking decision, follow‐up decisions relate to determining how much to stock and when to replenish. These decisions depend on the stock rules that are in use, and we continue with an overview of appropriate inventory control rules for intermittent demand items. We conclude that, in general, the periodic order‐up‐to (OUT) level policy is appropriate for managing intermittent demand inventories. In the next chapter, we distinguish between systems that are driven by service and cost considerations. In Chapters 4 and 5, we determine what needs to be forecasted to allow inventory decisions to be made.