A staggered ordering model for push demand case in a supply chain of the confectionery industry: a case study

The primary goal of inventory management is to optimise the flow and distribution of goods among warehouses and retailers so as to maximise the overall benefit across the supply chain. In this paper, a staggered ordering model is considered for a push demand case in a confectionery industry with an increased rate of demand over a time period. Staggered ordering means, the demands of retailers of different regions is scheduled in separate time intervals so that, each region's retailers replenish their inventories only at a particular time. This process makes the aggregation of highest and lowest demands in a particular time period smoothened. This will enable production and distribution departments with an extra flexibility in meeting demands of different regions, thereby optimising the transportation and inventory carrying costs of the whole system. Since the demand is of push type, demand can be scheduled as per the production and transportation capacities, thereby saving extra cost in holding large inventories in the supply chain to meet the customer demand. This model will reduce variability of demand in a particular time period and also minimise the total cost of the entire supply chain for a finite planning horizon.