Integration of inventory and transportation decisions in decentralised supply chains

In decentralised supply chains, lack of visibility, long delivery delays and complex transportation networks make it difficult to integrate inventory control with other logistics activities. However, because of the impact of stock turnover on just-in-time operations, inventory control has to be considered in the global optimisation of the supply chain. In the literature, transportation and inventory control decisions are seldom modelled together, because minimising transportation costs and increasing inventory turns are two contradictory objectives. This paper addresses this global optimisation problem. It presents a Decision Support System (DSS) that estimates logistics activities in a decentralised supply chain by integrating inventory control and transportation operations. Delivery frequencies and phases are the decision variables used to study the behaviour of the logistics system.