18 January 2013

Call for papers: "Multi-Echelon Inventory Modelling"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Inventory Research.

Multi-echelon inventory systems consist of two or more echelons where locations at upper echelons act as suppliers to locations at lower echelons. Multi-echelon inventory systems form the backbone of retail supply chains, military weapon system resupply networks and spare part logistics systems.

Research on multi-echelon inventory systems has been an active area for decades and continues to mo-tivate innovative applications of operations research techniques. This special issue is interested in all aspects of multi-echelon inventory modelling: stochastic performance modelling, simulation, optimisation, heuristics, etc.

A key theme of the special issue is new methods for handling the computational issues related to the simulation and optimisation of large-scale multi-echelon inventory networks. In addition, methods for ap-proximating demand during lead time models and other stochastic processes within these systems are of interest.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
  • Demand modelling and forecasting methods within multi-echelon systems
  • Stochastic multi-echelon inventory network modelling
  • Approximations and bounds for performance modelling in multi-echelon inventory systems
  • Simulation methods for large-scale multi-echelon inventory networks
  • Optimisation methods for multi-echelon inventory networks
  • Innovative methods for handling large-scale multi-echelon systems such as grouping meth-ods, clustering, etc.
  • Comprehensive literature reviews of multi-echelon inventory system research
In summary, any paper involving one or more inventory issues is invited if it has as a focus on method-ologies or applications that appear within the management of multi-echelon logistics systems.

Important Dates
Submission deadline: 31 July, 2013

No comments: