Evaluation of the Influence of Combined Supply/Demand Uncertainties in Materials Management

Surendra M. Gupta, Northeastern University
Louis Brennan, Northeastern University

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Originally published in the Proceedings of the 1992 Northeast Decision Sciences Conference, pp. 340-342, 1992

Abstract

Material requirements planning (MRP) systems continue to serve as the focus of materials of most companies management process. Computer simulation is a tool that is widely used to analyze the performance of such systems. This paper considers the impact of the presence of both supply and demand uncertainties on the performance of MRP systems. The work reported here is based on a simulation study involving a variety of supply and demand conditions. The study establishes the significance of product structure shape and variant, lot sizing rule, cost ratio and the uncertainty factors.