The Value of a Warehouse : Whether to have a warehouse or not

물류센터의 경제성 평가를 위한 수리모델 및 고려요소에 관한 제언

Many studies show that the value of the warehouse is good. However, studies explicitly mention the tradeoff between costs of operating the warehouse and benefits from the warehouse. Also, it is important to know when the benefits overcome the costs. We study a one-warehouse/N-retailer(s,Q) distribution system with stochastic lead times in order to answer two questions: "What are the optimal policies of the system that minimizes total system costs\ulcorner" and given the optimal policies, "Is the value of the warehouse always good\ulcorner" We use an analytical model for answering the questions. We find that the optimal policies are different from those with deterministic lead times. In fact it is reverse. We alse find the existence of the breakeven point beyond which the benefits starts overcomming the costs. And, we show that one of the breakeven points is the mean ratio of a supplier's lead time to transportation lead time between the warehouse and the retailer. Finally, we show that the breakeven point is sensitive to the ratio of holding costs of the warehouse and the retailer and it is also sensitive to the unit backorder costs at the retailer.sts at the retailer.