Optimizing Safety Stocks in a Two-Echelon Assembly System: Normal Approximation Models

Bram Desmet (1, 2) , El-Houssaine Aghezzaf (3) , Hendrik Vanmaele (1, 2)

1 Department of Industrial Management
2 MÖBIUS Business Redesign
3 Industrial Management

This paper tackles the problem of optimizing safety stocks in a two-echelon assembly system. It presents and discusses several approximation models for the assembly lead-time under the assumption of normality of the assembly demand and normality of components' nominal lead times. These approximation models are subsequently used to optimize safety stocks throughout a two-echelon assembly system. They are then tested on a particular two-echelon N-identical component assembly system. The results of these approximations are compared with the results of a discrete event simulation. Finally, it is shown that lead-times and safety stock results already obtained for a two-echelon distribution system can also be derived without a major difficulty from those of two-echelon assembly systems.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Bram Desmet, El-Houssaine Aghezzaf, Hendrik Vanmaele. Optimizing Safety Stocks in a Two-Echelon Assembly System: Normal Approximation Models. International Journal of Production Research, 2009, 48 (19), pp.5763-5777. ⟨10.1080/00207540903164636⟩. ⟨hal-00517596⟩