Research on multi-echelon inventory optimization for fresh products in supply chains

Abstract

Fresh products are perishable and fragile, which easily leads to higher inventory costs and requires reasonable planning of inventory management. Therefore, it is very important for fresh product supply chain systems to have multi-echelon inventory control. However, in past studies, few control models of the multi-echelon inventory considered the deterioration rate of perishable products as the variable factor. In this paper, on the basis of considering the perishable characteristics of fresh products, combining the deterioration rate with the inventory control model, a multi-echelon inventory control model for fresh products is designed and optimized, and the optimal solution from the whole supply chain is obtained through the optimal fitness function by genetic algorithm. Finally, Flexsim is used to simulate the two inventory strategies before and after optimization. After simulation comparison and analysis, it is verified that the optimized inventory control strategy has lower costs. The research results can help supply chain managers of fresh products to make inventory management decisions and save costs, which is of practical significance.