How to manage inventory is becoming an increasingly crucial issue for most manufacturing companies. R&D, the pseudonymous case study considered here, is a foreign direct investment (FDI) company engaged in producing electronic components. As the prices of raw materials and operation costs increased, R&D was challenged to maintain a smooth relationship among several factors: level of inventory, customer satisfaction and production efficiency. This paper first discusses the key factors that affect R&D’s inventory level. It then combines recent supply chain management theories and quantitative data into a framework for identifying how R&D might determine optimal ordering policies and strategies to reduce overall costs, while at the same time satisfying customers in terms of service.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.