Considers the dynamical effect of lateral emergency transhipments within a supply chain. It tests various different strategies for improving customer service via the MIT Beer Game. Four distinct strategies are considered. “Electronic point of sales (EPOS)”, where marketplace information is...

The Law of Industrial Dynamics ensures that if a production control system can amplify then it will surely find a way of doing so despite the best efforts of production schedulers to take corrective action. In fact, practical studies show that such human intervention frequently aggravates the...

Compares the bullwhip properties of a vendor managed inventory (VMI) supply chain with those of a traditional “serially‐linked” supply chain. The emphasis of this investigation is the comparative impact the two structures have on the “bullwhip effect” generated. Particular attention is...