Carton Box Optimization Problem of VMI-based Apparel Supply Chain

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) strategy has been adopted by apparel supply chain recently. In the apparel industry, finished products are usually manufactured, packed and shipped in bulk to retailers and packing is carried out using carton boxes with various standardized dimensions. VMI-based supply chain cannot allow ordering boxes from carton suppliers after receiving an order of apparel retailers. Each order is different in style with small quantities. The time needed for make-to-order boxes would deteriorate the responsiveness of supply chain which in turn influences the ultimate customer service level. In this paper, this carton box design problem is investigated, in which carton boxes are designed for packing products of various sizes using genetic algorithms so that the overall packing and distribution costs are minimized