Logistics control in a supply system — Model and analysis

Logistics activities of medium and large enterprises are faced with complex supply structures nowadays. For an industrial case study we examined the impacts of centralizing logistics control. The first matter of interest was the coordination of material transportation from the suppliers to the enterprise which was then extended by installing a central warehouse. A part of the supply system was modeled and analyzed with methods from queueing theory in order to cope with the stochastic influences. The results show that central logistics control can decrease inventory levels while maintaining a high service ability.