Part transformation-based spare parts inventory control model for the high-tech industries

Timely and cost-effective supply of spare parts is the main purpose of spare parts inventory management and substitution is an effective way to fulfill demand on time. However, direct substitution of spare parts is not suitable for the high-tech industries due to the ever-changing nature of the product structures. Hence, parts should be transformed to be used as substitutes. This paper provides a novel spare parts inventory control model for the high-tech industries. In the proposed model, part transformation-based substitution is considered and the near-optimal values of spare part inventory levels (s, S) that minimize total cost are determined by using a simulated annealing based simulation optimization approach. Computational analyses are performed for a hypothetical inventory system by considering transformation and no-transformation cases. The results reveal that transformation is very useful for the companies who endure long production lead times and high penalty costs associated with backorders.(c) 2024 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada

Automated summary

The timely and cost-effective supply of spare parts is crucial for the high-tech industries. This paper presents a novel spare parts inventory control model that considers part transformation-based substitution, and determines near-optimal inventory levels through simulated annealing based simulation optimization. Computational analyses demonstrate the usefulness of transforming spare parts for companies facing long production lead times and high penalty costs.