Practice of Management Science—An Integrated Inventory Control System

Inventory control is one of the earliest yet consistently fruitful application areas for the techniques of management science. Rarely are the cash benefits exceptional such as one might experience with management science applications in strategic decision-making areas. However, it is also rare if a well developed and properly used statistically based inventory control system does not enable inventories to be significantly reduced while maintaining or improving the level of customer service. This paper presents a case study of the development of an inventory control system designed to serve the needs of a division of a large U.S. based chemical company.