Designing a vendor managed-inventory model (VMI) in the automotive supply chain to maximize inventory turnover in producer warehouse – A case study by Saipa Company

In previous studies, the design of the vendor managed inventory (VMI) models was based on minimizing the total cost of the supply chain. In this paper, a new approach for designing VMI models with the aim of optimizing the inventory turnover of the producer warehouse is developed. Based on the proposed model, our objectives are to maximize inventory turnover along with the constraint of lack of shortage of goods in the production lines and also compliance with the minimum and maximum constraints of inventory in the warehouse of the producer which can be simpler and more practical than minimizing the total cost of the supply chain. A hybrid algorithm based on a genetic algorithm (GA) using particle swarm optimization (PSO) is proposed in order to gain both proper global and local search abilities in the solution space for solving the new model. As a case study, implementation of the proposed model in the supply chain of Saipa Company improved the inventory turnover, decreased inventory level and decreased the level of replenishment by suppliers.