Fundamentals of Production, Inventory and the Supply Chain explains how to control the inventory at entities across the supply chain. The entities include basic goods suppliers, parts suppliers, component suppliers, packagers, plants, warehouses, distribution centers, dealers and retailers. The book describes forecasting, order quantity, safety stock, order point, order level, low demand items, reusable inventory, lost sales, backorders, initial order quantity, all time requirements, late delivery, multi-locations, transfer, allocation, production planning, capacity planning, bill of material, material requirement planning, master production scheduling, statistical process control, supply chain management, make to order, make to stock, assembly lines, precedence diagrams, line balancing, mixed model sequencing, transportation, logistics and related software routines. The book includes the topics that people need to know in industry, and the topics described are highly useful. Practitioners will be able to apply the methods learned to their workplace. The book is easy to read for students and practitioners since there is little need to delve into difficult mathematical relationships. The book is unique, since many of the methods are not described in other books. The material is timeless, and the book will never become obsolete. Practitioners will want the book on their bookshelf for reference.
Nick Thomopoulos has degrees in business (B.S.) and in mathematics (M.A.) from the University of Illinois, and in industrial engineering (Ph.D.) from Illinois Institute of Technology. He was supervisor of operations research at International Harvester, senior scientist at IIT Research Institute, a professor at Illinois Institute of Technology, and is a partner at FIC Inc., developers of supply chain software. He is the co-author of Assembly Line Systems, Hayden Books; author of Applied Forecasting Methods, Prentice Hall; Strategic Inventory Management and Planning, Hitchcock Publishing Company; and Fundamentals of Queuing Systems, Springer. For many years, he has consulted in a wide variety of industries in the United States, Europe and Asia. This book includes the applications that the author has successfully applied in industry. He has received honors over the years such as from the Military Operations Research Society for the Rist Prize; from the IIT Asian Alumni Association for the Distinguished Professor Award in Bangkok, Thailand; and from the IIT Alumni Association for the Professional Achievement Award.
