Optimisation of purchasing strategy of tools and components based on exchange curve theory

The optimal inventory control of tools and components in manufacturing systems plays an important role in the success of sustainable operation from financial and ecologic point of view. This study discusses an inventory control method, which is based on the transformation of investment of inventory into annual order cost or vice versa. The study presents the mathematical model of the exchange curve model for tools and components in the case of economic order quantity inventory strategy. The described methodology makes it possible to optimise available purchasing strategies for tools and components. The approach was tested with a scenario analysis, where different parameters of the purchasing process including inventory related constraints were taken into consideration. The computational results validated the exchange curve based inventory control methodology and showed that the inventory strategy can be improved with cost transformation Practical implications of the proposed model and method regard the possibility of finding optimal inventory policies that can affect the operation costs of manufacturing systems.