Product Storages

Defining inventory stock parameters

This table is used within the Network Optimization experiment only. It allows you to define the inventory stock parameters.

Product(s) will not be shipped to/from a site (e.g. of DC type) unless the corresponding product storage record is defined in this table.

The defined record with inventory parameters will not be considered if at least one of the expanding toggle buttons ( Expand Facilities, Expand Products, Expand Periods) is disabled in it. If you require to keep the toggle button disabled for this record, you should duplicate it, enable the toggle button and make sure that no limit is set for the stock ( Min Stock, Max Stock).

The Expand periods toggle button defines if the specified stock level is required at the end of each period (Enabled) or at the end of the whole period (Disabled). For more details refer here.

Column	Description
Label	Specify the name of the storage constraint. It must be a meaningful name since you will refer to it in the Custom constraints and Linear Ranges tables. When creating constraints, the measurement unit specified in the Product Unit column of this table will be overridden by the Unit specified in the Products table.
Facility	Defines the site that the constraints will be defined for (DC, Factory, Supplier and groups containing them). The cell contains a drop-down list with the available facilities.
Expand Facilities	Defines if the specified stock level (columns from Initial Stock, units to Fixed Value) is applied to each defined facility (Enabled) or to the aggregated number of facilities (Disabled). e.g. We specify a group of 4 DCs. The Min Stock value is set to 55 items. If the Expand Facilities is enabled, the specified amount of products is considered to be stored at each DC, totaling 55 * 4 = 220 items, otherwise it will refer to the sum of products stored at all DCs.
Product	Defines the product or a group of products.
Expand Products	Defines if the specified stock level (columns from Min Stock to Fixed Value) is applied to each defined product (Enabled) or to the aggregated number of products (Disabled). E.g. A site offers 2 types of products. The Min Stock value is set to 55 items. If the Expand Products is enabled, the 55 items will refer to each type of a product, totaling 110 items, otherwise it will refer to the sum of all products.
Initial Stock, units	Defines the initial stock of the specified facility/group of facilities.
Min Stock	Defines the lowest stock level of the specified facility/group of facilities. If the Understock Penalty is set to 0, this will be a hard constraint.
Safety Stock	Defines the safety stock level of the specified facility/group of facilities. If the Safety Stock Penalty is set to 0, this will still be a soft constraint. The hard constraint is not available for the Safety Stock.
Max Stock	Defines the highest stock level of the specified facility/group of facilities. If the Overstock Penalty is set to 0, this will be a hard constraint.
Fixed	If enabled, the Fixed Value column is considered.
Fixed Value	Allows you to explicitly specify the stock level of the facility/group of facilities.
Understock Penalty	Defines the penalty to be paid per product item (or per cubic meter) for dropping the stock level below the specified Min Stock level. The penalty is calculated as: specified penalty * sum of the lacking products. If the penalty is set to 0, the specified Min Stock will be considered as a hard constraint, i.e., it cannot be violated. For more information refer here.
Safety Stock Penalty	Defines the penalty to be paid per product item (or per cubic meter) for dropping the stock level below the specified Safety Stock level. The penalty is calculated as: specified penalty * sum of the lacking products. This is a soft penalty, i.e. the specified Safety Stock can be violated, and the default value (0) is the price to be paid per product item as a penalty. The hard constraint is not available for the defined Safety Stock. Follow the link to find more information on the constraints.
Overstock Penalty	Defines the penalty to be paid per product item (or per cubic meter) for exceeding the stock level specified in Max Stock level. The penalty is calculated as: specified penalty * sum of the excessive products. If the penalty is set to 0, the specified Max Stock will be considered as a hard constraint, i.e., it cannot be violated. For more information refer here.
Currency	The type of currency in which the penalties are expressed.
Product Unit	Specify the unit (of weight or volume), in which the values from the following columns are measured: Initial Stock, units, Min Stock, Safety Stock, Max Stock, Fixed Value. The list of available units comprises the units defined in both the Manage units dialog and the Units table.
Time Period	The time period during which the constraints are valid. The cell contains a list of periods (previously defined in the Periods table).
Expand Periods	Defines if the specified stock level (columns from Initial stock, units to Fixed Value) is required at the end of each period (Enabled) or at the end of the whole period that the group of periods forms (Disabled). By default the whole period is considered. e.g. We have a group of 4 periods. The Min Stock value is set to 55 items. If the Expand Periods is enabled, the specified amount of products is required at the end of each period, totaling 55 * 4 = 220 items, otherwise it will refer to the end of the last period of the group.
Inclusion Type	Defines the status of the current facility constraint. Include — if this status is set, the facility constraint will be included into the supply chain configuration. Exclude — if set, the facility constraint will be excluded from the supply chain configuration. If selected, the table record will be grayed out to denote the current inclusion type. The table record stays editable.

Defining inventory stock parameters

You can define the following:

Product(s) that this or that facility/group of facilities works with.
Stock constraints that must be applied to a facility/group of facilities (valid within the specified period of time).
Penalties for violating the specified constraints.

The table allows you to consider the stock parameters for:

One site, each site of the group, sum of all sites of the group specified in the Facility column.
One product, each product of the group, sum of all products of the group specified in the Products column.

You may alter these combinations by clicking the toggle buttons in the Expand Facilities, Expand Products columns.

By default the stock is measured in items but when the following condition are met, the units automatically switch to cubic meters:

At least one of the Expand Facilities, Expand Products is disabled.
The group of facilities/products contain more than 1 site/product.
The data in the columns will not be converted to the new measurement units. The same numbers will be expressed in cubic meters now.

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