A simulation study to determine the parameters of medicine inventory policy

Abstract

Inventory management for the healthcare system is a very important issue as it is directly related to human lives. A medical warehouse in Kuwait was facing several challenges related to inventory management. Stock-out or overstock of some medications can occur occasionally. Simulation model using Arena was used to study the current inventory system. The model was modified to propose a new continuous review (s, S) control policy for efficient inventory system to fix monthly supply. Optimization problem was formulated using Arena OptQuest tool in order to determine the optimal parameters for the policy that would give high availability of medicines with the lowest total cost.

Keywords

• inventory policy
• discrete event simulation
• optimization
• supply chain management
• healthcare systems.