The main challenge of inventory managers is to define when and how many of each item to replenish and how much to keep in a safety stock. The increasing number of items with different demand patterns and specific characteristics requires different policies to ensure a good performance in this area. Based on a case study of a chemical company, this paper proposes a method for classifying materials with different demand patterns into families, using specific replenishment and safety stock policies aimed at maintaining a balance of stocks and meeting the service levels required for production.
multi-item classification; demand patterns; replenishment policies; safety stocks
