OPRE 6363: Managing Inventory

Tuesday/Thursday 5:30-6:45 p.m., SOM2.901

Course Instructor Prof. Holly Lutze, hlutze@utdallas.edu, SOM 3.403

Office hours: Monday, 5:30-6:45 p.m. OR by appointment

Teaching Assistant Gokcen Arkali, gxa023000@utdallas.edu, SOM 3.215

Office hours: Tuesday, 4:00-5:30 p.m. OR by appointment

Course Objective We will study inventory control as a competitive strategy. The material includes
analysis and application of deterministic and simple stochastic inventory models.
Course concepts are presented through a combination of theory, problem solving,
and case discussion.

Prerequisites OPRE 6302 & exposure to probability

Related Courses OPRE 6366 Supply Chain Management; OPRE 6370 Logistics and Distribution

Textbook Inventory Control, by Sven Axsäter, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000

Grading Method 20% Class Participation

Each student is expected to (1) come to each class session having read the assigned
material, (2) contribute constructively to regular classroom discussion, (3) bring in articles
and examples pertaining to industry use of the concepts being discussed.
60% In-class Quizzes
Problem sets will be regularly assigned. These are not to be turned in. However, short
quizzes will be given at the beginning of class in which students will be asked to solve
problems like those in the assigned sets. Quizzes will be closed-book/closed-note, but
students will be given equation sheets and any relevant tables or figures.
20% Inventory Game Performance & Report
Individual student access costs $20, and this amount must be paid via a check made out to
“Responsive Learning Technologies.” Students will be divided into teams and asked to
control the inventory of a regional company in an on-line simulation that lasts 7 days.
Teams will compete with each other in overall cost performance, and each team must also
submit a detailed report of their decision processes. Details will follow.

Course Calendar

Date Topic
1/8-1/17 Fundamentals of Inventory Control, Ch. 1 & 6, Operational Execution at Arrow Electronics
1/22-1/31 Forecasting Customer Demand, Ch. 2, Wilkins, A Zurn Company: Demand Forecasting
2/5-2/14 Level Demand, Ch. 3 (p. 25-41), Blanchard Importing & Distributing Co.
Location,
Independ
Single

2/19-2/21 Time-varying Demand, Ch. 3 (p. 42-49)

Items

2/26-3/6 Safety Stocks & Reorder Points, Ch. 3 (p. 49-77)

3/18-3/20 Joint Optimization of Order Quantities & Reorder Points, Ch. 3 (p. 77-86)
3/25-4/1 Coordinated Replenishments, Ch. 4
4/3-4/17 Multiple Locations Systems, Ch. 5
4/22-4/29 Inventory Game