2026-09-19T21:58:00Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/530502026-06-06T01:03:35Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581com_1721.1_101402col_1721.1_131023col_1721.1_101610
Chris Caplice.
Foreman, James Sterling
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division
2010-03-25T14:53:37Z
2010-03-25T14:53:37Z
2009
2009
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/53050
496822240
Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-95).
Perishability and stock-outs are two sources of inventory inefficiency in the Washington State tree fruit industry. This thesis measures the size of these inefficiencies in terms of dollars per box, and describes five solutions, four qualitative and one quantitative, that seek to address them. To establish the magnitude of the inefficiencies, I regress various fruit characteristics on a set of sales data, thereby ascertaining the relationship between a fruit's price and its age. I find that the industry loses 5% to 12% of potential revenue due to perishability and propose four qualitative policies designed to reduce these losses. Next, I develop an operational management tool in the form of a mixed-integer optimization model which can be used to make optimal sourcing decisions during stock-out events. I find that the potential savings from improved sourcing decisions are between $0.01 and 0.02 per box. These results confirm that the costs and foregone revenue associated with inventory management are significant and merit the tree fruit industry's attention.
by Jame Sterling Foreman.
M.Eng. in Logistics
105 leaves
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.I.T. theses are protected by
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http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Engineering Systems Division.
Reducing transportation costs and inventory shrinkage in the Washington State tree fruit industry
Thesis
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<Abstract>Perishability and stock-outs are two sources of inventory inefficiency in the Washington State tree fruit industry. This thesis measures the size of these inefficiencies in terms of dollars per box, and describes five solutions, four qualitative and one quantitative, that seek to address them. To establish the magnitude of the inefficiencies, I regress various fruit characteristics on a set of sales data, thereby ascertaining the relationship between a fruit's price and its age. I find that the industry loses 5% to 12% of potential revenue due to perishability and propose four qualitative policies designed to reduce these losses. Next, I develop an operational management tool in the form of a mixed-integer optimization model which can be used to make optimal sourcing decisions during stock-out events. I find that the potential savings from improved sourcing decisions are between $0.01 and 0.02 per box. These results confirm that the costs and foregone revenue associated with inventory management are significant and merit the tree fruit industry's attention.</Abstract>
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