Optimization of Inventory Management: A Literature Review

Inventory management (IM) is an essential component of the Supply Chain (SC). Maintaining the proper stock level through the SC optimizes the company’s costs and guarantees the delivery of goods to customers, ensuring their satisfaction. However, the diverse and numerous factors (demand, perishability, shortage, etc.) cause the IM problem's complexity as they influence the Inventory Management Optimization (IMO) process. This diversity triggers researchers to further examine of the IMO in view of the fact that these factors are interrelated. This paper reviews part of the work carried out, dealing with the optimization of the IM problem. The main objective of this study is to analyze different parameters of existing mathematical models of IMO, to deliver an overview describing the main factors of the problem.