A Kanban based system for multi-echelon inventory management: The case of pharmaceutical supply chain

Thanks to the advances in the information and communication technology, firms can share all the inventory data in order to implement suitable inventory management policies. This technological change allows the management of multi-echelon supply chains. Coordination is an important aspect of the multi-echelon supply chain management especially when dealing with critical items like pharmaceutical products. A suitable system should be developed and used to maintain the necessary quantity of pharmaceutical products at the different levels of pharmaceutical supply chains. Kanban systems may be used for managing multi-echelon inventory by ordering the quantity needed in each echelon without incurring a high level of stock. It still requires, however, a good level of information sharing between the different stages. Over many years, this technique has known many variations to glue with different companies environment and requirements. In this paper we consider the use and tailor a Kanban system for information sharing and coordination in order to manage the multi-echelon inventory in a pharmaceutical supply chain.