A Study on the Determination of Optimal Repair Parts Inventory based on Simulation and Analysis of Its Influencing Factors

Efficient inventory management of repair parts is essential to maintain the proper operational availability of military equipment. However, determining the optimal inventory level is challenging due to various factors such as changes in demand and lead time, and sudden increases in failure rates. Previous studies have only calculated the optimal inventory levels for recoverable repair parts, but it is also necessary to determine the optimal inventory levels for consumable repair parts to ensure that Ground combat equipment of Army operates normally. Therefore, this study presents an approach to determine the optimal inventory levels of repair parts, considering the operational availability of combat equipment during wartime, using system dynamics simulation. The study results determined the optimal inventory levels of repair parts, expressed in terms of supply level, for various wartime scenarios and quantitatively presented the effects of demand and lead time on inventory levels through multiple linear regression analysis. This study offers the following implications. First, it presents a simulation-based method for determining the optimal inventory level(supply level). Second, it emphasizes the importance of proper lead time(customer waiting time) management in wartime inventory management.