%0 Journal Article
%T An Inventory Controlled Supply Chain Model Based on Improved BP Neural Network
%A Wei He
%J Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/537675
%X Inventory control is a key factor for reducing supply chain cost and increasing customer satisfaction. However, prediction of inventory level is a challenging task for managers. As one of the widely used techniques for inventory control, standard BP neural network has such problems as low convergence rate and poor prediction accuracy. Aiming at these problems, a new fast convergent BP neural network model for predicting inventory level is developed in this paper. By adding an error offset, this paper deduces the new chain propagation rule and the new weight formula. This paper also applies the improved BP neural network model to predict the inventory level of an automotive parts company. The results show that the improved algorithm not only significantly exceeds the standard algorithm but also outperforms some other improved BP algorithms both on convergence rate and prediction accuracy. 1. Introduction Inventory control is one of the key topics for supply chain management. Usually inventory takes the form of raw material, work in process (WIP) products, semifinished products, or finished products. Inventory cost is the main cost for supply chain management. A drop of just several percentage points of inventory cost can greatly increase the profits of the whole supply chain. In addition, sound inventory level can prevent shortage of material, maintain the continuity of the production process, and quickly satisfy customers' demand. Thereby, exploring the optimal inventory level is very necessary and valuable for supply chain management. To date, the following inventory control problems need to be addressed [1, 2].(1)There are highly nonlinear models which are hard to process.(2)There are qualitative indicators which are hard to deal with.(3)The unchangeable indicators of inventory control lack self-adaptation.(4)Information of inventory control models is always indirect and the collection of information is time-consuming and of low efficiency.(5)Inventory control models always ignore the influence of uncertain factors, such as lead time, transportation conditions, and change of demand. Considering the above problems, traditional inventory control theory is hard to meet the requirement posed by the new environment. Thanks to the uncertain feature of inventory control and the strengths of neural network in model prediction, this paper chooses to use BP neural network to establish inventory model and predict inventory level. BP neural network is a kind of nonlinear feed forward network which has good nonlinear mapping ability. Theories have proved that BP
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ddns/2013/537675/