Determining Optimal Economic Ordering Policies of Purchasing Garment Products for International Buying Warehouses

Abstract

Background: Optimal ordering in purchasing garment products for international buying houses has become increasingly complex, particularly when companies manage a variety of products across geographically dispersed national and international locations. Existing studies focus on non-integer problems and do not address objectives that minimize the absolute value of a cost or profit function. Methods: This paper proposes a method to determine optimal order quantities for garment styles while satisfying box constraints and the required demand of the wholesale business. The approach minimizes over- and under-ordering costs by reducing total order quantities and fitting orders to the historical demand distribution of each size in international supply chain operations.Results: The model was applied to a garment company operating under cooperative purchasing agreements with international traders. The approach successfully identified optimal order quantities while accounting for operational constraints, minimum order requirements, and historical demand patterns.Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively support purchasing decisions in international garment supply chains. By minimizing over- and under-ordering costs while meeting demand requirements, the model provides a practical framework for improving order allocation and inventory management. The results are encouraging and indicate the usefulness of the approach to international buying house operations.