An evaluation of inventory and transportation policies of a regional blood distribution system

Blood is a valuable but perishable community resource. Regional blood centers coordinate the blood drawing and inventory policies of the hospital blood banks in a region for more efficient use of the resource. This study used a simulation model to analyze the costs and effects of several different operational policies for a regional blood center. Simulated experiments were carried out in four areas: (1) increasing the amount of blood available, (2) changing the number of delivery vehicles, (3) comparing two types of inventory consignment policies (shipping blood to hospitals with a recall privilege and frequent redistribution of blood amongst regional hospitals) to a direct-sale, no-redistribution policy, and (4) examining the effect of sending fresher blood supplies as inventories to hospitals with lower probabilities of transfusion. The results of the third experiment are presented in detail. It was found that periodic redistribution of the regional inventory yielded lower expiration rates and lower shortage rates. The results of the other three experiments are presented briefly.