Faced with skyrocketing distribution costs, Intel turned to quantitative analysis to design, construct, and implement a multi-echelon inventory optimization (MEIO) system. The system spanned all of Intel's global supply chain and included suppliers, third party logistics (3PL) providers, dealers, and retailers among others. Because of the inherent complexities, designing and constructing the system took several years by itself.
However as a result. Intel was able to optimize inventory
levels worldwide. After one year of operation, the MEIO system