Research Reports from the Department of Operations
Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Date
6-1-1967
Abstract
The analysis of single product, periodic review, dynamic inventory models has constituted an important part of the Operations Research literature since 1951, when Arrow, Harris, and Marshak introduced them. Periodically, the level of inventory of a single item is examined and a decision made as to whether to order or not, and if to order, how much to order. This decision is made with the intention of minimizing the expectation of the relevant costs to be incurred over a given planning horizon consisting of more than one period. The relevant costs usually consist of the costs attributable to ordering, holding, and incurring shortages. For more on the nature of these costs and, in general, on the structure of dynamic inventory models. There is an important distinction to be made concerning the demand on the product during a period. If the demands during each period of the planning horizon are assumed known (i.e., deterministic), then a major simplification of the analysis arises. One may specify an amount to be ordered in each period and subsequently compute the actual cost corresponding to making those decisions over the planning horizon. One need only find the "production schedule" minimizing this cost.
Keywords
Operations research, Piecewise linear topology, Inventory control, Value analysis (Cost control), Dynamic programming, Production scheduling
Publication Title
Dissertation, Department of Operations, School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
Issue
Technical memorandum no. 81 ; Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Rights
This work is in the public domain and may be freely downloaded for personal or academic use
Recommended Citation
Porteus, Evan L., "Piecewise Linear Concave Ordering Cost Functions in Inventory Theory" (1967). Research Reports from the Department of Operations. 415.
https://commons.case.edu/wsom-ops-reports/415