We develop the first approximation algorithm for periodic-review perishable inventory systems with setup costs. The ordering lead time is zero. The model allows for correlated demand processes which generalize the well-known approaches to model dynamic demand forecast updates. The structure of optimal policies for this fundamental class of problems is not known in the literature. Thus, finding ...

We address the value of information (VOI) and value of centralized control (VCC) in the context of a two–echelon, serial supply chain with one retailer and one supplier that provides a single perishable product to consumers. Our analysis is relevant for managing slow moving perishable products with fixed lot sizes and expiration dates of a week or less. We evaluate two supply chain structures. ...

A merchant holding a fixed inventory of a perishable good is better off (at least in the short run) discounting his stock than allowing it to perish. This is true whether the item being sold is physically perishable, needs to be removed from the store by certain “out date,” or a service that uses fixed capacity. The decision to sell inventory at a discount changes the future expectations of cus...

We consider a continuous review perishable (s, S) inventory system with a service facility consisting of a waiting line of finite capacity and a single server. Two types of customers, ordinary and negative, arrive according to a Markovian Arrival Process (MAP). An ordinary customer joins the queue and a negative customer removes some ordinary customers from the queue. Unlike the conventional me...

We propose a model that integrates inventory routing and freight consolidation for perishable goods with a fixed lifetime. The problem is motivated by the status quo of logistics in some U.S. agriculture markets, but adapts to other relevant two-echelon supply chains, e.g. combined production planning and distribution. We first identify special cases where solving single-echelon subproblems seq...

The federal government maintains large quantities of medical supplies in stock as part of its Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to protect the American public in case of a public health emergency. Managing these large perishable inventories effectively can help reduce the cost of the SNS and improves national security. In this paper, we propose a modified Economic Manufacturing Quantity (EMQ) ...

In this article, we present a continuous review perishable inventory systemwith a service facility. The service facility consists of a single server and a finite waiting room. If the arriving primary customer finds the waiting hall is empty and the server is idle, he immediately joins the service. The demanded items are issued by a server after some random time due to service on it. We assume t...

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This paper is concerned with a discrete time, discrete state inventory model for items of changing quality. Items are assumed to be in one of a finite number, , Q of quality classes that are ordered in such a way that Class 1 contains the best quality and the last class contains the pre-perishable quality. The changes of items' quality are dependent on the state of the ambient environment. Furt...

This article considers a continuous review perishable (s,S) inventory system in which the demands arrive according to a Markovian arrival process (MAP). The lifetime of items in the stock and the lead time of reorder are assumed to be independently distributed as exponential. Demands that occur during the stock-out periods either enter a pool which has capacity N(<∞) or are lost. Any demand tha...