Threshold results for the inventory cycle offsetting problem
by Ernest Croot; Kai Huang
International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research (IJMOR), Vol. 5, No. 2, 2013

Abstract: In a multi-item inventory system, given the order cycle lengths and volumes of the items, the determination of the replenishment times, so as to minimise the resource requirement, is known as the inventory cycle offsetting problem. In this paper we show that with probability one, there exists an interval [0, CK1 Q],for which the resource requirement is near the minimum it could be, where C₁ > 1 is a constant, K is the number of items and Q is the maximum cycle length. We further prove that there is also a certain constant C₂ > C₁ > 1 so that with high probability, the resource requirement for the time interval [0, CK2,Q] is near the worst that it could be. We also present some numerical experiments that suggest how C₁ depends on certain problem parameters, which implies that for many practical cases, a random algorithm will find near-optimal solutions.

Online publication date: Mon, 31-Mar-2014

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research (IJMOR):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com