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The ( s , Q ) inventory model with Erlang lead time and deterministic demand
Author(s) -
Kim Jeon G.,
Sun Daewon,
He Xin James,
Hayya Jack C.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
naval research logistics (nrl)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1520-6750
pISSN - 0894-069X
DOI - 10.1002/nav.20032
Subject(s) - erlang (programming language) , lead time , economic order quantity , computer science , erlang distribution , mathematical optimization , sample (material) , operations research , exponential distribution , mathematics , statistics , operations management , economics , functional programming , supply chain , chemistry , theoretical computer science , chromatography , political science , law
Abstract We develop a simple, approximately optimal solution to a model with Erlang lead time and deterministic demand. The method is robust to misspecification of the lead time and has good accuracy. We compare our approximate solution to the optimal for the case where we have prior information on the lead‐time distribution, and another where we have no information, except for computer‐generated sample data. It turns out that our solution is as easy as the EOQ's, with an accuracy rate of 99.41% when prior information on the lead‐time distribution is available and 97.54–99.09% when only computer‐generated sample information is available. Apart from supplying the inventory practitioner with an easy heuristic, we gain insights into the efficacy of stochastic lead time models and how these could be used to find the cost and a near‐optimal policy for the general model, where both demand rate and lead time are stochastic. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004