Perishable inventory theory: a review

Area of Science:

• Operations Research
• Inventory Management
• Supply Chain Optimization

Background:

• Perishable inventory systems present unique challenges due to product degradation over time.
• Effective inventory management is critical for industries with time-sensitive products, such as healthcare and food supply chains.
• Existing literature addresses various aspects of perishable inventory, but a consolidated review is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and synthesize the existing literature on inventory ordering policies for perishable products.
• To examine models for both fixed-life and continuously decaying inventory.
• To discuss applications and identify future research directions in perishable inventory management.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of academic papers and research studies.
• Analysis of deterministic and stochastic demand models.
• Discussion of optimal and suboptimal ordering policies.

Main Results:

• Identified key models for managing fixed-life and exponentially decaying perishable inventory.
• Summarized approaches for handling both deterministic and stochastic demand scenarios.
• Highlighted the applicability of these models in practical settings like blood bank inventory management.

Conclusions:

• The field of perishable inventory management is dynamic, with ongoing research into optimizing ordering policies.
• Further research is needed to address complex scenarios and refine existing models.
• Effective inventory control strategies are crucial for minimizing waste and ensuring product availability.