DECISION-MODELS FOR SINGLE-PERIOD PRODUCTS WITH 2 ORDERING OPPORTUNITIES

This paper considers the very common situation in which a single-perio d ''newsboy'' type product may be ordered twice during a period. The i nventory decision model is shown to be substantially more complicated than the simple one-order-per-period newsboy problem, but the model ca n nevertheless be easily solved with today's computers and software. T he model's solution tells an operations manager how much to order/prod uce initially, when to place a second order (if at all) and for what q uantity. Less quantitative heuristic decision rules are also identifie d. The last part of the paper extends our basic model to consider a no n-negligible set-up cost for the second order; it serves as an illustr ation of how one might want to extend our basic two-order model to han dle a large number of different combinations of additional factors suc h as the second-order's delivery delay time and price differential. (C ) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.