Credit financing in economic ordering policies for defective items with allowable shortages

Abstract

In the classical inventory models, the common unrealistic assumption is that all the items produced are of good quality in nature. However, in realistic environment, it can be observed that there may be some defective items in an ordered lot. These items are usually picked up during the screening process and are sold as a single lot at the end of screening process. Further, it is tacitly assumed that the supplier must be paid for the items as soon as the items are received. Whereas, in today business transaction, it is common to see that the retailer is allowed some grace period before they settle the account with the supplier. Under this scenario, a new inventory model for imperfect quality items has been developed under permissible delay in payments. Shortages are allowed and fully backlogged, which are eliminated during screening process as it has been assumed that screening rate is greater than the demand rate. This model jointly optimizes the order quantity and shortages by maximizing the expected total profit. Results have been validated with the help of numerical example using Matlab 7.0.1. Comprehensive sensitivity analysis has also been presented.