Letter to the Editor—An Ordering Policy for Stock Items when Delivery Can be Expedited

Abstract

The ordering policy considered for a stock item is of the familiar reorder-point-order-quantity type, except that an additional quantity called an expediting level may be specified. When stock on hand is reduced to this level, then an outstanding order will be expedited and received in a time period R, called the expedited leadtime, which is less than the normal procurement leadtime L. Even though R and L are assumed constant, the effective leadtime becomes a random variable distributed over the interval (R, L). Expressions are given for the expected inventory, shortages, number of orders, number of expedited orders, and number of expedited units ordered, all per unit of time.