| Article ID: | iaor2002537 |
| Country: | United States |
| Volume: | 30 |
| Issue: | 11 |
| Start Page Number: | 1049 |
| End Page Number: | 1055 |
| Publication Date: | Nov 1998 |
| Journal: | IIE Transactions |
| Authors: | Abad P.L., Buchanan D.J. |
| Keywords: | programming: dynamic |
In this paper, we consider the inventory control problem in a periodic review returnable system. In a returnable system, containers are returned by consumers to the manufacturer for reuse. We view the returns in a given period to be a stochastic function of the number of containers out in the field. Using dynamic programming, we derive the optimal inventory control policy for the system.