Modeling and Evaluating Inventory Replenishment for Short Life-cycle Products

Due to the rapid advancement of technologies, a growing number of innovative products with a short life–cycle have been introduced to the market. As the life–cycles of such products are shorter than those of durable goods, the demand variation during the life–cycle adds to the difficulty of inventory management. Traditional inventory planning models and techniques mostly deal with products that have long life–cycles. The assumptions on the demand pattern and subsequent solution approaches are, generally, not suitable for dealing with products with short life–cycles. In this research, inventory replenishment problems based on the logistic demand model are formulated and solved to facilitate the management of products with short life–cycles. An extended Wagner– Whitin approach is used to determine the replenishment cycle, schedules and lot–sizes.