Optimum ordering interval for time varying decay rate of inventory (Q1087467)

We consider the exponentially decaying inventory having known demand when the inventory decay rate is a function of time. Methods are developed for obtaining optimum cycle length in such a system by minimising the total cost per unit time under usual assumptions. An explicit approximate method based on truncated Taylor series expansion in the form of a solution to a polynomial equation is provided when the decay rate is a linear function of time. A few numerical examples are worked out for finding the optimum cycle length.