A time-based control policy for a perishable inventory system with lost sales

In this study, we propose a new time-based poiicy for continuous review inventory systems where the products have fixed fife times and unmet denicinds are iost. We cierive the exact expressions of the key operating characteristics of the rnociei. Based on these performance measures, we optimize the reievant costs subject to a service ievei criterion, nameiy the average fraction of time out of stock. A numericai analysis is provided to Vcilidate and compare our model with conventional policies. We also investigate some special cases of the time-based policy which are applicable to the products with infinite life times.