Method for fast and accurate evaluation of periodic review inventory policy
US6144945A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 14, 1997 |
| Grant date | Nov 7, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 14, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06Q10/087
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A computer implemented process is provided for fast and accurate evaluation of the performance characteristics of the periodic-review (s,S) inventory policy with complete back ordering. This policy has an underlying stochastic process that is a renewal process. The method provides a novel computer implementation of a fast and accurate way to compute approximations of the renewal function. In order to overcome the computational problems in evaluating renewal functions numerically, an approximation scheme has been devised whereby the renewal function of the truncated normal distribution can be characterized by two parameters: (1) its coefficient of variation, and (2) the point at which the function needs to be evaluated. This approximation is derived in two stages. In the first stage, a class of rational polynomial approximations are developed to the renewal function, called Pade approximants. In the second stage, polynomial expressions are derived for each coefficient of the Pade approximants in terms of the coefficient of variation of the distribution.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.