Economic Production Quantity - Overview

Overview

EPQ only applies where the demand for a product is constant over the year and that each new order is delivered/produced incrementally when the inventory reaches zero. There is a fixed cost charged for each order placed, regardless of the number of units ordered. There is also a holding or storage cost for each unit held in storage (sometimes expressed as a percentage of the purchase cost of the item).

We want to determine the optimal number of units of the product to order so that we minimize the total cost associated with the purchase, delivery and storage of the product

The required parameters to the solution are the total demand for the year, the purchase cost for each item, the fixed cost to place the order and the storage cost for each item per year. Note that the number of times an order is placed will also affect the total cost, however, this number can be determined from the other parameters

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