The uniform distribution as a first practical approach to new product inventory management

Abstract It is common sense that the premises usually considered in inventory models have little applicability to new product inventory management. This paper develops a first practical approach to deal with this issue: the solution to the (Q, r) inventory model for uniform demand forecasts and lead-times. Based on the fact that the uniform distribution is defined by two parameters that are easy to estimate—maximum and minimum—this paper shows that such a premise may comprise a helpful and accurate decision support tool for managers until they begin to learn about the distribution characteristics of the demand during the lead-time.

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