Mixture inventory model involving variable lead time and controllable backorder rate

This paper allows the backorder rate as a control variable to widen applications of Ouyang et al.'s model [J. Oper. Res. Soc. 47 (1996) 829]. In this study, we assume that the backorder rate is dependent on the length of lead time through the amount of shortages. We discuss two models that are perfect and partial information about the lead time demand distribution, that is, we first assume that the lead time demand follows a normal distribution, and then remove this assumption by only assuming that the first and second moments of the probability distribution of lead time demand are known. For each case, we develop an algorithm to find the optimal ordering strategy. Three numerical examples are given to illustrate solution procedure. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.