Decision Support Model for Perishable Items Impacting Ramp Type Demand in a Discounted Retail Supply Chain Environment

Abstract

A single item EOQ model has been developed considering demand as a two parameter ramp type function and deterioration as a Heaviside’s function. Both pre and post deterioration discounts are considered where the former helps in maintaining constancy in the demand rate and the latter one boosts the demand of decreased quality items. The starting time periods of pre and post deterioration have been determined. The effect of both types of discount in optimising the profit is examined through numerical illustrations. Sensitivity analysis is also appended to discern the effect of various system parameters on optimising the profit. This is quite a practical situation in today’s highly competitive market as it is found that the pre deterioration discount plays a vital role in enticing the profit.