Inventory

A standard formulation to deal with inventory in GAMS can look like:

set t /t1*t5/; positive variables   inv(t) 'inventory at end of period t'   production(t)    sell(t) ; parameter init_inv(t) 'initial inventory' /t1 100/; * Note: for any t > t1 init_inv(t)=0 equation    inv_bal(t) 'inventory balance'; inv_bal(t).. inv(t) =e= inv(t-1) + production(t) - sell(t) + init_inv(t);

Note: GAMS will automatically discard inv(t-1) for the first time period t=t1 (or putting it differently it will set inv(t-1) =0 in that case).

In a project I have to deal with aging of inventory. This looks like a production/inventory model I did for a large cheese manufacturer that had a similar structure: having the cheese stored for a period causes it to age and actually becoming a different (more expensive) product.

The inventory balance equation becomes a little bit more complicated in that case. In its simplest form it can be something like:

set   t /t1*t10/   a 'age classes' /a1*a3/   a1(a) 'first age class' /a1/ ; positive variables   inv(t,a) 'inventory at end of period t'   production(t)   sell(t,a) ; parameter init_inv(t,a) 'initial inventory' /    t1.a1 100    t1.a2 160    t1.a3 150 /; * Note: for any t > t1 init_inv(t,a)=0 equation    inv_bal(t,a) 'inventory balance'; inv_bal(t,a)..    inv(t,a) =e= inv(t-1,a-1)                 + production(t)$a1(a)                 - sell(t,a)                 + init_inv(t,a);

Unsold items are in inv(t,’a3’).