Inventory control for nonperishable and perishable goods based on model predictive control

ABSTRACT

Dynamics of inventory systems involve, stock filling by issuing orders which are fulfilled after some time called lead time and a time-varying demand which is not known a priori. The objectives from such systems are, demand is met and some desired or minimum stock is left in the inventory depending upon the nature of the goods. The demand generally shows a trend and can be predicted from past few samples. Model predictive control (MPC) is well known for its ability in constraint handling and the constraint on the input, the replenishment orders can be handled by MPC. Cost functions are formulated so as to minimise the holding and shortage costs of the inventory and maximising the profit. MPC strategy is used for deriving the control law for replenishment orders. Profit maximisation from a perishable inventory using MPC is discussed and analysed. Simulations are done to see the effectiveness in terms of perished goods, orders issued, on-hand stock, profit achieved, etc. Conclusions are derived from the simulation results.

KEYWORDS:

• Inventory systems
• perishable goods
• discrete systems
• model predictive control
• optimisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rajashree Taparia

Rajashree Taparia received her M Tech in Systems and Control Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2002. Currently, she is working as an Associate professor in Electronics Engineering Department at Rajasthan Technical University, Kota. Her research interests are discrete-time systems, sliding mode control, and model predictive control.

S. Janardhanan

Dr. S. Janardhanan received his M Tech and PhD in Systems and Control Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2002 and 2006, respectively. Currently, he is a faculty with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He has over 100 publications in journals and conferences of international repute to his credit. His research interests include discrete-time systems, model order reduction, sliding mode control and robotics.

Rajeev Gupta

Rajeev Gupta received his M Tech and PhD in Systems and Control Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1995 and 2004 respectively. Currently, he is working as Professor in Electronics Engineering at Rajasthan Technical University, Kota. His research interests are Control of Power System Stabilizer, discrete-time systems and intelligent control. He has about 100 publications in journals and conferences.