Optimal Ordering Policy for a Perishable Commodity with Fixed Lifetime

This paper extends the classical single-item, multiperiod inventory model of Arrow, Karlin, and Scarf to the case where a good in storage perishes exactly l periods after its receipt on order. Units are followed from the time they are purchased and enter the inventory until they are either issued or perish. For general l the paper obtains the optimal policy recursively and derives several properties of the solution.