Inventory models. Ed. by Attila Chikán. Transl. from the Hungarian by B. Szönyi and Péter Kelle (Q1189528)

A classical field of operations research, inventory models, are the subject of the book. The authors collected and studied 336 models from the operations research literature. The analysis and conclusions are based on this sample of models. The first part of the book is analytical in its character. The background of modelling, the analysis of item-level inventory system, a historical review of modelling, solution techniques and the most important theoretical and practical results are given. The authors distinguished some criteria which describe the essential features of any inventory model and they elaborated a uniform code system. All the criteria are represented by some codes on the code card. Based on the code system, all 336 models have been coded, thus forming a computer data bank of inventory models. A detailed review of the spectrum of models according to various criteria is presented. A statistical analysis and the analytical examination of samples of models were the basis of creating a classification system for inventory models, which is the most important result of the book. According to this system a collection of 336 representative models is obtained. The second part of the book is a kind of an encyclopaedia addressed to readers having a theoretical or practical interest in the topic.