Deterministic and Probabilistic models in Inventory Control

Inventory is essential to provide flexibility in operating a system or organization. An inventory can be classified into raw material inventory, work in process inventory and finished goods inventory. The raw material inventory removes dependency between various machines of a product line. The finished goods inventory removes dependency between plants and its customers or markets. The main functions of an inventory can be classified into smoothing out irregularities in supply, minimizing the production cost and allowing organizations to coupe up with perishable materials. In an industry it is always necessary to keep the inventory optimal by minimizing the cost of ordering and handling. This can be done by adopting some inventory control models. The applications of them vary from industry to industry.