Joint inventory and transshipment control for perishable products of a two-period lifetime

We analyze the impact of transshipments among retailers on their inventory replenishment decisions when products are perishable. Previous studies have shown that transshipments improve their operational efficiencies through inventory reallocation. However, these studies have not investigated transshipments for perishable products having a limited lifetime. In this paper, we consider a centrally managed firm owning several retail stores, which coordinates their replenishment policies along with the utilization of transshipments for perishable goods of a two-period lifetime. For this, the single-period planning horizon is analyzed, with a general solution approach for the optimal replenishment and transshipment decisions. We further present a designated solution approach for a two-location system as a special case and illustrate numerical examples in order to highlight the potential value of implementing transshipments for perishable products.