Dynamic programming in inventory management: A review

IF 4.3 2区工程技术 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS

Computers & Operations Research Pub Date : 2025-07-10 DOI:10.1016/j.cor.2025.107164

Edson Antônio Gonçalves de Souza , Tanja Mlinar , Maud Van den Broeke , Stefan Creemers

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Inventory Management (IM) research has significantly advanced, with increasingly complex and realistic inventory problems being investigated. Dynamic Programming (DP) plays an increasingly vital role to find viable solutions to these problems, particularly in balancing the trade-off between good-quality solutions and computational efficiency. While previous literature reviews have primarily focused on either IM or DP independently, or have studied very specific IM–DP settings, we are the first to provide a comprehensive overview of the interaction between IM and DP. By analyzing 278 relevant articles, we explore how DP methodologies are applied across various inventory problems, identifying key trends, challenges, and research gaps. We introduce a unique typology to classify these articles based on the type and structure of the inventory problem and DP methodology employed. Additionally, our review provides insights into practical applications of DP in IM, and examines the current and potential future integration of sustainability and technology topics in this area.

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库存管理中的动态规划：综述

库存管理（IM）的研究有了显著的进展，随着越来越复杂和现实的库存问题的研究。动态规划（DP）在寻找这些问题的可行解决方案方面发挥着越来越重要的作用，特别是在平衡高质量解决方案和计算效率之间的权衡方面。虽然以前的文献综述主要集中在IM或DP独立，或研究非常具体的IM - DP设置，但我们是第一个提供IM和DP之间相互作用的全面概述。通过分析278篇相关文章，我们探索了如何将DP方法应用于各种库存问题，确定关键趋势、挑战和研究差距。我们介绍了一个独特的类型学来分类这些文章基于类型和结构的库存问题和DP方法所采用的。此外，我们的综述提供了DP在IM中的实际应用的见解，并研究了该领域中可持续发展和技术主题的当前和潜在的未来整合。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Computers & Operations Research 工程技术-工程：工业

CiteScore

8.60

自引率

8.70%

发文量

292

审稿时长

8.5 months

期刊介绍： Operations research and computers meet in a large number of scientific fields, many of which are of vital current concern to our troubled society. These include, among others, ecology, transportation, safety, reliability, urban planning, economics, inventory control, investment strategy and logistics (including reverse logistics). Computers & Operations Research provides an international forum for the application of computers and operations research techniques to problems in these and related fields.