Inventories exist in virtually every organization, and can serve any number of purposes. However, they can also represent a significant investment. Consequently, an important challenge facing managers is balancing the economic benefits of less frequent orders or setups versus the costs of holding inventory. This note provides an introduction to managing independent demand inventory items. It reviews the basic techniques associated with independent demand items, including fixed order quantity and fixed time period systems, and the ABC inventory classification system. The note is intended to address the questions of how much to order (the lot size issue) and when to order (the reorder point issue).
