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Inventories are materials stored, waiting for processing, or
experiencing processing. They are ubiquitous in modern business.
Observation of almost any company balance sheet reveals that
a very significant part of its assets comprise inventories of
raw materials, products within the production process, or finished
products.
Because of their practical and economic importance, the subject
of inventory control is a major consideration in many situations.
Questions must be constantly answered as to when and how much
raw material should be ordered, when a production order should
be released to the plant, what level of safety stock should
be maintained at a retail outlet, or how in-process inventory
is to be maintained in a production process. These questions
are amenable to quantitative analysis through the subject of
inventory theory. This add-in embodies some of the mathematical
results of inventory theory.
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