What is the best ordering policy for a warehouse to minimize cost, while meeting demands?  
The warehouse has a limited storage capacity of 50000 cubic meters (m3) and a budget of $30,000.
  Holding Cost Storage Space per unit (m3) Demand per month Ordering cost per order   Price per unit  
Product 1 $25 440 200 $50 $200  
Product 2 $20 850 325 $50 $300  
Product 3 $30 1260 400 $50 $275  
Product 4 $15 950 150 $50 $400  
   
Storage Capacity 50000 Budget $30,000        
Quantity to order each month   Cost of holding   Space  
  EOQ and ordering used (m3)  
Product 1 25 28.28427 $713 5500  
Product 2 25 40.31129 $900 10625  
Product 3 25 36.51484 $1,175 15750  
Product 4 25 31.62278 $488 11875  
Cost of products $29,375   Total $3,275   43750  
Problem                
This model continues to build on the first inventory policy model. We expand the model by giving the warehouse a
budget for buying new products. In other words: A warehouse sells 4 products with a different demand for each
product. Each product has a different holding cost and requires a certain amount of space. What should the ordering
policy for the warehouse be, given its limited storage capacity and limited budget?  
   
Solution  
The variables are exactly the same as in the first model. So is the objective, and the way it is calculated. The
difference is that we have an extra constraint which keeps us within the budget. This new constraint is expressed as:
  Cost_of_products <= Available_money and we also have  
  Space_used <= Available_space as before  
We still have Quantities >= 0 via the Assume Non-Negative option. This time, we also require integer quantities:
  Quantities = integer  
   
Remarks  
Once again, we have calculated the EOQs as discussed in the first inventory policy model. If we would give a
unlimited budget and unlimited storage space, the Solver would find exactly those values.  
   
There is one more change we made in this model compared to the one on worksheet Invent1. This time we
required the variables to be integers. Whether this is a valid assumption would depend completely on the type of
product that is dealt with. If a model is trying to determine how many cars, airplanes or other such articles to buy, it
could be very important to use integer variables. If the model, on the other hand, is giving an indication how much
sugar to buy, for example, it would not be appropriate to use integer variables.