Optimal lot-sizing policy for a manufacturer with defective items in a supply chain with up-stream and down-stream trade credits

•We study an EPQ model for a manufacturer with perfect, imperfect and scrap items.•We consider a manufacturer who has both up-stream and down-stream trade credits.•The proposed model includes numerous previous models as special cases.•We use an easy arithmetic–geometric inequality method to find the optimal solution.

In this paper, we establish an economic production quantity model for a manufacturer (or wholesaler) with defective items when its supplier offers an up-stream trade credit M while it in turn provides its buyers (or retailers) a down-stream trade credit N. The proposed model is in a general framework that includes numerous previous models as special cases. In contrast to the traditional differential calculus approach, we use a simple-to-understand and easy-to-apply arithmetic–geometric inequality method to find the optimal solution. Furthermore, we provide some theoretical results to characterize the optimal solution. Finally, several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed model and the optimal solution.

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