(S − 1,S) Perishable systems with stochastic leadtimes

This article discusses a one-to-one ordering perishable system, in which reorders are processed in the order of their arrival and the processing times are arbitrarily distributed, and as such, the leadtimes are not independent. The Markov renewal techniques are employed to obtain the various operating characteristics for the case of Poisson demand and exponential lifetimes. The problem of minimizing the steady state expected cost rate is also discussed, and in the special case of exponential processing times, the optimal stock level is derived explicitly.