Economic order quantity

Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), also known as Economic Purchase Quantity (EPQ), is the order quantity that minimizes the total holding costs and ordering costs in inventory management. It is one of the oldest classical production scheduling models. The model was developed by Ford W. Harris in 1913, but R. H. Wilson, a consultant who applied it extensively, and K. Andler are given credit for their in-depth analysis.[1]


EOQ applies only when demand for a product is constant over the year and each new order is delivered in full when inventory reaches zero. There is a fixed cost for each order placed, regardless of the number of units ordered; an order is assumed to contain only 1 unit. There is also a cost for each unit held in storage, commonly known as holding cost, sometimes expressed as a percentage of the purchase cost of the item. While the EOQ formulation is straightforward there are factors such as transportation rates and quantity discounts to consider in actual application.

We want to determine the optimal number of units to order so that we minimize the total cost associated with the purchase, delivery, and storage of the product.

The required parameters to the solution are the total demand for the year, the purchase cost for each item, the fixed cost to place the order for a single item and the storage cost for each item per year. Note that the number of times an order is placed will also affect the total cost, though this number can be determined from the other parameters.


  •   = total annual inventory cost
  •   = purchase unit price, unit production cost
  •   = order quantity
  •   = optimal order quantity
  •   = annual demand quantity
  •   = annual holding cost per unit, also known as carrying cost or storage cost (capital cost, warehouse space, refrigeration, insurance, opportunity cost (price x interes), etc. usually not related to the unit production cost)

The total cost function and derivation of EOQ formulaEdit











Economic Order Quantity



The optimal value Q* may also be found by recognizing that[2]



  • annual requirement quantity (D) = 10000 units
  • Cost per order (K) = 40
  • Cost per unit (P)= 50
  • Yearly carrying cost per unit = 4
  • Market interest = 2%

Economic order quantity =     = 400 units

Number of orders per year (based on EOQ)  

Total cost  

Total cost  

If we check the total cost for any order quantity other than 400(=EOQ), we will see that the cost is higher. For instance, supposing 500 units per order, then

Total cost  

Similarly, if we choose 300 for the order quantity then

Total cost  


Extensions of the EOQ modelEdit

Quantity discountsEdit

An important extension to the EOQ model is to accommodate quantity discounts. There are two main types of quantity discounts: (1) all-units and (2) incremental.[3][4] Here is a numerical example:


In order to find the optimal order quantity under different quantity discount schemes, one should use algorithms; these algorithms are developed under the assumption that the EOQ policy is still optimal with quantity discounts. Perera et al. (2017)[5] establish this optimality and fully characterize the (s,S) optimality within the EOQ setting under general cost structures.

Design of optimal quantity discount schedulesEdit

In presence of a strategic customer, who responds optimally to discount schedules, the design of an optimal quantity discount scheme by the supplier is complex and has to be done carefully. This is particularly so when the demand at the customer is itself uncertain. An interesting effect called the "reverse bullwhip" takes place where an increase in consumer demand uncertainty actually reduces order quantity uncertainty at the supplier.[6]

Backordering costs and multiple itemsEdit

Several extensions can be made to the EOQ model, including backordering costs[7] and multiple items. In the case backorders are permitted, the inventory carrying costs per cycle are:[8]


Where s is the number of backorders when order quantity Q is delivered and   is the rate of demand. The backorder cost per cycle is:


Where   and   are backorder costs,  , T being the cycle length and  . The average annual variable cost is the sum of order costs, holding inventory costs and backorder costs:


To minimize   impose the partial derivatives equal to zero:



Substituting the second equation into the first gives the following quadratic equation:


If   etiher s=0 or   is optimal. In the first case the optimal lot is given by the classic EOQ formula, in the second case an order is never placed and minimum yearly cost is given by  . If   or     is optimal, if   then there shouldn't be any inventory system. If   solving the preceding quadratic equation yields:



If there are backorders the reorder point is:  ; with m being the largest integer   and μ the lead time demand.

Additionally, the economic order interval[9] can be determined from the EOQ and the economic production quantity model (which determines the optimal production quantity) can be determined in a similar fashion.


Malakooti (2013)[11] has introduced the multi-criteria EOQ models where the criteria could be minimizing the total cost, Order quantity (inventory), and Shortages.

A version taking the time-value of money into account was developed by Trippi and Lewin.[12]

Imperfect qualityEdit

Another important extension of the EOQ model is to consider items with imperfect quality. Salameh and Jaber (2000) are the first to study the imperfect items in an EOQ model very thoroughly. They consider an inventory problem in which the demand is deterministic and there is a fraction of imperfect items in the lot and are screened by the buyer and sold by them at the end of the circle at discount price.[13]

For improving the fuel economy of internal combustion enginesEdit

In 2016, an interesting similarity between EOQ of Melon picking and fuel injection in Gasoline Direct Injection has been proposed.[14]

See alsoEdit


  1. ^ Hax, AC; Candea, D. (1984), Production and Operations Management, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, p. 135, ISBN 9780137248803
  2. ^ Grubbström, Robert W. (1995). "Modelling production opportunities — an historical overview". International Journal of Production Economics. 41 (1–3): 1–14. doi:10.1016/0925-5273(95)00109-3.
  3. ^ Nahmias, Steven (2005). Production and operations analysis. McGraw Hill Higher Education.[page needed]
  4. ^ Zipkin, Paul H, Foundations of Inventory Management, McGraw Hill 2000[page needed]
  5. ^ Perera, Sandun; Janakiraman, Ganesh; Niu, Shun-Chen (2017). "Optimality of (s,S) policies in EOQ models with general cost structures". International Journal of Production Economics. 187: 216–228. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2016.09.017.
  6. ^ Altintas, Nihat; Erhun, Feryal; Tayur, Sridhar (2008). "Quantity Discounts Under Demand Uncertainty". Management Science. 54 (4): 777–92. doi:10.1287/mnsc.1070.0829. JSTOR 20122426.
  8. ^ T. Whitin, G. Hadley, Analysis of Inventory Systems, Prentice Hall 1963
  9. ^ Goyal, S.K. (1987). "A simple heuristic method for determining economic order interval for linear demand". Engineering Costs and Production Economics. 11: 53–57. doi:10.1016/0167-188X(87)90025-5.
  10. ^ Caplin, Andrew; Leahy, John (2010). "Economic Theory and the World of Practice: A Celebration of the (s, S) Model". The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 24 (1): 183–201. CiteSeerX doi:10.1257/jep.24.1.183. JSTOR 25703488.
  12. ^ Trippi, Robert R.; Lewin, Donald E. (1974). "A Present Value Formulation of the Classical Eoq Problem". Decision Sciences. 5 (1): 30–35. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1974.tb00592.x.
  13. ^ Salameh, M.K.; Jaber, M.Y. (March 2000). "Economic production quantity model for items with imperfect quality". International Journal of Production Economics. 64 (1–3): 59–64. doi:10.1016/s0925-5273(99)00044-4. ISSN 0925-5273.
  14. ^ Ventura, Robert; Samuel, Stephen (2016). "Optimization of fuel injection in GDI engine using economic order quantity and Lambert W function". Applied Thermal Engineering. 101: 112–20. doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.02.024.

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit