EOQ Revisited with Sustainability Considerations

The economic order quantity (EOQ) model is a pure economic model in classical inventory control theory. The model is designed to find the order quantity so as to minimize total cost under a deterministic setting. In this study, we revise the standard EOQ model to incorporate sustainability considerations that include environmental and social criteria in addition to the conventional economic considerations. We propose models for a number of different policies and analyze these revised models. Based on our analysis, we show how the triple bottom line considerations of sustainability be appended to traditional cost accounting in EOQ model. We also provide a number of useful insights for decision and policy making practices.