Polynomial cases of the economic lot sizing problem with cost discounts

In this paper we study the economic lot sizing problem with cost discounts. In the economic lot sizing problem a facility faces known demands over a discrete finite horizon. At each period, the ordering cost function and the holding cost function are given and they can be different from period to period. There are no constraints on the quantity ordered in each period and backlogging is not allowed. The objective is to decide when and how much to order so as to minimize the total ordering and holding costs over the finite horizon without any shortages. We study two different cost discount functions. The modified all-unit discount cost function alternates increasing and flat sections, starting with a flat section that indicates a minimum charge for small quantities. While in general the economic lot sizing problem with modified all-unit discount cost function is known to be NP-hard, we assume that the cost functions do not vary from period to period and identify a polynomial case. Then we study the incremental discount cost function which is an increasing piecewise linear function with no flat sections. The efficiency of the solution algorithms follows from properties of the optimal solution. We computationally test the polynomial algorithms against the use of CPLEX.