Operational strategies of fuzzy inventory models for costly metallic items with conditional trade-credit policy linked to purchasing cost

The present study investigates an inventory system of the costly metallic items with steadily increasing demand rate and partial back-ordering under volatile market conditions. In contrast to conventional norms, the suppliers of those costly products often opt for the conditional trade-credit policy to overcome the retailers' reluctance regarding their procurement in larger quantities. Accordingly, there appear six different variants of the proposed inventory model according to the accumulated fund with the retailer at the settlement time of account. This study employs the well-established total λ-integral approach to defuzzify various triangular fuzzy cost coefficients and interest rates of the proposed model. Thereafter, this study analytically establishes the global optimality of the proposed model by collectively considering six results. The managerial insights plead to the legislators to provide several financial stimulus to uplift the business condition, whenever that turns gloomy. When the supplier boosts the value of order quantity to offer the full delay, the impact of promoting the retailers' demand turns negative. [Submitted: 26 April 2020; Accepted: 3 July 2022]