This paper studies a supply chain consisting of\r\na single vendor and multiple retailers that uses returnable\r\ntransport items, such as containers or crates, to facilitate\r\nshipping products from the vendor to the retailers. The\r\npaper considers two different strategies for transporting\r\nfinished products from the supplier to the retailers: In case\r\nof early shipments, deliveries to a retailer can be made\r\nwhile the production process at the supplier is still in\r\nprogress, while in the case of late shipments, the supplier\r\nhas to wait until the entire production lot has been finished\r\nbefore shipments can be made from the lot. The paper\r\ndevelops mathematical models for both strategies and\r\nderives optimal solutions for the cycle time, the container\r\nsize, the individual order quantities of the retailers and the\r\nshipment sequence with the intention to minimize the\r\naverage total costs of the system. The behavior of the\r\nmodels is analyzed with the help of numerical examples.
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