The study proposes an inventory model for non-instantaneous deteriorating goods over a finite time horizon. In real condition, many goods can be kept for a period without deterioration, but a fixed duration later the goods is starting to deteriorate. We named these kinds of goods as “non-instantaneous deteriorating items”. Under the situation which the demand is increasing linearly with time and allowing delay in payment, the inventory model in this study is divided into four cases by the time of shortage and deadline of delay in payment, and we aim to find the minimum relevant inventory cost per unit time. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the solution procedure.
