A novel modelling approach for the redesign of supply chains: An application to soybean grain supply chains

Abstract

The redesign of an existent supply chain is a major challenge for stakeholders in the supply chain, and the supply chain redesign problem has seceral variants depending on the structure and parameters of the existent supply chain as well as the objective of the redesign. In this paper, we focus on one variant problem of the redesign of an existent two-echelon supply chain, with a view to determining the optimal supply chain redesign whose objective is the alteration of the transportation mode mix, so as to reduce the role of the road transportion mode through the introduction of an intermediate echelon of intermodal termials, and thus permittting the enhancement of the rail and inland waterways transportaion modes, which results in the reduction of operating costs and GHG emissions. Towards this end, we present a novel redesign strategy based on a four-step methodology employing bilevel programming, which is validated by application to a real world case study of a soybean exportation supply chain in Brazil. In this manner, the novel methodology presented in this paper can serve as a benchmark for supply chain redesign methods employing approximate methods.