A simple empirical model for blood platelet production and inventory management under uncertainty

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a pragmatic method for managing the inventory and production of blood platelets in places with inappropriate infrastructure. Thus far, we can find a rich number of papers regarding the optimization of blood products supply chain but most of them are impractical due to utilizing so many mathematical formulas and parameters. Hence, as an interdisciplinary study, we should develop a comprehensible method for medical workers and doctors to optimize the supply chain, maintain the quality of services and overcome the challenges. The inventory manager has to cope with multifaceted problems, among those are limited availability of donors, the uncertainty of demand, maintaining the quality and quantity of the products at a reasonable level and on-time response to medical centers and finally yet importantly avoid waste caused by overproduction. To tackle these problems, we employed Markov decision process and simulation to ensure the accountability of the model. Eventually, the real managerial insight provided through gathering data regarding the number of casualties caused by road accidents in Semnan province, Iran, and the number of blood platelet ordered by the hospitals and coordination between medical centers and the Blood Transfusion Center. The results indicate the accessibility of the model by inventory manager and physicians in the transfusion center and the reduction of waste due to appropriate production planning.