A two-phase coordinated logistics planning approach to platelets provision in humanitarian relief operations

Abstract

For provision of platelets in humanitarian relief operations, due to the excessive number of non-coordinated organizations, relief response times and corresponding costs of platelets sharply increase. This article proposes a two-phase mechanism to coordinate two heterogeneous relief organizations (i.e., relief and rescue organization of the Red Crescent Society and a blood transfusion organization) in a decentralized network in such a way that its own interests and objectives are also satisfied. The blood transfusion organization tries to minimize the wastage level of platelets considering related total costs. At the same time, the relief and rescue organization decides on the selection of shelters where the platelets can be administered to injured people, while minimizing total relief time. Thus, first a bi-level mixed integer linear model under the demand and supply uncertainties is developed (phase 1), and then a capacity-sharing coordination mechanism based on the collaborative control theory is proposed (phase 2). To solve large-scale instances, a fuzzy Kth-Best algorithm is developed to solve the first phase and then phase 2 is solved by the proposed coordination mechanism. We compare our model to centralized relief logistics model using a data set for a possible earthquake in Tehran, Iran. Results show that our model reduces shortage and wastage compared with the centralized model