Designing an integrated pharmaceutical relief chain network under demand uncertainty

Abstract

This paper addresses an integrated relief network design problem for pharmaceutical items. The proposed bi-objective model accounts for perishability of pharmaceutical items, mobility of relief facilities, and benefits from a cooperative coverage mechanism in designing the network. A min–max robust model is developed to tackle the demand uncertainty. Several numerical experiments are conducted to explore the performance of the robust model. Also, by conducting a real case study, useful managerial insights are derived through performing several sensitivity analyses. The numerical results reveal that using the min–max robust model enhances the pharmaceutical relief network’s effectiveness and efficiency considerably.