Abstract
Joining warehouses and suppliers facilities to deliver the finished product to the end customer is a complex process that requires extensive consideration. The resulting chain is an integration of such entities as the supplier, manufacturer, distributor, warehouse, retailer, and end customer. A perishable product is any product that can rot, spoil, or deteriorate rapidly and, soon after manufacture, may become unusable or obsolete. Perishable products thus have special nutritional characteristics that necessitate care and unique treatment for them. Such products can be anything that becomes outdated a short time after production or harvest, such as fruits, vegetables, meat, certain drinks, blood, and pharmaceuticals. The objective of this study is to find the best heuristics for distributing multiple perishable products as early as possible to maximize profit. Case studies involving featuring perishable products at different rates of degradation with multiple retailers and limited transportation capacity were carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Highlights
This paper is an extended version of a previous paper presented at the 7th Annual Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management [1], and significantly expands the model and case studies presented therein
There are five distribution or delivering techniques: (1) direct shipment based on the highest daily rate; (2) direct shipment based on shelf life; (3) direct shipment based on the highest selling price; (4) grouping the most profitable products and shipping to the nearest neighbor; and (5) shipping one type of product at the time to the nearest neighbor
The techniques are direct shipment based on highest daily rate, direct shipment based on shelf life, direct shipment based on the highest selling price, grouping the most profitable products and shipping to the nearest neighbor, and shipping products by using the entire fleet of vehicles to the nearest neighbor
Summary
This paper is an extended version of a previous paper presented at the 7th Annual Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management [1], and significantly expands the model and case studies presented therein. The supply chain is an integration of many entities, including the supplier, distribution centers, retailers, and the end-customers. One of the three degrees of supply chain complexity mentioned by research in [2] is the direct supply chain. It refers to the set or network of three or more items that flow from the source to the end customer, such as products, services, finance, and/or information. Poor supply chain management can lead to significant financial loss [11,12], especially when distributing perishable products such as dairy, fresh fruits, fresh flowers, and live seafood because freshness in this case has a direct impact on price and customer satisfaction. This paper considers dynamic perishable products for which the retailers may have multiple orders with varying shelf lives
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