Impact of lead time reduction and fuel consumption on a two-echelon supply chain inventory with a subsidised price and pick-up policy

Abstract

In this paper, the issue of vendor-buyer coordination in a supply chain involving a logistics provider has been investigated. The purpose is to analyse the impact of lead time reduction, fuel prices and fuel consumption of the fleet on the total cost incurred by the single vendor-buyer supply chain. We consider stochastic demand and the fact that fuel prices are subsidised and regulated by the government. The objective is to minimise the total cost incurred by a single vendor-buyer supply chain. Logistics costs are a function of weight, distance, fuel price and consumption with two load conditions: truckload (TL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments. This paper develops two models based on the prevailing operating conditions: in the first model, the vendor delivers their product to the logistics provider; and in the second model, the logistics provider offers a pick-up policy. Numerical examples and sensitivity analyses are given to illustrate the results.