Strategic optimization of wheat supply chain network under uncertainty: a real case study

Abstract

Today, wheat and its by-products are considered the most important food grain source for humans across the world. Accordingly, integrally investigating the wheat supply chain is of great importance in strategic decisions. In this respect, this paper addresses a real case study of wheat supply chain in Iran as well as the entities involved it. Presenting a new mathematical model, the total cost of the wheat supply chain network design is optimized. The proposed model integrates collection, production, inventory, and distribution echelons of the wheat supply chain, simultaneously. The inherent uncertainty in supply, demand, related costs, and climate changing result in the different quality of wheat which make it challenging to design and manage an optimal structure for the wheat supply chain network. Hence, the role of uncertainty in the mathematical optimization model is highlighted, and then, a robust approach is utilized to tackle the inevitable uncertainty of parameters. The proposed robust model not only manage to overcome the complexity of uncertainty but also outperform the deterministic model. It shows the proposed robust model is more effective than deterministic one that can be applied to make robust strategic and tactical decisions for the wheat supply chain. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis of influential parameters is conducted. Finally, according to the obtained results as well as sensitivity analysis, some managerial insights are provided.