Supply Chain Design Models and Solution Methods: A Review and Directions for Future Research

Abstract

Supply chain may be designed both at the strategic level as well as at the operational level. The strategic level model decides the basic structural configuration of the supply chain, i.e. the locations and number of echelons like suppliers, manufacturing plants, distribution centres, retailers, etc. At the operational level, the parameters like inventory levels, production and delivery schedules, etc., are decided to control the day-to-day activities of the supply chain. In the literature, various kinds of models are appearing which have been developed by various researchers. Many performance measures have been used to assess supply chain performance. A wide range of supply chain decision variables, modeling approaches, and solution methods have been adopted by researchers. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) provide a focused review of literature on supply chain design models and their solution methods and (2) suggest directions for future research in this area.