Supply Chain Distribution Network Research Articles

A location-inventory-pricing model for a three-level supply chain distribution network

This article applies competition-based pricing method to a location-inventory-pricing problem, something which had not yet been investigated as of this study. It reveals that examining the three problems of location, inventory and pricing in an integrated and simultaneous manner can be the best approach to optimize the supply chain (SC) and increase the profitability of its companies. The investigated three-level SC distribution network model includes one supplier, several distribution centers (DCs), and several customers. The model is structured in form of a mixed integer nonlinear programming to maximize the long-term average profit of the distribution network. It considers constraints of inventory capacity along with continuous review inventory policy in each open DC. For its DCs’ retail price determination, two competing pricing approaches of higher than and lower than the average price of competitors have been used. The approach has been investigated on several potential DCs and customers and its numerical results show that retail price from the DCs to the customers is dependent on the average price of the market and its fluctuations. The major finding of this research is the fact that the type of demand function can have a substantial effect on the obtained results in the location-inventory-pricing model and greatly influence the amount of the profit of each company. Its applied strategy along with innovative competition-based pricing approach and projection of customers’ demand via linear and exponential functions show how companies can increase their profit through price adjustment and demand projection.

Compromising allocation for optimising agri-food supply chain distribution network: a fuzzy stochastic programming approach

Compromising allocation for optimising agri-food supply chain distribution network: a fuzzy stochastic programming approach

A game theory data science-based mechanism for licensed pharmaceutical products concerning their deterioration: a case of a micro, small, and medium enterprise in Iran.

One of the main characteristics of health systems and pharmaceutical supply chains is their significant costs in the public sector, which has forced governments and companies active in this field to find ways to reduce costs. In this paper, the deterioration of imported pharmaceutical items is investigated as one of the challenges of the supply chain of pharmaceutical firms. Specifically, the micro, small medium enterprise (MSME), and a collaborative strategy to reduce its costs is presented. The technical solution of the cooperative strategy is the formation of a partnership alliance between the foreign patent holder of brand drugs and a domestic manufacturer through an exclusive license contract in the local country. This leads to a significant reduction of costs in the distribution network of the pharmaceutical supply chain. On the other hand, supply chain management techniques in the cooperative strategy provide the necessary motivation for its practical implementation by splitting fair profits between producers and other members, namely local government, distributors, and pharmacies. For these purposes, a cooperative game theory-based contract is utilized to set the parameters of the license agreement, and then a profit-sharing mechanism is introduced that splits the benefits of cooperation among the supply chain members based on their afforded costs. The most important contribution of the current research is to propose an integrated framework that combines the logistics network models, valuation methods, and profit split mechanisms that embody more facts from real-world problems than separate models in this regard in previous studies. Moreover, results of the proposed strategy in the supply chain of a drug for thalassemia patients in Iran indicate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in reducing costs and deterioration. Further, it is shown that the higher the ordering costs of the imported drugs, the lower the market share of the patent holder, and the lower the financing expenses of the cooperative alliance, the more efficient is the proposed strategy.

Utilizing hybrid metaheuristic approach to design an agricultural closed-loop supply chain network

Nowadays, recent advances and developments in the agricultural sector have raised concerns regarding the environmental impact of agricultural wastes and the safety of agricultural products. Recently, reverse logistics have been used to address these issues. It is also possible to reduce the environmental impact of these by-products and return them to the network by opening compost centers and designing an optimal supply chain distribution network. In this paper, a new mixed linear mathematical model is developed for an agriculture supply chain network to minimize the total fixed and variable costs of the closed-loop supply chain,. To address the proposed model, efficient and well-known old and recent meta-heuristic algorithms are utilized. Besides, to boost intensification and diversification phases, three hybrid meta-heuristic algorithms are developed. Finally, the quality of the meta-heuristic and hybrid algorithms are investigated and compared.

Strategi Optimasi Jaringan Distribusi Sampah Organik di Tangerang Selatan

South Tangerang City is the youngest city that officially separated from the Tangerang Regency in 2008. Area of South Tangerang City 147,19 km2 or 1,63 percent from the area of Banten Province with the widest area of Pondok Aren subdistrict with an area of 2.988 hectares. While administratively, South Tangerang City has 7 sub-districts namely Pamulang, Setu, Ciputat, East Ciputat, Serpong, North Serpong and Pondok Aren, and has 54 villages. Optimizing the distribution network of organic waste supply chain can be formulated in Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) model. Variants of VRP include Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) can be used as a model in optimizing the waste transport route and the determination of the fastest route for the transport process of organic waste in all intermediate transfer points spread in South Tangerang city. The results of this research formulate some models of optimization organic waste transport routes in each sub-district in South Tangerang city. As in Setu district there is one optimum route, Serpong district there are 7 optimum route, Pamulang district have 6 optimum route, Ciputat district have 3 optimum route, East Ciputat District have 1 optimum route, Pondok Aren district have 4 optimum route, North Serpong there are 2 optimum routes.

The effect of planning horizon and information sharing on the optimisation of the distribution network of a fast-moving consumer goods supply chain

Background: The distribution network design is very important in optimising the supply chain performance and cost. There are different distribution policies that a company may have to select from, and consequently, the company should plan its resources and should select a planning horizon based on its choice.Objective: The main objective is to design the distribution network of a fast-moving consumer goods company in order to optimise the transportation and inventory costs by determining the quantities to be shipped and the resources needed. This is analysed throughout different planning horizons and distribution policies.Method: A mixed integer quadratic problem model is developed to optimise transportation and inventory costs by determining the quantities to be shipped, the quantities to be stored and the types of trucks to be used. The model is applied to four different distribution policies and the performance of each is tested across different time horizons.Results: An analysis is carried out to optimise the distribution plan for each policy. The effect of the length of the planning horizon on the different plans is also shown.Conclusion: The results show how each policy performs against the trade-off between the ease of using the policy and its cost of operation. Also, the length of the planning horizon is shown to drastically reduce the total cost and affect the operating conditions when the Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) policy is considered.

A new supply chain distribution network design for two classes of customers using transfer recurrent neural network

A new supply chain distribution network design for two classes of customers using transfer recurrent neural network

Multi-objective multi-echelon distribution planning for perishable goods supply chain: a case study

The growing concern of leading a healthy and balanced lifestyle has instigated the rise of the global consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. However, the overall supply chain, particularly the product delivery system, is significantly hampered due to uncertain circumstances, such as a pandemic, natural disaster, and political strikes. Thus, better strategical decisions such as improved and optimised distribution planning have to be made to reduce this wastage and spoilage and ensure sustainability across its chain. Therefore, to ensure a sustainable supply chain architecture, this research proposes a tri-objective optimisation model for multi-echelon and multi-products aiming to lessen the annual supply chain cost, cold storage setup cost, and enhance the freshness of perishable by establishing a proper distribution channel. First, a mixed-integer linear programming model with three competing goals is proposed to solve the supply chain distribution network design problem. Then, to deal with the multi-criteria problem, a weighted sum method is considered. This was solved using CPLEX optimisation studio. A case study is considered to check the feasibility of the model with two common fruits of Bangladesh, i.e. guava and lemon. Finally, several cost-effective options and trade-offs between three factors are presented to aid the decision-making process. Highlights A unique flexible distribution planning model for multi-product fresh produce Allocating a new echelon, refrigerated DC between production and consumption zone Considering waste minimization and carbon emission to improve sustainability Determining the most preferred location of DCs from potential locations Establishing cold storages, considering perishable nature for developing countries

Designing the drone based end-to-end local supply chain distribution network

People in rural areas suffer due to lack of proper health care specifically during the emergency condition. Ontime delivery of emergency lifesaving medicine at the remote area is a one of the major concerns and one of the major reasons for this cause is the negligence and lack of proper transportation and road infrastructure. In this paper we have proposed a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model that is based on drone delivery for end-to-end local supply chain distribution network to ensure the fastest possible delivery of lifesaving medicine at the remote area. Moreover, we have used the Dijkstra algorithm to find the shortest path to deliver the lifesaving medicine at the patient home location using drone. The objective of this paper is to design an end-to-end local supply chain network to minimize the total delivery lead time of the lifesaving medicines under emergencies conditions. Also, the proposed MINLP model help to select the optimal healthcare facility location to minimize the total delivery lead time.

Application of biological and digital technologies in resolving the negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic on crop production in Nigeria

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrecked great havoc in many spheres of life, including education, health, economy, and agriculture. This paper x-rayed the effects of the pandemic on crop production in Nigeria, and efforts made to proffer viable solutions through the application of biological and digital technologies. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on crop production was palpable in shortage of farm labour and labour immobility, disruption of agricultural input supply chain (e.g., fertilizers, agrochemicals, and seeds) and food distribution network. These irregularities grossly escalated food insecurity challenges, sparked price hikes, increased hunger and food losses. Considering the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on crop production which invariably extends to farmers’ income, food security, family nutrition and health, prompt measures to minimize the onward transmission among key players in crop production and food supply chain are imperative. The application of biological technologies including vaccination, use of natural herbs and spices, organic agriculture options (such as organic manuring, use of botanical protectants, farmers’ own seeds, cover cropping, mulching, biofertilizers, etc.), agricultural mechanization, and the digital technologies (mobile phones, remote sensing services, online platforms, robotics and artificial intelligence) would go a long way in resolving the negative effects of the pandemic on crop production in Nigeria. Strict adherences to the recommended public health safety measures (social distancing, compulsory use of face masks in the public, regular hand hygiene, covering of one’s mouth when sneezing or coughing, disinfection of high touch surfaces) are crucial in curtailing the spread of COVID-19 infection.
 Key words: COVID-19 pandemic, crop production, food security, bio-and digital technologies, Nigeria

A Coordinated Optimization Model of the Complex System of the Green Supply Chain Distribution Network

A well-established distribution network is fundamental to the sound management of the green supply chain. To adapt to the market demand and policies for green products, it is urgent to build an efficient and rational logistic distribution network for the green supply chain. Many researchers have tried to design distribution networks through the coordinated optimization of the green supply chain, in the light of realistic situation. However, there are very few optimization models that consider all kinds of influencing factors. To solve the problem, this paper attempts to establish a coordinated optimization model of the complex system of the green supply chain distribution network (GSCDN). Firstly, the authors plotted the structure and game logic of the GSCDN and defined the upper limit of sales induced by the limited production capacity of producers. Secondly, the coordinated optimization conditions were configured for the distributor layer, producer layer, and market demand layer, and a coordinated optimization model was set up for the complex system. Finally, the contractual coordinated optimization mechanism was detailed for the complex system under the profit-sharing contract. The proposed model and solving algorithm were proved valid through experiments.

Optimization and Computing Model of Fish Resource Supply Chain Distribution Network

Aceh is a province that is rich in fishery resource potential. Fish resources become one of the leading commodities, therefore we need a supply chain optimization model. Optimization is one of the technologies widely used in supply chain network management. Fish resource supply chain becomes very important because it is caused by several factors, including the diversity of types of products from fish resources and their short expiry. The steps used in this research is literature review, determine parameters and decision variables, formulate the objective function and constraint function, modeling and model implementation. The purpose of this research is to get an optimization model in planning and managing the fish resource supply chain by using mixed integer linear programming, so that the resulting model can solve problems in the limitations of fish resources in certain areas, can distribute all consumer demand quickly. This new model can minimize transportation costs to suppliers, minimize transportation costs from suppliers to distribution centers and minimize transportation costs from distribution centers to consumers, and minimize product inventory costs to suppliers and to distribution centers.

Capacitated location routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery under the risk of disruption

This paper develops a new mathematical model to study a location-routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery under the risk of disruption. A remarkable number of previous studies have assumed that network components (e.g., routes, production factories, depots, etc.) are always available and can permanently serve the customers. This assumption is no longer valid when the network faces disruptions such as flood, earthquake, tsunami, terrorist attacks and workers strike. In case of any disruption in the network, tremendous cost is imposed on the stockholders. Incorporating disruption in the design phase of the network will alleviate the impact of these disasters and let the network resist disruption. In this study, a mixed integer programming (MIP) model is proposed that formulates a reliable capacitated location-routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery (RCLRP-SPD) services in supply chain distribution network. The objective function attempts to minimize the sum of location cost of depots, routing cost of vehicles and cost of unfulfilled demand of customers. Since the model is NP-Hard, three meta-heuristics are tailored for large-sized instances and the results show the outperformance of hybrid algorithms comparing to classic genetic algorithm. Finally, the obtained results are discussed and the paper is concluded.

Supply chain transparency through blockchain-based traceability: An overview with demonstration

Traceability can be referred to as the ability to track and trace information. Application of traceability can create transparency in supply chains. Conventionally available, centralized traceability solutions are not preferable for supply chains as they are exposed to many problems such as data manipulations, single point of failure, etc. Blockchain, the recently emerged distributed ledger technology, is gaining popularity with its tremendous applications in various fields, particularly in supply chain management. Technically, blockchain is a decentralized and distributed database where information can be securely recorded. Blockchain-based traceability solutions can tackle the shortcomings of centralized traceability solutions. Firms have already started incorporating blockchain into their supply chain activities in order to improve the transparency through tracking and tracing the events. This paper ultimately aims to present an overview of the various blockchain-based traceability solutions reported in the literature. Primarily, this work provides an insight on the possibilities of blockchain traceability solutions in making a supply chain transparent. Apart from this, it analyses how blockchain traceability solutions affect the visibility of various supply chain distribution network designs, and gives an outline on how technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), and smart contracts elevate the opportunities of blockchain. In order to demonstrate how blockchain traceability solutions improve supply chain transparency, a Proof of Concept (PoC) for a cold chain scenario is presented using Microsoft Azure Blockchain Workbench.

A Propose Model Optimal Supply Chain Distribution Network for Farmer Industrial

A supply chain should be operated in the most efficient way in a highly competitive environment, with the goals of cost minimization, shipment delays, inventories and expenditures, and distribution maximization, gain, return on investment, level of customer support, and efficiency. The development of supply-chain distribution networks is therefore an extremely complex task, due to the large physical production and distribution network flows, the uncertainties associated with external interface customers and suppliers as well as the non-linear dynamics linked to internal information flows. This study aims to address a problem in domestic distribution in a supply chain system that includes manufacturers, distribution centers and consumer zones to determine the optimum configuration of the network. We propose a mixed integer linear programming model to solve the problem.

Supply Chain Planning Problem Considering Customer Inventory Holding Cost Based on an Improved Tabu Search Algorithm

Abstract This paper studies Inventory location routing problem in supply chain distribution network planning under vendor inventory management while considering customer inventory holding cost. In order to minimize the total cost of supply chain, an optimization model is established and an improved tabu search algorithm is used to solve the problem. From the analysis, it shows that the total cost decreases as the total vehicles capacity increases, and the maximum utilization of alternative vehicles and the minimum cost of the system don’t occur at the same time in some cases.

An Efficient Hybrid Genetic Approach for Solving the Two-Stage Supply Chain Network Design Problem with Fixed Costs

This paper deals with a complex optimization problem, more specifically the two-stage transportation problem with fixed costs. In our investigated transportation problem, we are modeling a distribution network in a two-stage supply chain. The considered two-stage supply chain includes manufacturers, distribution centers, and customers, and its principal feature is that in addition to the variable transportation costs, we have fixed costs for the opening of the distribution centers, as well as associated with the routes. In this paper, we describe a different approach for solving the problem, which is an effective hybrid genetic algorithm. Our proposed hybrid genetic algorithm is constructed to fit the challenges of the investigated supply chain network design problem, and it is achieved by incorporating a linear programming optimization problem within the framework of a genetic algorithm. Our achieved computational results are compared with the existing solution approaches on a set of 150 benchmark instances from the literature and on a set of 50 new randomly generated instances of larger sizes. The outputs proved that we have developed a very competitive approach as compared to the methods that one can find in the literature.

Design of Hydrogen Fuel Supply Chain Distribution Network from The Potency of Fresh Fruit Empty Bunches

In Indonesia, the production of biomass is wasted because it is considered as “waste” that has no use anymore such as bagasse, rice grain skin, corn cob, and oil palm waste. Oil palm empty bunches have C and H chemical bonds, where most of the materials with chains C and H store heat energy so that hydrogen can be obtained as fuel. Process to convert a biomass into hydrogen is by gasification and pyrolysis. The purpose in this research is to design the distribution network from the potential fresh fruit empty bunches. The hydrogen produced is only 0.469% of the available potential and is similar to the existing of the used empty bunches potential. Selection of factory location is based on 4 criteria. From the criteria, obtained Labuhan Batu District as the best regencies in North Sumatra. Potential plantations can supply as much as 6,390,423,000 kgs with the ability of oil palm factory distribution of 1,469,797,290 kgs.

Designing a sustainable multi-channel supply chain distribution network: A case study

Abstract The existence of numerous social, economic, and environmental problems and the need to improve the long-term performance in organizations have led the supply chain designs toward sustainable designs. On the other hand, due to the emersion of new technologies and the creation of new business models, the increase of competition level among retailers and the raise of customers expectations, the use of a multi-channel distribution system is nowadays growing. Therefore, the appropriate distribution channel according to the product type and the number of vehicles for the transportation of the products is a significant and important issue in retailing systems. In this regard, in this paper, a mixed-integer programming model for the sustainable distribution network design, considering multi-product, multi-echelon and multi-transportation mode especially third party logistics (3PL), is presented. The economic, environmental, and social objectives are mathematically formulated, where these objectives include: 1) minimizing transportation costs, purchasing vehicles and building warehouses as the first objective, 2) minimizing the amount of carbon dioxide released by transport vehicles and building warehouses, 3) maximizing the number of job opportunities. After linearization of the proposed model, it is solved using the goal programming technique by GAMS software. Finally, to evaluate the applicability of the proposed mathematical model, Digikala company is used as a case study.

Indonesian High-Speed Railway Optimization Planning for Better Decentralized Supply Chain Implementation to Support e-Logistic Last Miles Distribution

E-logistics must have better strategy because they must satisfy unpredictable demands which came from customer. Other consumer behaviours which affect e-logistics must work more efficiently are the requirement of last miles fast delivery and more competitive pricing. Decentralized supply chain model can handle all these issues and complex logistics activity although it only has one echelon model in the supply chain structure. Decentralized supply chain model doesn’t need a distribution centre but requires inventory sharing policy. Key to success inventory sharing policy is low lead time delivery. In Indonesia, only two transportation type which can handle product in low lead time, i.e., train cargo and aircraft cargo. Train cargo still needs high lead time but has low operation cost. Aircraft cargo can handle product in low lead time but need high operation cost. The trade-off in this condition is e-logistics need low lead time transportation tenant to satisfy demand until last miles delivery but has low operation cost not as expensive as aircraft cargo. Indonesia is developing high-speed train which connects Jakarta to Surabaya. In this research, we will review the level of effectiveness high-speed train in Indonesia to realized decentralized supply chain distribution network for handling e-logistics last miles shipping using dynamic system simulation. The output of this research is efficiency review of Indonesian high-speed railway cargo to support decentralized e-logistics supply chain distribution network, compared by aircraft cargo. After we perform simulation using dynamic system simulation, delivery of products between regions by using fast train is declared feasible to deliver products with fast delivery type if in one day there are six departure time (delivery batch). If less than six departures, the railway is declared unfeasible to deliver products with fast delivery type. However, the train can save about 37% batch delivery when compared to cargo aircraft.