Supply chain network design and transportation planning with fleet sizing considering both tangible and intangible criteria

In this paper we investigate supply chain network design and transportation planning problem where decisions for locating distribution centers (DCs), and determining the best strategy for shipping products from plants to customers through DCs are taken into consideration. The goal is to select locations of DCs to be opened and to design the network flow of products so that all customers demands are satisfied at minimum total cost of the distribution network, while total value of locating DCs and shipping products is maximized. Our study considers different transportation modes available at each potential DC and plant, and determines the fleet size on each arc of the network. We develop a two-phase approach to deal with this problem. In the first phase, decision maker uses MCDM methods to scores and rank all potential DC locations with regard to a set of criteria, and in the second phase through a multi-objective mixed integer programming (MOMIP) model final location and distribution decisions, incorporating selection of transportation modes and their associated loads, are made.

Keywords:

Supply chain network design , Facility location , Transportation , MCDM