Title: A multi-objective location-inventory model for a fashionable item in a three-level supply chain

Authors: Ali Bozorgi-Amiri; Roshanak Akram; Ata Allah Taleizadeh; Abolghasem Yousefi-Babadi

Addresses: School of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' School of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' School of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' School of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Nowadays, designing a supply chain considering customers' satisfaction is a practical field in supply chain area. In this paper, a multi-objective location-inventory model in a three-echelon supply chain for a perishable product with a fixed lifetime is extended where manufacturers, distributors and customers are the members of the chain. One of the most important factors for supplying perishable products is the availability time for the customers. So, besides the main objective of each chain including minimisation of transportation, inventory, deterioration and shortage costs, another objective as customers' satisfaction related to delivery times should be considered. Here, the optimal lot-sizes, delivery time between factories and distributors so as to choose and locate the best candidate place, and the optimal flows between layers of supply chain are determined. Also, we analyse the decisions of either sending items directly from factories to customers or sending them to the customers through distributors. Moreover, the mixed integer nonlinear model is solved with GAMS and eventually, several numerical examples are presented. The results show that the proposed model is practical in real world problems.

Keywords: location-inventory models; three-level supply chains; multi-objective modelling; perishability; customer satisfaction; inventory modelling; inventory management; perishable products; supply chain management; SCM; delivery times; optimal lot sizes; mixed integer nonlinear programming; MINLP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIR.2016.082332

International Journal of Inventory Research, 2016 Vol.3 No.4, pp.376 - 394

Received: 22 Mar 2016
Accepted: 14 Oct 2016
Published online: 19 Feb 2017 *

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