Title: Optimisation models and information sharing in a multi-echelon pharmaceutical supply chain

Authors: Mouna Elarbi; Malek Masmoudi; Omar Ayadi; Faouzi Masmoudi

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax (FSEG), University of Sfax, LA2MP, Airport Road km4, Sfax 3018, Tunisia ' University of Saint Etienne, Jean Monnet, 42000, 42334, Saint-Etienne, France; Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, University of Saint Etienne, Jean Monnet, F-42000, Saint-Etienne, France ' National School of Engineering of Sfax (ENIS), University of Sfax, LA2MP, Sukra Road B.P.1173 – 3038, Sfax, Tunisia ' National School of Engineering of Sfax (ENIS), University of Sfax, LA2MP, Sukra Road B.P.1173 – 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

Abstract: This paper deals with the pharmaceutical supply chain management. We consider the case of the multi-echelon Tunisian pharmaceutical supply chain that is composed of one central pharmacy, multi-regional pharmacies, and multi-hospitals. We provide two mathematical models to reduce the whole supply chain cost, in particular the cost of shortage that highly affects the quality of service in the healthcare sector. In the first mathematical model, we optimise the current Tunisian pharmaceutical supply chain with information sharing only between the central pharmacy and the regional pharmacies, and in the second model, we consider an extension of the information sharing to cover all the supply chain members. Numerical results show the impact of the information sharing in cost saving by more than 14% on average.

Keywords: supply chain; multi-echelon; mathematical model; optimisation; inventory management cost; information sharing; collaboration; pharmaceutical; drug.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2022.120670

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2022 Vol.14 No.1/2, pp.56 - 77

Received: 31 Mar 2020
Accepted: 05 Dec 2020
Published online: 02 Feb 2022 *

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