Design of a Mathematical Model for Logistic Network in a Multi-Stage Multi-Product Supply Chain Network and Developing a Metaheuristic Algorithm

Subject Areas : Design of Experiment

Esmaeil Mehdizadeh ¹ , Fariborz Afrabandpei ²

1 - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran
2 - MSc, Ilam Gas Treating Company, National Iranian Gas Company, Ilam, Iran

Received: 2011-08-10 Accepted : 2012-02-20 Published : 2012-03-15

Keywords: Supply chain management, Transportation network, Metaheuristic Algorithms, Priority-based Genetic Algorithm,

Abstract :

Logistic network design is one of the most important strategic decisions in supply chain management that has recently attracted theattention of many researchers. Transportation network design is then one of the most important fields of logistic network. This study isconcerned with designing a multi-stage and multi-product logistic network. At first, a mixed integer nonlinear programming model(MINLP) is formulated that minimizes transportation and holding costs. Then, a hybrid priority-based Genetic Algorithm (pb-GA) andsimulated annealing algorithm (SA) is developed in two phases to find the optimal solution. The solution is represented by a matrix and avector. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is also used to adjust the significant parameters of the algorithm. Finally, several testproblems are generated which show that the proposed metaheuristic algorithm can find good solutions in reasonable time spans.