A decision-making approach for a multi-objective multisite supply network planning problem

Abstract

The current manufacturing environment has changed from traditional single plant to multisite supply network where multiple plants are serving customer demands. In this paper, a multi-objective, multistage, multi-product and multi-period production and transportation planning problem is considered in the context of a multisite supply network. The developed optimisation model aims simultaneously to minimise the total cost and to maximise products quality level. The main purpose of this paper is to provide the planner with a front of Pareto solutions and to help him to select a fair optimal solution that satisfies equitably the two considered objectives. A modified version of the epsilon-constraint method (AUGMECON) is applied in this paper to generate an efficient set of Pareto solutions. Then, the lexicographic minimax method is used in order to find the fair solution. A numerical example from a real textile and apparel industry is presented to illustrate the planning model and the solution approach.

Keywords:

• multisite supply network
• multi-objective optimisation
• efficient epsilon-constraint method
• lexicographic minimax method
• Pareto-optimal solutions

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to LINDO Systems, Inc. for providing us with a free educational research license of the extended version of LINGO 14.0 software package.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research is carried out in the context of a thesis MOBIDOC funded by the European Union under the program PASRI.