A robust location-inventory model for food supply chains operating under disruptions with ripple effects

Abstract

Given the inevitable globalisation in the food sector and the specific security challenges this industry faces, designing food supply chains has become a substantial topic for academics and practitioners. The integration of food product-specific characteristics and potential disruptions has continuously gained importance because it better reflects real-world problems and responds to a crucial need for resilience, robustness, and competitiveness. In this article, a generic two-stage mixed-integer mathematical model is developed to integrate key features of location-allocation and inventory-replenishment decisions. Then, food-specific disruptions with ripple effects are incorporated through plausible scenarios. For such a setting, three resiliency strategies – namely, readiness, flexibility, and responsiveness – are used to deal with uncertainties. Based on extensive numerical experiments, the solutions obtained highlight behaviour of different design models to hedge against ripple effects as well as the importance of incorporating food-specific assumptions and risk aversion attitudes.

KEYWORDS:

• Food supply chain
• disruptions
• ripple effect
• resilience
• robust optimisation
• location-inventory problem

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seyed Mohammad Gholami-Zanjani

Seyed Mohammad Gholami-Zanjani is a PhD student in Industrial Engineering in Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). He obtained an MSc from the School of Industrial Engineering in University of Tehran. His research interests include the resiliency and robustness in design and management of supply chains, the strategy of distribution logistics networks. He is the principal author of several scientific articles published in international journals such as International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Journal of Cleaner Production and book chapters under Springer-Verlag. He has been a visiting researcher at Kedge Business School during his PhD thesis studies.

Mohammad Saeed Jabalameli

Mohammad Saeed Jabalameli received his PhD in Industrial Engineering from the Tarbiat Modares University and currently a Full Professor at the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). He has published several papers in the area of location-allocation problems, supply chain management, risk management in various journals such as Energy, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Omega, Journal of Production Research and Journal of Cleaner Production.

Walid Klibi

Walid Klibi, obtained his Ph.D. in Supply Chain at Laval University’s business school in Quebec City, Canada, in 2009. He is, since 2011, a professor of Supply Chain Management at KEDGE Business School in Bordeaux, France, where he is a founding member of the Centre of Excellence in Supply Chain (CESIT). He is also an associate member of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT) in Canada. He is actively involved in supply chain management research and is the author of several scientific papers on the design of supply chain networks. He is also the co-author of a book entitled ‘ The Design of Value Creating Supply Chain Networks ’ published by Springer in 2016, which is intended for an academic and professional audience. He is also involved in teaching activities with the ISLI programs and in executive training and consultancy with private organisations.

Mir Saman Pishvaee

Mir Saman Pishvaee received his PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tehran and currently an Associate Professor at the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). He has published over 100 papers in the area of supply chain management, robust optimisation and system thinking in various journals such as Energy, Renewable Energy, Omega, Transportation Research: Part E (TR-E) and several book chapters under Springer-Verlag. His research areas are supply chain management, robust optimisation and system dynamics. Notably, he was among the top 1 percent researchers (engineering area) in 2017–2020 based on ISI-ESI report.