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Supply Chain Network with Normal Demand

Jafari, Nader | 2006

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 39041 (01)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Industrial Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Modarres Yazdi, Mohammad
  7. Abstract:
  8. In this thesis, we focus on some internal organization issues of the supply chain; in particular, we analyze some network design problems which are typical of producer companies. The aim is to optimize the flow of goods through the literature distribution network, from the plants where the goods are produced (supply points) to the demand points, which are essentially distributors such as wholesalers or retailers. The system addresses a class of distribution network design problems, which is characterized by multiple product families, a central manufacturing plant site, multiple central warehouses and distribution center, and retail outlets (customer zones) which demand multiple units of several commodities. The model consists of two stages: the planning stage where we incorporate a strategic based decision-making process of selecting the ‘‘best’’ set of central warehouses and distribution centers to operate and decide the required quantity of product families that need to be transported between facilities. The second phase consists of the operational stage that includes an operational based decision-making process. In this phase, the model decides the required quantity of product families needed to be transported from the plant to central warehouses and transshipped to distribution centers from warehouses, and later distributed to customer outlets. The distribution system design considered here is derived from current operations of a major retailing organization that manages products for nationwide distribution. The proposed model developed to implement the model provides for a high degree of user interaction in the generation of solutions. The overall system generates globally feasible, near optimal distribution system design and utilization strategies utilizing the genetic algorithm (GA) methodology. This study makes two important contributions to the GA literature. First, we extend the breadth of applications by studying a new combinatorial problem that incorporates distribution centers in a supply chain environment. Second, we systematically evaluate the computational performance under a variety of problem scenarios and GA control parameter settings
  9. Keywords:
  10. Supply Chain ; Genetic Algorithm ; Mixed Integer Linear Programming ; Supply Chain Network Design ; Distributed Networks

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