A model for the strategic design of Distribution Networks

Author

Costantino, Nicola ; Dotoli, Mariagrazia ; Falagario, Marco ; Fanti, Maria Pia ; Mangini, Agostino Marcello ; Sciancalepore, Fabio ; Ukovich, Walter

Author_Institution

Dept. of Ing. Meccanica e Gestionale, Politec. di Bari, Bari, Italy

fYear

2010

fDate

21-24 Aug. 2010

Firstpage

406

Lastpage

411

Abstract

The paper addresses the optimal design of the last branch of the supply chain, i.e., the Distribution Network (DN), starting from manufacturers till the retailers. Considering a distributed system composed of different stages connected by material links labeled with suitable performance indices, a procedure employing digraph modeling and mixed integer linear programming is presented to select the (sub)optimal DN configuration. The optimization model is applied under structural constraints to a case study describing the distribution chain of a large enterprise of southern Italy producing consumer goods. The problem solution provides different structures allowing the improvement of the DN flexibility and performance.

Keywords

design; directed graphs; goods distribution; integer programming; linear programming; supply chain management; digraph modeling; distribution networks; material links; mixed integer linear programming; strategic design model; structural constraints; supply chain branch; Complexity theory; Mixed integer linear programming; Optimization; Production; Raw materials; Transportation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), 2010 IEEE Conference on

Conference_Location

Toronto, ON

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-5447-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/COASE.2010.5584706

Filename

5584706