Resolution of a stochastic supply chain design problem by metaheuristic

This work addresses a study of a single commodity stochastic distribution network. The distribution network under consideration consists of a set of suppliers serving in a random delivery time a set of retailers through a set of distribution centers (DCs); suppliers are linked to retailers by a single way. So, strategic decisions of suppliers´ selection, DCs location and retailers assignment are integrated in one nonlinear optimization model. Our objective is to find the number of DCs to open and their best location, the best allocation of suppliers to DCs and DCs to retailers. A simulation based optimization approach using Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) is used to solve this problem. So, numerical results are presented and analyzed to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.