Multi-period multi-echelon inventory transportation problem considering stakeholders behavioural tendencies

摘要

An inventory transportation problem of manufacturing organization focusing on several stakeholders such as manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and customers is addressed in this paper. The research study considered multi-echelon, multi-product, multi-modal and multi-period scenario. The mathematical model in the form of mixed integer non-linear programming is formulated to minimize the total cost associated with transportation, inventory holding and operational activities. A mathematical formulation based heuristic approach, which comprises of four algorithms, is proposed for solving purpose. The proposed heuristic approach considers the behavioural tendencies of stakeholders pertaining to the selection of shipment routes, transportation mode choice decisions and amount of products to be shipped. Fifteen practical problem instances are solved by using the developed heuristic approach while considering the behavioural aspects of stakeholders. Insights obtained from results will be beneficial for manufacturing organizations in making informed decisions related to transportation planning considering stakeholder's behavioural tendencies.