A new bi-objective integrated vehicle transportation model considering simultaneous pick-up and split delivery

Abstract

Nowadays, global competition urges companies to more seriously consider the issue of cost reduction and high productivity in business networks. In this context, today, both industrial practitioners and researchers are focusing on the issues underlying the supply chain structure. In order to materialize real-world objectives, this study aims to improve the performance of the supply chain network by considering simultaneous pickup and split delivery, minimizing total costs, and maximizing customer services within a multi-period multi-product production planning. Besides, relevant data of the involved parameters were collected upon investigating a case study of a food industry located north of Iran. Eventually, the proposed mixed-integer linear programming model was addressed using a ∊-constraint method. Finally, related results of this solution were analyzed and compared with those of simple Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP).