Equilibrium Optimizer for Supply Chain Design under Demand Uncertainty

Abstract

Supply chain design (SCD) is a complex optimization challenge that involves coordinating various elements of a supply chain to ensure efficient production, distribution, and fulfillment of customer demands. This paper proposes an improved equilibrium optimizer (IEO) algorithm to develop a supply chain network. The first novelty lies in considering the uncertainty of customer demands, the upper and lower product limits of manufacturers, and product discounts to minimize the total economic cost. The second novelty concerns the improvements to the EO algorithm in the equilibrium pool, control parameters, and position correction. Position correction ensures that solutions meet the various constraints of SCD, and improves the feasibility of the algorithm. For small-, medium-, and large-scale test cases, the proposed algorithm has been observed to outperform the original EO algorithm and four well-known algorithms, the imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA), a hybrid algorithm of grey wolf optimizer and particle swarm optimization (GWOPSO), the whale optimization algorithm (WOA), and the teaching-learning based optimization algorithm (TLBO), in terms of optimal solutions and operational efficiency. IEO demonstrates outstanding performance in solving SCD problems.