Application of the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) in a Two-Echelon Cold Supply Chain

Abstract

A two-stage cold supply chain manages the transportation, storage, and distribution of temperature-sensitive products like frozen food, fresh/green products, and pharmaceuticals, which makes it costly. It consists of three key elements: a supplier, a warehouse, and multiple customers. Procurement planning can be conducted for various products, and this study assumes the transport of a fresh/green product with gradually decreasing quality due to its perishable nature. In a two-stage cold supply chain, multiple objective functions can be defined, including cost minimization, product quality optimization, and transportation/storage condition optimization. We developed a mathematical model to optimize these objectives, incorporating two specific functions, cost minimization and product age reduction, to ensure efficient supply chain performance. Traditional solution methods often struggle with multi-objective mathematical models due to their complexity. Therefore, the Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), a Genetic Algorithm-based approach, was applied to solve the model efficiently. NSGA-II optimized planning for a 7-day period under specific demand conditions, ensuring better resource allocation. The results showed that NSGA-II was better than traditional methods at making decisions and routing efficiently in the two-stage cold supply chain. This led to much better outcomes, with lower costs, less waste, and better product quality throughout the process.