Blood Supply Chain Optimization Model with Transshipment and Multiple Blood Products

Abstract

The blood supply chain is a complex, integrated system, involving multiple echelons that requires optimization to obtain optimal solutions. This study develops a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for blood supply chains with multi-echelons including donors, blood centers, and hospitals. The model also considers multiple blood products, vehicle routing, and transshipment between blood centers, with the aim of minimizing the total costs of the blood supply chain. The results of the computational model indicate that there is a significant relationship between the number of blood centers and the total cost of the blood supply chain. In addition, the volume of blood products distributed between blood centers is inversely proportional to the volume of blood products produced in each blood center.