Assignment 2
Assignment 2
I. PROBLEM INTRODUCTION
Product distribution in a supply chain is an importation operation in today business’ intense competition. One
of the key decisions is product allocation in a distribution network, which affects its competiviveness because
proper allocation leads to efficiency in satisfying customer demand. This study involves a case study of
designing a distribution network of a company in Thailand. The network structure is shown in Figure 1.
The warehouse operations, both internal and external, include packaging, inbound loading and unloading with
forklift or labor, putaway, storage, retrieval, and outbound loading and unloading. At internal warehouses, all
products are delivered from factory for packaging first, Then, products are either stored at the internal
warehouse, or transferred to one of the external warehouses. For transferred products, they will be packed,
wrapped, and loaded before transfering. The products to be delivered to the customers, at both internal and
external warehouses, are retrieved from storage, picked, wrapped, load and unload on to delivery trucks.
There are three types of storages that require different storage areas in the warehouses: normal package and
large package are block stacked in conventional storage areas, and some special products are kept in tent.
Products and storage areas are preassigned according to the product quality level, package type, and value.
These storage types must be taken into account, when considering the warehouse capacity.
There are six modes of transportation: two types of 10-wheel trucks, two types (sizes) of 18-wheel trucks,
bulk truck, and pipe. They are used to deliver products from factory to warehouses (pipe and 10-wheel truck),
from warehouses to domestic customers (bulk truck and 10-wheel trucks), and from warehouses to oversea
customers (18-wheel trucks).
To efficiently meet future customer demand, an important decision is to find optimal product allocation in this
network: from factory to each warehouse and from each warehouse to the customers. The objective is to
minimize the total cost, consisting of transportation and warehouse costs, over the period of planning horizon. A
mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to find optimal solution of this problem.
CEDe , d , m ,t : Unit transportation cost from external warehouse e to domestic customer d using mode m in period t.
Copi : Unit cost of performing all warehousing operations for products stored at internal warehouse.
Cope , e : Unit cost of performing all warehousing operations for products stored at external warehouse e.
Copt : Unit cost of performing all warehousing operations of for products transferred from internal warehouse to
external warehouse e.
CAPe , k : Warehouse capacity at external warehouse.
CAPI k : Warehouse capacity at internal warehouse.
I p : Inventory day of product p.
DDd , p , m ,t : Domestic customer d demand of product p using mode m in period t.
OD p , m ,t : Oversea customer demand of product p using mode m in period t.
FCap p ,t : Amount of products p supplied from factory in period t.
C. Decision variables
XFI p ,t : Flow of product p from factory to internal warehouse in period t.
XIEe , p ,t : Flow of product p from internal warehouse to external warehouse e in period t.
XIOm , p ,t : Flow of product p from internal warehouse to oversea customers using mode m in period t.
XEOe , m , p ,t : Flow of product p from external warehouse e to oversea customers using mode m in period t.
XIDd , m , p ,t : Flow of product p from internal warehouse to domestic customers d using mode m in period t.
XEDe , d , m , p ,t : Flow of product p from external warehouse e to domestic customers d using mode m in period t.
Yp ,t : Amount of products p stored at internal warehouse in period t.
Ye, p ,t : Amount of products p stored at external warehouse e in period t.
Z p ,t : Amount of products p transferred from internal warehouse in period t.
Sk ,t : Total storage space of storage type k at internal warehouse in period t.
Se , k ,t : Total storage space of storage type k at external warehouse e in period t.
III. QUESTION:
Based on the information in parts I and II, build a mathematical model
(Hint: The mathematical model includes an objective function that minimizes total costs, including
transportation and warehousing costs, within the planning period and 14 constraints)