Inventory relief chain model with deterioration and disposal of relief commodity

Abstract

Our environment can be hit by disasters such as earthquake, flood, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc., and if any happens, organizations (private or government) start to provide facilities for evacuation and supply of relief commodities in the affected regions. This paper formulates an inventory-relief-chain (IRC) model with the relief supply chain for the relief commodity distribution. The results of the model provide the optimal number of intermediate distribution and relief centers. However, in the study, every center is considered to distribute relief commodities. The model is formulated with a core objective to optimize the total cost of the relief operation. An algorithm is proposed to find the optimal solution of the model. Furthermore, a numerical analysis is carried out on a numerical example to validate the efficiency of the algorithm. The sensitivity analysis is done over the optimal solution and the respective parameters of the model, at the same time representing the strength of the model,i.e., the extent these parameters are sensitive to the objective. The model can help relief organizations when managing relief supplies to the disaster areas.

Keywords

• inventory relief chain
• deterioration
• disposal
• humanitarian operation