Developing a Supply Chain Planning Model for Perishable Crops

Abstract

In this paper, a supply chain model including production and distribution of perishable crops is introduced. Echelons of the supply chain are farms, fridges and wholesales. Furthermore, the demand can be responded by imports. The planning horizon is finite. Due to the perishable nature of the crops the harvested crops can be held no longer than pre-determined periods. The purpose of this model is to determine optimal planning for production, holding and transportation of each item in each period in order to the total cost is minimized. This model is applied for the case of potato, onion and tomato. The numerical results show that a decrease in total cost and consequently in price of each product can be made via using this model. Saving in water sources is another result of this model. Sensitivity analysis is done to investigate the effects of the key parameters on price and amount of import.

Keywords

• Supply chain
• Perishable crops
• Production Planning
• Transportation
• Location.