An Optimization Approach for a Fresh Food Supply Chain: An Application for the Orange Supply Chain Design in Turkey

Abstract

The optimization of supply chain problems in various industry areas is crucial in terms of controlling the quality of the products and costs during the supply chain processes. Protecting and controlling the quality of the product in the food supply chain processes while minimizing the cost is a difficult and critical problem in the food industry. In this study, an application of a model that integrates the quality of the food in decision-making on distribution and production in a food supply chain is implemented using real-life data in Turkey. The degradation of quality of products in storage or transportation is usually based on the storage temperature, storage time, and other constants such as activation energy. Therefore, prediction for the quality of food products is a complex task because of the dynamics of storage conditions and various product characteristics. A methodological approach is proposed to model the degradation of food quality in this study. The rate of quality degradation of food products is evaluated by the proposed approach. A mixed-integer programming model is developed for the optimization of distribution and production planning. To solve the problem, GAMS (General Algebraic Modeling System) CPLEX solver is used as an optimization tool. The results of the case study shows that the suggested model in this study is implementable to the problem with acceptable solution time. In addition, the suggested model is adaptable for different types of food supply chains. This study aims to develop a methodological approach that can be used as a guide for decision-makers.