A tradeoff model for green supply chain planning:A leanness-versus-greenness analysis

• Investigating tradeoffs between supply chain cost and environmental degradation.
• A Nested Integrated Cross-Entropy method to solve a nonlinear supply chain problem.
• Application of the model and solution method in an actual Australian case problem.
• How the proposed model can be used to contribute to the lean-and-green debate.

This article presents a tactical supply chain planning model that can be used to investigate tradeoffs between cost and environmental degradation including carbon emissions, energy consumption and waste generation. The proposed model also incorporates other aspects of real world supply chains such as multiple transport lot sizing and flexible holding capacity of warehouses. A solution methodology, the Nested Integrated Cross-Entropy (NICE) method, is developed to solve the proposed mixed-integer nonlinear mathematical model. The application of the model and solution method is investigated in an actual case problem. Analysis of the numerical results focuses on investigating the relationship between lean practices and green outcomes. We find that (1) not all lean interventions at the tactical supply chain planning level result in green benefits, and (2) a flexible supply chain is the greenest and most efficient alternative when compared to strictly lean and centralized situations.