Towards an integrated framework for supply chain management in the batch chemical process industry

There is a large body of work on supply chain (SC) optimization in the chemical process industry (CPI). However, some of the basic aspects of the optimization problem are not adequately handled by the models and solution strategies developed so far in the literature. This paper focuses on the underlying philosophy of our approach to supply chain management (SCM) in the CPI, which aims to overcome the challenges posed by this problem. Two main topics that offer great opportunities for improvement in SCM are discussed. These are the development of modeling approaches and solution strategies that reflect SC dynamics, the inclusion of environmental considerations, and the incorporation of novel business aspects and key performance indicators (KPI) into the existing formulations to enlarge the scope of SC analysis, which is currently rather limited. Our integrated solution strategy for SCM, which covers the aforementioned aspects and implements the ideas and concepts developed in our research, is also presented and its advantages are highlighted in a case study.