Decision support framework for coordinated production and transport scheduling in SCM

The efficient coordination of production and distribution systems becomes a challenging problem as companies move towards higher collaborative and competitive environments. Focusing on the operational level of supply chain management (SCM), a framework is proposed to address the interrelated production and transport scheduling problems from the perspective of a production plant of a multi-site system that owns, or leases on a long-term basis, a fleet of vehicles to distribute the products. This framework aims to support the coordination of production and transport activities to properly manage the inventory profiles and material flows between sites. Both production and transport problems are defined as detailed scheduling problems, and different algorithms, either mathematical or heuristic-based, can then be used for their resolution. The flexibility and applicability of the proposed modeling framework is illustrated through two different case studies, which highlight the benefits of coordinating both activities in such a complex supply chain (SC) environment.