A simulation/metaheuristic approach to newspaper production and distribution supply chain problems

In this paper, we examine two-level and three-level supply chains for a midsize US newspaper in the Midwest that delivers to households and businesses in over 200 zip codes that span across various states. We formally define this problem as an integrated newspaper production and distribution supply chain management problem. Using a combination of model formulation, simulation, and an improvement heuristic we address both the efficiency and robustness of the solution by considering the impact of the stochastic nature of various parameters in both production and distribution. A deterministic formulation of the open vehicle routing problem with time windows and zoning constraints is utilized for vehicle scheduling and routing. A generalized network assignment problem is used to generate initial solutions and a tabu search metaheuristic solution approach is applied to improve solutions satisfying zone constraints and various approximate probabilities of satisfying delivery deadlines. However, the production and distribution process involves stochastic phenomena. We use simulation to evaluate the performance of the proposed solution. We estimate the customer service level of delivering to locations before 4:00 am. We also discuss improvement procedures if the service level is unsatisfactory.