Transportation Approach to Locating Plants in Relation to Potential Markets and Raw Material Sources
针对准时制生产对原材料频繁小批量配送的需求，提出一个综合模型，利用运输算法同时优化采购、生产和配送决策，并自动确定最优工厂规模。
ABSTRACT Proximity to the market place has been considered the most important locational factor in the literature so far. However, the growing need for frequent deliveries of materials in smaller lot sizes for just‐in‐time (JIT) manufacturing prefers plants closer to the raw materials sources. Locating plants for JIT manufacturing is, therefore, a problem of finding the right balance between the requirements of procurement and distribution. A comprehensive model is proposed in this paper to solve this problem. The model is solved by using the transportation algorithm and produces simultaneous decisions on procurement, production, and distribution. The model does not require plant sizes to be known a priori, but it allows upper limits to be placed on the size of each plant and raw material source. As such, optimal plant capacities along with the corresponding procurement and distribution quantities are all determined by the model solution.