Supply chain flexibility and operations optimisation under demand uncertainty: a case in disaster relief
研究了灾难救援中救援包供应链的运营优化问题，通过将需求分解为稳定部分和不可预测激增部分，分别用优化模型和供应链灵活性应对，以减少交货延迟。
After a disaster happens, emergency response operations are critical to save humans’ lives and properties. The limited resources and time requirements call for coordinated supply chain operations. This paper studies supply chain operations for rescue kits in disaster reliefs, motivated by a real-world application. The objective is to minimise the total tardiness and peak tardiness of product delivery over the multi-period planning horizon. One major challenge is the lack of reliable prediction of customer demand in disasters. In order to cope with demand uncertainty while maintaining the tractability of the optimisation model, we decompose the demand into two components: a relatively stable base demand predicted by historical data and unpredictable demand surges. For the base demand, an optimisation model is developed to optimise the production and distribution operations, as well as the inventory replenishment policy for manufacturers and distribution centres, so as to minimise the total tardiness. For the demand surges, we propose to deploy supply chain flexibility to cope with the uncertainty. An empirical study shows the effectiveness of increasing supply chain flexibility and suggests some managerial insights on configuring such flexibility in emergency operations.