A Stochastic Multi-Product, Multi-Stage Supply Chain Design Considering Products Waiting Time in the Queue

In this paper, we develop a supply chain network design (SCND) model considering both strategic and operational decisions. The model determines plant and DC locations as well as product shipments among components of network regarding single sourcing and capacity of plants and distribution centers (strategic level) while the shipments have to wait in the queue for transporting from plants to DCs (operational level), which result in the lead time is incorporated in model. In practice, the parameters of problem such as demand, cost and capacity are changed and aren’t described as certain. Hence, we extend proposed SCND model by defining demands as different scenarios and apply the two-stage stochastic programming approach to solve it. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the mentioned model and some other scenario based approaches are presented so that decision makers select one of the approaches based on their policy.