A multi-phase approach for supply chain design with product life cycle considerations

A supply chain is an alliance of independent business processes, such as supplier, manufacturing, and distribution processes that perform the critical functions in the order fulfillment process. Effective design and management of supply chains assists in production and delivery of a variety of products at low cost, high quality, and short lead times. However, the discussions in marketing and logistic literature universally conclude that it would be desirable to determine the life cycles of the products in the firm, as they have a great impact on appropriate supply chain design. This paper presents a multi-phase mathematical programming approach for effective supply chain design with product life cycle considerations. More specifically, the methodology develops and applies a combination of multi-criteria decision making models, based on aggregation concepts, and linear and integer programming methods. Model application and insights are detailed through numerical illustrations.