The Optimization of a Multi-Product Three-Echelon Supply Chain

This paper aims at the single-objective optimization of multi-product for three-echelon supply chain architecture consisting of production plants, distribution centers (DCs), and customer zones (CZs). The key design decisions considered in the study include the quantity of products to be shipped from plants to DCs, from DCs to CZs , cycle length, and the production quantity so as to minimize the total cost .To optimize the objective, three-echelon network model is mathematically represented considering the associated constraints, production, capacity and shipment costs and solved using genetic algorithm (GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA).Some numerical illustrations are provided at the end to not only show the applicability of the proposed methodology, but also to select the best method using a t-test along with the simple additive weighting (SAW) method.