Designing a Multi-Product Blood Supply Chain with Different Transportation Systems and Processing Technologies

One of the most key parts of a health system is the blood supply chain whose design is challenging due to the perishability of blood. In this research, an optimization model for multi-product blood supply chain network design is presented by considering blood deterioration. We consider a four-echelon blood supply chain that consists of blood donation centers, blood processing centers, blood products storage centers and hospitals as the user of the blood products. The locations of blood processing centers and blood products storage centers should be determined. Furthermore, considering different levels of technologies for blood processing, the suitable level for each opened center should be determined. In addition, different types of vehicle are also considered for blood transfer between different levels of the network. The objective is minimizing the total logistical costs including the costs of opening and running the blood processing centers and blood product storage centers and blood products transfer costs between different levels of the supply chain. Finally, we apply the given model to a real case study in Iranian blood supply chain, and sensitivity analysis is performed on some parameters. In the end, some managerial insights are given