An inventory routing problem for perishable products with demand and transportation time uncertainty: A robust optimization approach

In the Inventory Routing Problem (IRP) that addresses the coordination of two components of the supply chain: the inventory management and the vehicle routing, there are some likely uncertain parameters such as customers’ demand and transportation times. Considering the effect of uncertainty is more critical in the case of perishable products in the real situations. This research proposes a robust model for an IRP including one depot center, multiple products, multiple retailers, and a capacitated homogenous fleet of vehicles. It is assumed that the age of the perishable inventory has a negative impact on the demand of end customers and a percentage of the demand is considered as lost sale. The numerical study shows the validity of the model for the small size examples.