Title: Green inventory-routing problem of perishable items with age-related price and the possibility of renting vehicles

Authors: Maryam Dezhtaherian; Mahsa Ghandehari; Saeedeh Ketabi

Addresses: Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746-73441, Iran ' Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746-73441, Iran ' Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746-73441, Iran

Abstract: This paper considers a green inventory-routing problem (IRP) for perishable items in a two-level supply chain including a distributor (manufacturer/plant) and some retailers. Each item has a fixed expiry date. The product price depends on its age. The retailer demand for each product is fixed. The product cannot be sold after the expiry date. The possibility of hiring extra space for holding excessive amounts of inventory and hiring vehicles to exploit the advantage of the higher number of deliveries are considered. The problem is formulated to a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. Some small, medium and large-sized random generated samples are solved using OPL software and a proposed combined ant-generic algorithm. The results show the positive effect of partial outsourcing on the amount of profit. Furthermore, the volume of orders is influenced by taking the environmental effects of transportation into account.

Keywords: green inventory-routing; perishable items; mixed-integer linear programming; MILP; ant-generic algorithm.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2023.132461

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2023 Vol.45 No.3, pp.332 - 354

Received: 13 Nov 2020
Accepted: 17 Mar 2021
Published online: 21 Jul 2023 *

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