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Farms usually plan the planting and harvest of crops independently and without considering the plans of the rest of supply chain (SC) members. This generates large imbalances between crops' supply and demand in markets, as well as significant price fluctuations. Shifting how crop production is planned to joint SC decision-making would offer significant advantages in preserving agricultural SC sustainability. This paper explores this idea by proposing a multi-objective optimisation model for planning the planting, cultivation, harvesting, storage, packaging, transport, labouring, and sale of fresh crops. The tool considers five objectives aligned with sustainability: maximising SC profits (economic), minimising waste (environmental), minimising unsatisfied demand (social), maximising sold crops' freshness (environmental and social), and minimising economic injustice perceived by farmers (social). The tool is validated through its application to the La Plata fresh tomato SC case study in Argentina and it is shown how the tool could be used by real decision-maker(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose the concepts of the composition of possibilistic variables and state functions. While in conventional compositional data analysis, the interdependent components of a deterministic vector must add up to a specific quantity, we consider such components as possibilistic variables. The concept of state function is intended to describe the state of a dynamic variable over time. If a state function is used to model decay in time, it is called the ageing function. We present a practical implementation of our concepts through the development of a model for a supply chain planning problem, specifically the order promising process for perishables. We use the composition of possibilistic variables to model the existence of different non-homogeneous products in a lot (sub-lots with lack of homogeneity in the product), and the ageing function to establish a shelf life-based pricing policy. To maintain a reasonable complexity and computational efficiency, we propose the procedure to obtain an equivalent interval representation based on α-cuts, allowing to include both concepts by means of linear mathematical programming. Practical experiments were conducted based on data of a Spanish supply chain dedicated to pack and distribute oranges and tangerines. The results validated the functionality of both, the compositions of possibilistic variables and ageing functions, showing also a very good performance in terms of the interpretation of a real problem with a good computational performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agri-food sector performance strongly impacts global economy, which means that developing optimisation models to support the decision-making process in agri-food supply chains (AFSC) is necessary. These models should contemplate AFSC’s inherent characteristics and sources of uncertainty to provide applicable and accurate solutions. To the best of our knowledge, there are no conceptual frameworks available to design AFSC through mathematical programming modelling while considering their inherent characteristics and sources of uncertainty, nor any there literature reviews that address such characteristics and uncertainty sources in existing AFSC design models. This paper aims to fill these gaps in the literature by proposing such a conceptual framework and state of the art. The framework can be used as a guide tool for both developing and analysing models based on mathematical programming to design AFSC. The implementation of the framework into the state of the art validates its. Finally, some literature gaps and future research lines were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the master planning problem for a centralised replenishment, production and distribution ceramic tile supply chain. A fuzzy multi-objective linear programming (FMOLP) approach is presented which considers the maximisation of the fuzzy gross margin, the minimisation of the fuzzy idle time and the minimisation of the fuzzy backorder quantities. By using an interactive solution methodology to convert this FMOLP model into an auxiliary crisp single-objective linear model, a preferred compromise solution is obtained. For illustration purposes, an example based on modifications of real-world industrial problems is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this article is to develop a centralised replenishment, production, and distribution model for ceramic tile supply chains. These supply chains are assumed to be multi-item, multi-supplier, multi-facility, multi-type and multi-level distribution centres. The model deals with multi-period master planning where sourcing considerations for replenishments, production facilities, and distribution centres are important to maximise an objective function involving the total net profit. This model is deterministic and has been formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. An example based on modifications of real-world industrial problems is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a Configurable Model Based DSS capable of dealing with generic problems being modeled by Linear Programming (LP) and by Fuzzy Sets (FS) in a deterministic and uncertain context, respectively. The DSS assumes the transformation of the original model with fuzzy coefficients into an equivalent crisp model where the fuzzy coefficients are represented as alpha-parametric values, which can vary in a predefined interval based on the alpha parameter. Through the DSS, solutions obtained by solving the deterministic model and the equivalent crisp model for different alpha-values are compared based on the objectives and performance parameters defined by the Decision Maker (DM). Due to the uncertainty in data, expected performance of solutions can change under real situations. The DSS allows simulating future real situations by generating different projections of uncertain parameters. New performance of previously generated solutions can be tested under these hypothetical real situations by means a third model (Model for the Real Performance Assessment). Finally, the DM can choose the solution to be implemented taking into account the performance of solutions under planned and real uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uniform product deliveries are required in the ceramic, horticulture and leather sectors because customers require product homogeneity to use, present or consume them together. Some industries cannot prevent the lack of homogeneity in products in their manufacturing processes; hence, they cannot avoid non-uniform finished products arriving at their warehouses and, consequently, fragmentation of their stocks. Therefore, final uniform product amounts do not match planned production ones, which frequently makes serving previous committed orders with homogeneous quantities impossible. This paper proposes a model-driven decision support system (DSS) to help the person in charge of delivery management to reallocate the available real inventory to orders to satisfy homogenous customer requirements in a collaborative supply chain (SC). The DSS has been validated in a ceramic tile collaborative SC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]