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In recent years, attention to blood supply chain in disaster circumstances has significantly increased. Disasters, especially earthquakes, have adverse consequences such as destruction, loss of human lives, and undermining the effectiveness of health services. This research considers a six-echelon blood supply chain which consists of donors, blood collection centers (permanent and temporary), regional blood centers, local blood centers, regional hospitals, and local hospitals. For the first time, we considered that helicopters could carry blood from regional hospitals to local hospitals and return injured people that cannot be treated in local hospitals to regional hospitals due to the limited capacity. In addition to the above, different transportations with limited capacities regarded, where the optimal number of required transportations equipment determined after the solution process. This research aims to avoid the worst consequences of a disaster using a neural-learning process to gain from past experiences to meet new challenges. For this aim, this article considers three objective functions that are minimizing total transportation time and cost while minimizing unfulfilled demand. The model implemented based on a real-world case study from the most recent earthquake in the Iran–Iraq border which named the deadliest earthquake of 2017. Based on our results, we learned how to design an efficient blood supply chain that can fulfill hospitals blood demand quickly with the lowest cost using simulation and optimization processes. Moreover, we performed in-depth analyses and provided essential managerial insights at last. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the increased competition in production and service areas, many organizations attempt to provide their products at a lower price and higher quality. On the other hand, consideration of environmental criteria in the conventional supplier selection methodologies is required for companies trying to promote green supply chain management (GSCM). In this regard, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) is used to evaluate and rate the suppliers. Then, considering the resource constraint, weight of criteria and a rank of suppliers are taken into account in a multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming (MOMILP) to determine the optimum order quantity of each supplier under uncertain conditions. To deal with the uncertain multi-objectiveness of the proposed model, a robust goal programming (RGP) approach based on Shannon entropy is applied. The offered methodology is applied to a real case study from a green service food manufacturing company in Iran in order to verify its applicability with a sensitivity analysis performed on different uncertainty levels. Furthermore, the threshold of robustness worthiness (TRW) is studied by applying different budgets of uncertainty for the green service food manufacturing company. Finally, a discussion and conclusion on the applicability of the methodology is provided, and an outlook to future research projects is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-docking practice plays an important role in improving the efficiency of distribution networks, especially, for optimizing supply chain operations. Moreover, transportation route planning, controlling the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and customer satisfaction constitute the major parts of the supply chain that need to be taken into account integratedly within a common framework. For this purpose, this paper tries to introduce the reliable Pollution-Routing Problem with Cross-dock Selection (PRP-CDS) where the products are processed and transported through at least one cross-dock. To formulate the problem, a Bi-Objective Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (BOMILP) model is developed, where the first objective is to minimize total cost including pollution and routing costs and the second is to maximize supply reliability. Accordingly, sustainable development of the supply chain is addressed. Due to the high complexity of the problem, two well-known meta-heuristic algorithms including Multi-Objective Simulated-annealing Algorithm (MOSA) and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) are designed to provide efficient Pareto solutions. Furthermore, the ε-constraint method is applied to the model to test its applicability in small-sized problems. The efficiency of the suggested solution techniques is evaluated using different measures and a statistical test. To validate the performance of the proposed methodology, a real case study problem is conducted using the sensitivity analysis of demand parameter. Based on the main findings of the study, it is concluded that the solution techniques can yield high-quality solutions and NSGA-II is considered as the most efficient solution tool, the optimal route planning of the case study problem in delivery and pick-up phases is attained using the best-found Pareto solution and the highest change in the objective function occurs for the total cost value by applying a 20% increase in the demand parameter. • Developing a novel bi-objective MILP model to integrate reliable PRP and CDS. • Studying the effects of traffic conditions in transportation and pollution emission. • Designing high-quality algorithms including NSGA-II and MOSA to solve the problem. • Applying the Taguchi design method to enhance the performance of the algorithms. • Evaluating the applicability of the proposed methodology using a case study in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of waste management system has been recently interrupted and encountered a very serious situation due to the epidemic outbreak of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). To this end, the handling of infectious medical waste has been particularly more vital than ever. Therefore, in this study, a novel mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to formulate the sustainable multi-trip location-routing problem with time windows (MTLRP-TW) for medical waste management in the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives are to concurrently minimize the total traveling time, total violation from time windows/service priorities and total infection/environmental risk imposed on the population around disposal sites. Here, the time windows play a key role to define the priority of services for hospitals with a different range of risks. To deal with the uncertainty, a fuzzy chance-constrained programming approach is applied to the proposed model. A real case study is investigated in Sari city of Iran to test the performance and applicability of the proposed model. Accordingly, the optimal planning of vehicles is determined to be implemented by the municipality, which takes 19.733 h to complete the processes of collection, transportation and disposal. Finally, several sensitivity analyses are performed to examine the behavior of the objective functions against the changes of controllable parameters and evaluate optimal policies and suggest useful managerial insights under different conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)