Joint allocation and transportation problem in supply network optimisation

The paper concerns joint allocation and transportation as an optimization problem in selected supply networks. The network consists of a set of suppliers of the raw material, a set of production units and a set of product receivers. The raw material is treated as fast perishing good like vegetables or fruits. The production units are described by time models. In the optimization process, the time of the production and cost of the transportation is taken into account. The objective function is in general non-convex function of raw material allocation and transportation plans of the raw material and the product. To solve the problem considered, exact and heuristic algorithms have been developed and presented. To solve convex problems, solver Lingo developed by Lindo systems is proposed. The idea of a computer decision supported system integrating all presented algorithms is presented as well as four numerical examples illustrating some properties of the assumed supply network model.