A GA-Based Approach on a Repair Logistics Network Design with M/M/s Model

An important means for companies to differentiate themselves, as well as increase profitability, in highly competitive environments is through the use of service management, i.e., those activities and interactions which follow a product¿s sale. As a result, many companies design the network for after sale services, providing customer support through training; product warranties; maintenance and repair; product upgrades; sales of complementary products; and product disposal. Most of traditional approaches failed to consider the time cost of customers and the uncertainty of repair service. This paper attempts to overcome these shortcomings by extending current mixed integer linear program models (MILP) with some queuing characteristics by using the M/M/s model. A bi-objective nonlinear integer programming model and a genetic algorithm based approach are proposed. The usefulness of the proposed model and algorithm are validated by its application to a numerical example.