A tactical model for planning the production and distribution of fresh produce

We present an integrated tactical planning model for the production and distribution of fresh produce. The main objective of the model is to maximize the revenues of a producer that has some control over the logistics decisions associated with the distribution of the crop. The model is used for making planning decisions for a large fresh produce grower in Northwestern Mexico. The decisions obtained are based on traditional factors such as price estimation and resource availability, but also on factors that are usually neglected in traditional planning models such as price dynamics, product decay, transportation and inventory costs. The model considers the perishability of the crops in two different ways, as a loss function in its objective function, and as a constraint for the storage of products. The paper presents a mixed integer programming model used to implement the problem as wells as the computational results obtained from it.

[1]  Jesus René Villalobos,et al.  Application of planning models in the agri-food supply chain: A review , 2009, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[2]  Edward W. McLaughlin,et al.  Supply Chain Management in the Produce Industry , 2001 .

[3]  Carolyn Dimitri,et al.  U.S. fresh produce markets: Marketing channels trade practices and retailer market power , 2003 .

[4]  Edmund W. Schuster,et al.  Controlling the Risk for an Agricultural Harvest , 2004, Manuf. Serv. Oper. Manag..

[5]  Sibel A. Alumur,et al.  Network hub location problems: The state of the art , 2008, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[6]  Edward W. McLaughlin,et al.  Understanding The Dynamics Of Produce Markets: Consumption And Consolidation Grow , 2000 .

[7]  M. Lütke entrup,et al.  Mixed-Integer Linear Programming approaches to shelf-life-integrated planning and scheduling in yoghurt production , 2005 .

[8]  José Vicente Caixeta-Filho,et al.  Special Issue: Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences: Optimization of the Production Planning and Trade of Lily Flowers at Jan de Wit Company , 2002, Interfaces.

[9]  John J. Glen,et al.  Feature Article - Mathematical Models in Farm Planning: A Survey , 1987, Oper. Res..

[10]  Fred Raafat,et al.  Survey of Literature on Continuously Deteriorating Inventory Models , 1991 .

[11]  G. Nemhauser,et al.  Integer Programming , 2020 .

[12]  Javier Faulin,et al.  Applying MIXALG procedure in a routing problem to optimize food product delivery , 2003 .

[13]  David K. Smith.  Network Flows: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications , 1994 .

[14]  P.J.C. Hamer.  A decision support system for the provision of planting plans for Brussels sprouts , 1994 .

[15]  Lidija Zadnik Stirn,et al.  A vehicle routing algorithm for the distribution of fresh vegetables and similar perishable food , 2008 .

[16]  Timothy J. Lowe,et al.  Decision Technologies for Agribusiness Problems: A Brief Review of Selected Literature and a Call for Research , 2004, Manuf. Serv. Oper. Manag..

[17]  Steven Nahmias,et al.  Perishable Inventory Theory: A Review , 1982, Oper. Res..

[18]  E M Welby,et al.  AGRICULTURAL EXPORT TRANSPORTATION HANDBOOK , 1997 .

[19]  S. K. Goyal,et al.  Recent trends in modeling of deteriorating inventory , 2001, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[20]  Juan-Carlos Ferrer,et al.  An optimization approach for scheduling wine grape harvest operations , 2008 .

[21]  J. Glen.  Mathematical models in farm planning: a survey , 1987 .

[22]  Okitsugu Fujiwara,et al.  EOQ models for continuously deteriorating products using linear and exponential penalty costs , 1993 .

[23]  Jules M. van Berlo.  A decision support tool for the vegetable processing industry; An integrative approach of market, industry and agriculture , 1993 .

[24]  J. Epperson,et al.  Fruit and Vegetable Supply-Chain Management, Innovations, and Competitiveness: Cooperative Regional Research Project S-222 , 1999 .

[25]  Gary D. Thompson,et al.  The organizational structure of the North American fresh tomato market: Implications for seasonal trade disputes , 1997 .