A Multi-Criteria Vertical Coordination Framework for a Reliable Aid Distribution

Purpose: This study proposes a methodology that translates multiple humanitarian supply chain stakeholders’ preferences from qualitative to quantitative values, enabling these preferences to be integrated into optimization models to ensure their balanced and simultaneous implementation during the decision-making process. Design/methodology/approach: An extensive literature review is used to justify the importance of developing a strategy that minimizes the impact of a lack of coordination on humanitarian logistics decisions. A methodology for a multi-criteria framework is presented that allows humanitarian stakeholders’ interests to be integrated into the humanitarian decisionmaking process. Findings: The findings suggest that integrating stakeholders’ interests into the humanitarian decision-making process will improve its reliability. Research limitations/implications: To further validate the weights of each stakeholder’s interests obtained from the literature review requires interviews with the corresponding organizations. However, the literature review supports the statements in this paper. Practical implications: The cost of a lack of coordination between stakeholders in humanitarian logistics has been increasing during the last decade. These coordination costs can be minimized if humanitarian logistics’ decision-makers measure and simultaneously consider multiple stakeholders’ preferences. Social implications: When stakeholders’ goals are aligned, the humanitarian logistics response becomes more efficient, increasing the quality of delivered aid and providing timely assistance to the affected population in order to minimize their suffering. Originality/value: This study provides a methodology that translates humanitarian supply chain stakeholders’ interests into quantitative values, enabling them to be integrated into mathematical models to ensure relief distribution based on the stakeholders’ preferences.Peer Reviewe

On the medication distribution system for home health care through convenience stores, lockers, and home delivery.

Medication distribution service can be delivered based on a combination of home delivery and customer pickup. That is, medications are delivered either to customers' homes directly or to the pickup facilities (e.g. lockers) close to customers' homes. In Taiwan, there are more than 11,000 convenience stores that provide a 24-h service for customers to pick up the ordered items from e-commerce, which is unique to the world. In the medication distribution system, convenience stores can provide a unique opportunity for customers to more conveniently collect medications at stores, and also can reduce the operating cost for a logistics company providing the medication delivery service. Therefore, this work proposes a medication distribution system through convenience stores, lockers, and home delivery. Under this system, this work investigates how to simultaneously determine employment of convenience store chains, the convenience store locations to be visited, locations of lockers, vehicle routes for convenience stores and lockers, and vehicle routes for customers' homes, so that the total operating cost is minimized. This work further proposes a genetic algorithm to solve the medication distribution problem. Through simulation, the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is able to solve the problem efficiently

Relief distribution networks : a systematic review

In the last 20 years, Emergency Management has received increasing attention from the scientific community. Meanwhile, the study of relief distribution networks has become one of the most popular topics within the Emergency Management field. In fact, the number and variety of contributions devoted to the design or the management of relief distribution networks has exploded in the recent years, motivating the need for a structured and systematic analysis of the works on this specific topic. To this end, this paper presents a systematic review of contributions on relief distribution networks in response to disasters. Through a systematic and scientific methodology, it gathers and consolidates the published research works in a transparent and objective way. It pursues three goals. First, to conduct an up-to-date survey of the research in relief distribution networks focusing on the logistics aspects of the problem, which despite the number of previous reviews has been overlooked in the past. Second, to highlight the trends and the most promising challenges in the modeling and resolution approaches and, finally, to identify future research perspectives that need to be explored

Disaster preparedness in humanitarian logistics:A collaborative approach for resource management in floods

The logistical deployment of resources to provide relief to disaster victims and the appropriate planning of these activities are critical to reduce the suffering caused. Disaster management attracts many organisations working alongside each other and sharing resources to cope with an emergency. Consequently, successful operations rely heavily on the collaboration of different organisations. Despite this, there is little research considering the appropriate management of resources from multiple organisations, and none optimising the number of actors required to avoid shortages or convergence. This research introduces a disaster preparedness system based on a combination of multi-objective optimisation and geographical information systems to aid multi-organisational decision-making. A cartographic model is used to avoid the selection of floodable facilities, informing a bi-objective optimisation model used to determine the location of emergency facilities, stock prepositioning, resource allocation and relief distribution, along with the number of actors required to perform these activities. The real conditions of the flood of 2013 in Acapulco, Mexico, provided evidence of the inability of any single organisation to cope with the situation independently. Moreover, data collected showed the unavailability of enough resources to manage a disaster of that magnitude at the time. The results highlighted that the number of government organisations deployed to handle the situation was excessive, leading to high cost without achieving the best possible level of satisfaction. The system proposed showed the potential to achieve better performance in terms of cost and level of service than the approach currently employed by the authorities

An exact solution approach for multi-objective location-transportation problem for disaster response

This paper considers a three-objective location–transportation problem for disaster response. The location problem aims at determining the number, the position and the mission of required humanitarian aid distribution centers (HADC) within the disaster region. The transportation problem deals with the distribution of aid from HADCs to demand points. Three conflicting objectives are considered. The first objective minimizes the total transportation duration of needed products from the distribution centers to the demand points. The second objective minimizes the number of agents (first-aiders) needed to open and operate the selected distribution centers. The third objective minimizes the non-covered demand for all demand points within the affected area. We propose an epsilon-constraint method for this problem and prove that it generates the exact Pareto front. The proposed algorithm can be applied to any three-objective optimization problem provided that the problem involves at least two integer and conflicting objectives. The results obtained in our experimental study show that the computing time required by the pr oposed method may be large for some instances. A heuristic version of our algorithm yielded, however, good approximation of the Pareto front in relatively short computing times.Keywords: Emergency response; Location–transportation problems; Multi-objective combinatorial optimization; Exact method; Epsilon-constraint method

The In-Transit Vigilant Covering Tour Problem of Routing Unmanned Ground Vehicles

The routing of unmanned ground vehicles for the surveillance and protection of key installations is modeled as a new variant of the Covering Tour Problem (CTP). The CTP structure provides both the routing and target sensing components of the installation protection problem. Our variant is called the in-transit Vigilant Covering Tour Problem (VCTP) and considers not only the vertex cover but also the additional edge coverage capability of the unmanned ground vehicle while sensing in-transit between vertices. The VCTP is formulated as a Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) with a dual set covering structure involving vertices and edges. An empirical study compares the performance of the VCTP against the CTP on test problems modified from standard benchmark TSP problems to apply to the VCTP. The VCTP performed generally better with shorter tour lengths but at higher computational cost

Diseño de una técnica de solución para el problema de localización-inventario-ruteo en logística humanitaria

En Colombia, las inundaciones son el tipo de desastre natural que ocurre con mayor frecuencia y que deja un alto impacto económico. Estos desastres son ocasionados por las fuertes precipitaciones presentadas en algunos municipios del país durante las temporadas del fenómeno de la niña, desbordando los ríos en aquellas zonas que presentan una mayor deforestación. Este tipo de problemas presentan múltiples decisiones logístico-humanitarias que pueden ser consideradas previamente al desastre y posterior a este. Por lo tanto, este trabajo propone una solución preventiva a los problemas de localización, inventario y ruteo con incertidumbre sobre la demanda y el daño de las vías, en un caso de inundaciones en Colombia. Un modelo simheuristico fue diseñado y llevado a cabo para responder a la incertidumbre del problema. Dentro de la simheuristica hay otros algoritmos, como las heurísticas Silver Meal y Clark & Wright que toman decisiones para cada componente individualmente. La técnica de solución se evaluó con respecto a una versión determinística a través de diferentes instancias para medir su calidad y efectividad. Los resultados mostraron que la técnica simheuristica presentaba mejores soluciones que el enfoque determinista.In Colombia, floods are the most frequent and intense of the existing natural disasters, leaving high economic losses in the affected areas. They are mainly caused by heavy rainfall during the “La Niña” phenomenon and overflowing rivers in areas with high deforestation. This problem presents multiple humanitarian logistics decisions that can be considered before and after the disaster strikes. Therefore, this paper proposes a preventive solution to the Location-Inventory-Routing Problem with stochastic demand and route state, in case of a flood in Colombia. A simheuristic model was designed and carried out to respond to the uncertainty of the problem. Inside the simheuristic there are other algorithms, like the Silver Meal and the Clark & Wright heuristics that make decisions for each component individually. The solution technique was evaluated with regard to a deterministic version through different instances to measure its quality and effectiveness. The results showed that the method presented better solutions than the deterministic approach.Ingeniero (a) IndustrialPregrad

Disaster management from a POM perspective : mapping a new domain

We have reviewed disaster management research papers published in major operations management, management science, operations research, supply chain management and transportation/ logistics journals. In reviewing these papers our objective is to assess and present the macro level “architectural blue print” of disaster management research with the hope that it will attract new researchers and motivate established researchers to contribute to this important field. The secondary objective is to bring this disaster research to the attention of disaster administrators so that disasters are managed more efficiently and more effectively. We have mapped the disaster management research on the following five attributes of a disaster: (1) Disaster Management Function (decision making process, prevention and mitigation, evacuation, humanitarian logistics, casualty management, and recovery and restoration), (2) Time of Disaster (before, during and after), (3) Type of Disaster (accidents, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, landslides, terrorism and wildfires etc.), (4) Data Type (Field and Archival data, Real data and Hypothetical data), and (5) Data Analysis Technique (bidding models, decision analysis, expert systems, fuzzy system analysis, game theory, heuristics, mathematical programming, network flow models, queuing theory, simulation and statistical analysis). We have done cross tabulations of data among these five parameters to gain greater insights in disaster research. Recommendations for future research are provided

Planification de la distribution en contextes de déploiement d'urgence et de logistique hospitalière

L’optimisation de la distribution est une préoccupation centrale dans l’amélioration de la performance des systèmes industriels et des entreprises de services. Avec les avancées technologiques et l’évolution du monde des affaires, de nouveaux domaines d’application posent des défis aux gestionnaires. Évidemment, ces problèmes de distribution deviennent aussi des centres d’intérêt pour les chercheurs. Cette thèse étudie l’application des méthodes de recherche opérationnelle (R.O.) à l’optimisation des chaînes logistiques dans deux contextes précis : le déploiement logistique en situation d’urgence et la logistique hospitalière. Ces contextes particuliers constituent deux domaines en forte croissance présentant des d’impacts majeurs sur la population. Ils sont des contextes de distribution complexes et difficiles qui exigent une approche scientifique rigoureuse afin d’obtenir de bons résultats et, ultimement, garantir le bien-être de la communauté. Les contributions de cette thèse se rapportent à ces deux domaines. D’abord, nous présentons une révision systématique de la littérature sur le déploiement logistique en situation d’urgence (Chapitre 2) qui nous permet de consolider et de classifier les travaux les plus importants du domaine ainsi que d’identifier les lacunes dans les propositions actuelles. Cette analyse supporte notre seconde contribution où nous proposons et évaluons trois modèles pour la conception d’un réseau logistique pour une distribution juste de l’aide (Chapitre 3). Les modèles cherchent à assurer une distribution équitable de l’aide entre les points de demande ainsi qu’une stabilité dans le temps. Ces modèles permettent les arrérages de la demande et adaptent l’offre aux besoins de façon plus flexible et réaliste. Le deuxième axe de recherche découle d’un mandat de recherche avec le Ministère de la Santé et de Services sociaux du Québec (MSSS). En collaboration avec les gestionnaires du système de santé québécois, nous avons abordé la problématique du transport d’échantillons biomédicaux. Nous proposons deux modèles d’optimisation et une approche de résolution simple pour résoudre ce problème difficile de collecte d’échantillons (Chapitre 4). Cette contribution est par la suite généralisée avec la synchronisation des horaires d’ouverture de centres de prélèvement lors de la planification des tournées. Une procédure itérative de recherche locale est proposée pour résoudre le problème (Chapitre 5). Il en découle un outil efficace pour la planification des tournées de véhicules dans le réseau des laboratoires québécois.Optimisation in distribution is a major concern towards the performance’s improvement of manufacturing and service industries. Together with the evolution of the business’ world and technology advancements, new practical challenges need to be faced by managers. These challenges are thus a point of interest to researchers. This thesis concentrates on the application of operational research (O.R.) techniques to optimise supply chains in two precise contexts: relief distribution and healthcare logistics. These two research domains have grown a lot recently and have major impacts on the population. These are two complex and difficult distribution settings that require a scientific approach to improve their performance and thus warrant the welfare among the population. This thesis’s contributions relate to those two axes. First, we present a systematic review of the available literature in relief distribution (Chapter 2) to consolidate and classify the most important works in the field, as well as to identify the research’s gaps in the current propositions and approaches. This analysis inspires and supports our second contribution. In Chapter 3, we present and evaluate three models to optimise the design of relief distribution networks oriented to fairness in distribution. The models seek to ensure an equitable distribution between the points of demand and in a stable fashion in time. In addition, the models allow the backorder of demand to offer a more realistic and flexible distribution plan. The second research context result from a request from Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services (Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux – MSSS). In partnership with the managers of Quebec’s healthcare system, we propose an approach to tackle the biomedical sample transportation problem faced by the laboratories’ network in Quebec’s province. We propose two mathematical formulations and some fast heuristics to solve the problem (Chapter 4). This contribution is later extended to include the opening hours’ synchronisation for the specimen collection centers and the number and frequency of pick-ups. We propose an iterated local search procedure (ILS) to find a routing plan minimising total billable hours (Chapter 5). This leads to an efficient tool to routing planning in the medical laboratories’ network in Quebec