A Study On Logistics And Distribution Network Planning

Logistics and distribution network planning is a basic problem in Supply Chain Management research. Enterprises do their own logistics and distribution network planning to improve their logistics and distribution services, and meet customer needs better. The enterprises'feature for profit determines that enterprises will inevitably consider costs as much as possible when they do their own logistics and distribution network planning, including logistics facilities construction and operating costs,product transport and distribution costs,inventory costs, etc. Logistics and distribution network planning are made up of such steps:market demand analysis, logistics facilities location, logistics facilities capacity arrangements, replenishment policy detennines, etc. Most of the time, market demands are uncertain, the best logistics and distribution network in one period may not be optimal in the next period. Only consider the logistics and distribution network optimal in a short time may result in unnecessary costs. In addition, as a complex system, logistics and distribution network may occur partly network disruptions at anytime due to some factors. And the most significant performance of network disruptions is market demands will not be fully met by the network in a long period.The research in this study contains three problems:logistics and distribution network planning under steady demands,logistics and distribution network planning under uncertain demands,network reconfiguring under partly network disruptions.In the research of the first problem, we take the optimization of logistics facilities construction and operating costs,product transport and distribution costs,inventory(including cyclic inventory and safety stock) costs as objective. Then we set a constraint that each demand point must be supported by only one logistics and distribution center.In order to measure the logistics and distribution services, we set another constraint with distances between logistics and distribution centers and demand points. At last, we establish a mathematical model of this problem and verify the validity of the model by solving an example.In the research of the second problem, we introduced the factors that affect demands and demand forecasting methods firstly, and then we propose a method using the method mentioned in the first problem and weighted method to do logistics and distribution network planning under uncertain demands, this method can be used to find the best logistics and distribution network in a long period.In the research of the last problem, we described the logistics and distribution network disruptions problem firstly, and then introduce several cases of network disruptions: suppliers disruptions,logistics and distribution centers disruptions,logistics and distribution channels disruptions. Then we establish a mathematical model of one single distribution center disruptions. At last, we verify the validity of the model by solving an example.