Product Introduction, Supply Chain Modeling Problem

Product introduction is the process of changing raw materials into final products and transferring them to customers. Supply chain plays an important roll in the process of product introduction. Successful supply chain configurations over the lifecycle of the product not only help the supply chain partners gain the maximum profits, but also help them obtain the crucial advantage in the competitive market. Supply chain configurations should change over the lifecycle of the product. Systemic tools or methods are necessary to obtain the crucial advantage over the lifecycle of the product. In this paper, we set up a mixed-integer programming model to configure the supply chain network successfully over the lifecycle of the product. The solution of this model gives the optimal selection of the partners of the supply chain and the arrangement of stock, production, shipping, selling. Besides, we apply this model into the best seller market. Finally, we generalize the model into the reverse supply chain.