Emergency supply chain scheduling problem with multiple resources in disaster relief operations

In emergency logistics, it is important to allocate available assets to operations effectively due to the resource scarcity. This paper considers a supply chain network which includes local and global suppliers of medical relief items, regional and central distribution centers, and many customer demand points. Either pre-positioned resources at distribution centers or new assembly operations at them can fulfill resources demands. Moreover, a capacitated multi-stage operations scheduling problem is presented, in which renewable (medical teams) as well as non-renewable resources (standard or customized medical kits) are required in an emergency supply chain. In addition, a new mixed-integer programming model is presented and solved for small-sized problems. Further, for solving large-sized problems, a particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed. Finally, the performance of the proposed solution method is evaluated, and some sensitivity analyses are conducted on the more important parameters.