Multi-attribute comparison of catering service companies using fuzzy AHP: The case of Turkey

The management of food distribution networks is receiving more and more attention, both in practice and in the scientific literature. In this paper, we review quantitative operations management approaches to food distribution management, and relate this to challenges faced by the industry. Here, our main focus is on three aspects: food quality, food safety, and sustainability. We discuss the literature on three decision levels: strategic network design, tactical network planning, and operational transportation planning. For each of these, we survey the research contributions, discuss the state of the art, and identify challenges for future research.

https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/doc/1165266/file.pdf

Quality, safety and sustainability in food distribution : A review of quantitative operations management approaches and challenges

Discrete event simulation (DES) and system dynamics (SD) are two modelling approaches widely used as decision support tools in logistics and supply chain management (LSCM). A widely held belief exists that SD is mostly used to model problems at a strategic level, whereas DES is used at an operational/tactical level. This paper explores the application of DES and SD as decision support systems (DSS) for LSCM by looking at the nature and level of issues modelled. Peer reviewed journal papers that use these modelling approaches to study supply chains, published between 1996 and 2006 are reviewed. A total of 127 journal articles are analysed to identify the frequency with which the two simulation approaches are used as modelling tools for DSS in LSCM. Our findings suggest that DES has been used more frequently to model supply chains, with the exception of the bullwhip effect, which is mostly modelled using SD. Based on the most commonly used modelling approach, issues in LSCM are categorised into four groups: the DES domain, the SD domain, the common domain and the less common domain. The study furthermore suggests that in terms of the level of decision making involved, strategic or operational/tactical, there is no difference in the use of either DES or SD. The results of this study inform the existing literature about the use of DES and SD as DSS tools in LSCM.

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The application of discrete event simulation and system dynamics in the logistics and supply chain context

Managing uncertainty is a main challenge within supply chain management. Therefore, it is expected that those supply chain planning methods which do not include uncertainty obtain inferior results if compared with models that formalise it implicitly. This article presents a review of the literature related to supply chain planning methods under uncertainty. The main objective is to provide the reader with a starting point for modelling supply chain under uncertainty applying quantitative approaches. We have defined a taxonomy to classify models from 103 bibliographic references dated 1988–2007. Finally, some conclusions about the works analysed have been drawn and future lines of research have been identified.

Arjen van Weert

Papers

Simulation model of multi-compartment distribution in the catering supply chain