Location Routing Approach for the Humanitarian Prepositioning Problem

Abstract

Events such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 have highlighted the need to understand network disruptions, in particular in the humanitarian supply chain. Humanitarian supply logistics cannot be improvised at the time of the emergency since little can be done after a disruption occurs. Therefore, special attention should be given to preparedness efforts and the design of the supply chain network. Inventory prepositioning is one of the strategies in the preparedness stage that enhances postdisaster response because it reduces the lead time needed to reach the affected destinations once a disaster has occurred. In this paper, the prepositioning of supplies for disasters is modeled as a facility location problem that accounts for the routing of vehicles and possible disruptions in the transportation network. The approach uses a combination of the most reliable path and an integer programming model to find the optimal location of supplies. The problem is solved on an example transportation network. The problem exploits a variant of the shortest-path problem and can be solved efficiently even for medium and large-scale transportation networks.

A Review of Relief Supply Chain Optimization

“…Ukkusuri and Yushimito (2008) presented a single stage model incorporate the idea of the most reliable path in a facility location problem in which used in solving the inventory prepositioning problem for humanitarian supply chains. Another single stage model proposed by Jia et al (2005) showed how the general large-scale emergency facility location problem leads to covering, P-median, and Pcenter problems.…”

The New Generation of Operations Research Methods in Supply Chain Optimization: A Review

“…The most recent integrated model of this type in the area of service level optimization is published by Liu et al [47]. Among the humanitarian studies, three of the published contributions on LRP worked on disaster relief cases in a multi-objective basis [48][49][50][51]. All of the mentioned papers aimed at the design of distribution networks for relief goods and services in times of disaster.…”

Proactive and reactive inventory policies in humanitarian operations

“…Several authors also integrate the stocking level and location decisions with short-term decisions. Important examples include the work of Ozbay and Ozguven (2007), Ukkusuri and Yushimito (2008), and Rawls and Turnquist (2012). In order to minimize "stock out" probability, Ozbay and Ozguven (2007) developed an inventory model to determine stocking quantities subject to uncertain demands and delivery schedule at a relief location.…”

“…In order to minimize "stock out" probability, Ozbay and Ozguven (2007) developed an inventory model to determine stocking quantities subject to uncertain demands and delivery schedule at a relief location. Ukkusuri and Yushimito (2008) addressed location determination problem aiming to minimize the probability of uncovered demand points. Rawls and Turnquist (2012) addressed the prepositioning network and short-term distribution decisions simultaneously.…”