| dc.description.abstract | Due to today's fiercely competitive business environment, supply chain
stakeholders are increasingly cooperating with one another. Third party logistics
providers (3PLs) must thus manage supply chains for a variety of clients that seek
to enhance their forward and reverse logistics operations. Because these supply
chains must work in a dynamic environment, 3PLs must decide on several related
decisions throughout time. However, in the past, the forward and backward flows
of distribution networks were designed separately. This research offers a mixed
integer nonlinear programming model for the design of a dynamic integrated
distribution network to consider the integrated characteristic of concurrently
optimizing the forward and return networks. The resolution of a network plan
would, in the end, assist in the determination of various resource plans for the
capacities of material handling equipment and human resources. | en_US |
