An interactive fuzzy multi-objective approach for operational transport planning in an automobile supply chain

A novel supply chain operational transport planning model is developed in this paper. The goals of the model are to minimize the number of used trucks and the total inventory levels. Because of somewhat imprecise nature of vehicle capacities and decision makers’ aspiration levels for the goals, a fuzzy multiobjective linear programming (FMOLP) modeling approach is adopted. Moreover, an interactive solution methodology is proposed to determine the preferred compromise solution. An industrial case from a real-world automobile supply chain demonstrates the feasibility of applying the proposed model and the solution methodology to a realistic operational transport planning problem. The computational results indicate that the proposed approach improves the results obtained by the heuristic decision-making procedure spreadsheet-based which is actually applied in the automobile supply chain under study. Key-Words: Supply chain planning, transport planning, fuzzy multi-objective linear programming, uncertainty.