Physarum solver: a bio-inspired method for sustainable supply chain network design problem

Physarum solver: a bio-inspired method for sustainable supply chain network design problem

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Article ID: iaor20172735
Volume: 254
Issue: 1
Start Page Number: 533
End Page Number: 552
Publication Date: Jul 2017
Journal: Annals of Operations Research
Authors: , , , ,
Keywords: combinatorial optimization, heuristics, investment, economics, financial, geography & environment, networks, design, programming: multiple criteria, simulation, biology
Abstract:

A supplier of products and services aims to minimize the capacity investment cost and the operational cost incurred by unwanted byproducts, e.g. carbon dioxide emission. In this paper, we consider a sustainable supply chain network design problem, where the capacity and the product flow along each link are design variables. We formulate it as a multi‐criteria optimization problem. A bio‐inspired algorithm is developed to tackle this problem. We illustrate how to design a sustainable supply chain network in three steps. First, we develop a generalized model inspired by the foraging behaviour of slime mould Physarum polycephalum to handle the network optimization with multiple sinks. Second, we propose a strategy to update the link cost iteratively, thus making the Physarum model to converge to a user equilibrium. Third, we perform an equivalent operation to transform a system optimum problem into a corresponding user equilibrium problem so that it is solvable in the Physarum model. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is illustrated with numerical examples.

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