Integrated supply chain design models: a survey and future research directions

Optimization models, especially nonlinear optimization models, have been widely used to solve integrated supply chain design problems. In integrated supply chain design, the decision maker needs to take into consideration inventory costs and distribution costs when the number and locations of the facilities are determined. The objective is to minimize the total cost that includes location costs and inventory costs at the facilities, and distribution costs in the supply chain. We provide a survey of recent developments in this research area.