Designing a Resilient-Sustainable Supply Chain Network of Age-Differentiated Blood Platelets Using...

Area of Science:

• Operations Research
• Supply Chain Management
• Biomedical Logistics

Background:

• Blood platelets are perishable, age-differentiated products with a short shelf life, leading to significant wastage.
• Shortages of blood platelets can occur due to high demand, limited donors, and emergencies like pandemics or wars.
• Efficient supply chain management is crucial to mitigate both wastage and shortages.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design an integrated, resilient, and sustainable supply chain network for perishable, age-differentiated blood platelets.
• To incorporate vertical and horizontal transshipment strategies to enhance the supply chain's robustness.
• To minimize economic, social (shortage), and environmental (wastage) costs.

Main Methods:

• Developed an integrated resilient-sustainable supply chain network model for blood platelets.
• Incorporated vertical and horizontal transshipment, including lateral transshipment between hospitals for resilience.
• Utilized a metaheuristic algorithm based on a local search-empowered grey wolf optimizer to solve the model.

Main Results:

• The proposed model demonstrated significant reductions in total economic cost (3.61%), shortage (30.1%), and wastage (18.8%).
• The integrated vertical-horizontal transshipment strategy proved effective in managing perishable blood products.
• The reactive resilient strategy enhanced the supply chain's ability to handle disruptions and shortages.

Conclusions:

• The developed model offers an efficient solution for managing the blood platelet supply chain, balancing sustainability and resilience.
• Implementing vertical and horizontal transshipment is key to reducing costs, shortages, and wastage.
• The study highlights the importance of adaptive strategies in healthcare supply chains facing perishable goods and demand volatility.