A P-Median Closed Loop Model Using Tabu Search for Health Care Supply in Bangladesh

Abstract

Healthcare supply chain management involves obtaining resources, managing supplies, and delivering goods and services to providers and patients. It is responsible for stocking organizations with the products providers need and managing inventory. This thesis aims to identify and analyses a closed loop medical supply chain which is sustainable and effective with p-median multi-echelon approach. The study is inaugurated only focusing on the heath-care supply chain model. This leads us to design a closed loop multi echelon model. In this process the model is more effective and viable by considering the reverse flow of material while allocating the location of distribution centers and facility location. The p-median model is based upon the assumption that each demand can be served by its closest facility. A multi-echelon system is one that relies heavily on layers of suppliers distributed across multiple distribution centers and that is based on outsourced manufacturing. In this model, p-facilities are to be placed to minimize the (demand- weighted) average distance between a demand node and the location in which a facility was placed. This serves as an approximation to total delivery cost. There are no capacity constraints at the facilities. Adding the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) a feasible closed loop model is developed for finding out the shortest path for delivering medicines and returning expired ones to the factory and dispose it with their conventional method to save environment. The main objective of this system is to minimize the cost and distance, maximize the profit developing a sustainable model which will increase customer response. The presented model and analysis are the results of an experiment of the supply chain network of the platform toward engaging in Mirpur area with the location of corresponding factory of a specific pharmaceuticals company. This analysis is solved using TabuSearch algorithm in MATLAB. The result is compared to develop a feasible closed loop model for health care supply. The result is evaluated and analyzed for further improvement and practical use by using different algorithm and coding method.