Food distribution optimization considering the produce perishability

Despite the past and recent literature widely investigates effective strategies and innovative approaches for the design and optimization of industrial supply chains, lower attention is paid to the agriculture sector, even if it represents an high value market in which high quality and low costs are key issues to compete. Aim of this paper is to propose an optimization model to support the logistic managers and practitioners in the design of an agriculture supply chain. The model includes some cost drivers and constraints specific of the agricultural sector, making it different from any other market area, e.g. the produce perishability characteristics, the temperature-controlled shipping requirements, the quality decrease through the supply chain, from farm to fork, etc. The best shipment conditions, minimizing the global network cost, subject to defined produce quality profiles are assessed and compared in this paper. The proposed model is validated and applied to a realistic case study for the fresh produce distribution in the European area. Results highlight that the most convenient shipment strategies depend on the combination of both the produce shelf life and its production cost. The lower the perishability and expensiveness, the higher the convenience to distribute such a produce through an intermodal freight, e.g. truck & trail, is. Furthermore, for the discussed case study, a reduction of the global network cost of about 10% without a relevant increase of the produces discharged due to a loss of quality occurs and represents a relevant outcome of the analysis fully described in this paper.