Integrating Sustainability in Supply Chain Network Design

Abstract

Sustainability concerns in supply chain network design have attracted considerable attention in recent years. Although the number of studies in the field is increasing, the number of studies accounting for all three components of sustainability are limited. Further, while there is a preconceived notion that sustainable supply chains are desirable, an illustration of their impact in the network configuration is missing. This study develops supply chain network design for three models: the first model focuses on the traditional efficiency based objective, the second model incorporates two components of sustainability, and the third model incorporates all three components of sustainability to determine the optimal configuration of a supply chain network. Finally, numerical analysis is conducted to demonstrate and compare the results of the three models and the impact of integrating sustainability in supply chain network design.