Integrating the triple bottom line of sustainability, resilience strategies, and product perishability consideration to design a pharmaceutical supply chain network: a COVID-19 case study

School of Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Narmak, Tehran, Iran

^* Corresponding author: gholamian@iust.ac.ir

Received: 21 February 2023
Accepted: 12 September 2024

Abstract

This paper aims to design a resilient and sustainable pharmaceutical supply chain network under the perishability of medicine in which a multi-objective nonlinear mathematical model is formulated. To this end, four objective functions seek to minimize total cost, maximize the social indicators, minimize CO₂ emission and minimize de-resilience measures. Moreover, the three main categories of resilience strategies are integrated to mitigate the severe impacts of disruption. In order to solve the model, lexicographic goal programming is applied for small-scale problems, and NSGA-II is utilized for large-scale problems. The applicability of the proposed model is demonstrated by implementing it in a real case study during the COVID-19 situation. Also, a set of sensitivity analyses is conducted to validate the model and show the behavior of the objective functions. The results reveal the superiority of the resilient model with integrated strategies. Eventually, the Pareto front solutions are provided to quantify the trade-offs in satisfying the conflicting objective functions.