Design and optimization of a sustainable and resilient mask supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-objective approach

Milad Alizadeh-Meghrazi; Babak Mohamadpour Tosarkani; Saman Hassanzadeh Amin; Milos R Popovic; Payman Ahi

doi:10.1007/s10668-022-02604-z

Design and optimization of a sustainable and resilient mask supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-objective approach

Environ Dev Sustain. 2022 Aug 18:1-46. doi: 10.1007/s10668-022-02604-z. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Milad Alizadeh-Meghrazi^{1

2}, Babak Mohamadpour Tosarkani³, Saman Hassanzadeh Amin⁴, Milos R Popovic¹, Payman Ahi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada.
² Myant Inc, Etobicoke, Canada.
³ School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC Canada.
⁴ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON Canada.

Abstract

Wearing a mask or a face covering became mandatory in indoor public spaces to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Ontario government (i.e., a province of Canada) encouraged medical supply producers to switch their operations to produce personal protective equipment (e.g., masks) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, there are several uncertain parameters (e.g., operational costs, market demand, and capacity levels of facilities) affecting the performance of producers in a medical supplies market. In this study, we propose a flexible optimization model to configure a robust mask supply chain network under uncertainty. Furthermore, companies are supposed to undertake their operations based on sustainable manners, in compliance with provincial policy, in Ontario. Therefore, the proposed flexible optimization model is extended to a robust multi-objective model to investigate sustainable strategies in a mask supply chain network design problem. The applicability of this model is demonstrated for the Greater Toronto Area, Canada.

Keywords: COVID-19 outbreak; Mixed-integer linear programming; Multi-objective model; Robust optimization; Supply chain network.

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