i. Perspective Scenarios

A Perspective Scenario represents the overall strategic plan, including maintaining current facilities, expanding by adding new facilities, or collaborating with new suppliers and customers. The Perspective Scenarios in EffiSupChain are:

Existing Assertion

Keeps all current DCs operational without investing in new ones or adding new suppliers/customers. It optimizes shipments from active suppliers to operational DCs and then to active customers, ensuring the continued operation of existing infrastructure.

Existing Adjustment

Avoids investing in new DCs but may close some to improve the chosen objective. It works exclusively with existing suppliers and customers. The network is optimized by selecting the optimal DCs among existing ones and adjusting shipment loads accordingly.

Existing and Expansion

Allows investment in new DCs and closing existing ones if beneficial, working exclusively with existing suppliers and customers. It optimizes network efficiency by selecting the best combination of active and alternate DCs, adjusting shipment loads as needed.

Expansion and Growth

Permits investment in new DCs, closing existing ones, and adding new suppliers/customers to improve the chosen objective. It assesses and optimizes network efficiency with a comprehensive analysis of active and alternate DCs, suppliers, and customers.

ii. Objective Scenarios

Objective Scenarios define specific goals for the network. They include:

Economy (Minimize Total Cost)

Application: Normal/typical conditions.
Objective Function: Minimize total costs, including acquisition and operational costs of DCs and transportation costs.

Overall Influence Score (Maximize OIS, Minimize Transport & Ops Costs)

Application: Scenarios with negligible acquisition cost sensitivity, such as critical infrastructures during disasters. This approach aims to utilize the maximum possible number of DCs to increase network coverage. Examples include essential businesses during disasters or vaccine distribution during a pandemic.
Objective Function: Maximize total Overall Influence Score while minimizing transportation and operational costs.

Overall Detriment Score (Minimize ODS, Minimize Transport & Ops Costs)

Application: Scenarios highly sensitive to acquisition costs, aiming to operate the network with the minimum number of DCs without violating constraints. This is particularly relevant for businesses facing bankruptcy or during disasters when corporations need to operate with fewer physical assets. The primary goal is to design the most efficient network with the minimum number of operating DCs.
Objective Function: Minimize total Overall Detriment Score while minimizing transportation and operational costs.

iii. Additional Features and Notes

Evaluating DCs:

Users can evaluate and compare DC efficiency using metrics like Demand Influence Score (DIS), Supply Influence Score (SIS), Overall Influence Score (OIS), and Overall Detriment Score (ODS).
DIS: Assesses the effectiveness of a DC by considering its proximity to customers and the volume of demand it can serve.
SIS: Measures the impact of a DC based on its proximity to suppliers and the quantity of supply it can handle.
OIS: Evaluates the overall influence of a DC, integrating both supply and demand factors to provide a comprehensive impact score.
ODS: Represents the inverse of OIS, indicating a detriment score based on the same factors.

Types of Shipments:

Fluid/Bulk: For shipments measured in weight or volume.
Countable Items: For shipments consisting of individual items or units.
Users must ensure compatibility between input data fields and the selected shipment type to avoid infeasibility. A pre-feasibility check will block users from running an optimization if the data is incompatible.

Transportation Costs:

Users must specify the unit of distance and corresponding transportation costs for shipments from Suppliers to DCs and from DCs to Customers. If managing shipments only from DCs to Customers, users can set the Unit Transportation Cost from Suppliers to DCs to zero. Conversely, if only managing shipments from Suppliers to DCs, users can set the Unit Transportation Cost from DCs to Customers to zero.

Commodity Assumptions:

The basic version assumes a single type of commodity, and total demand must be satisfied to run an optimization. Extra supply is allowed in the model. A pre-feasibility check will block users from running an optimization if total demand cannot be satisfied.

Problem Case Results:

Results are presented in the 'Result and KPIs' page. The basic version of EffiSupChain allows users to store and compare up to three of the most recent optimized Problem Cases in the 'Compare Scenarios' page.

iv. Input Data Format

Users must upload a CSV file containing the following fields:

• node_ID: Unique identifier for a facility (supplier, DC, or customer).

• latitude: Geographic latitude of the facility.

• longitude: Geographic longitude of the facility.

• demand: Demand volume for customers.

• capacity: Capacity of DCs.

• minReq: Minimum load required to keep a DC operational.

• supply: Supply volume for suppliers.

• acquisition_cost: Fixed cost of acquiring and using a DC, independent of load. Any utilization, even one unit, results in the application of this cost.

• operational_cost: Load-dependent operational cost of a DC, input as a unit cost.

• functionality: Role of the facility (supplier, DC, or customer).

• status: Indicates if the facility is active (currently operating) or alternate (potential candidate for evaluation).