Optimal Vendor Selection in a Multi-product Global Supply Chain with Container Transportation

Considering a multi-product global supply chain with container transportation, this paper develops optimization models to solve a combined supplier selection, product purchasing, and container transportation allocation problem. The proposed models consisting of two models, which are called supplier selection and shipment distribution model and assignment optimization model. The first model aims at optimizing the units of different product purchased from each supplier to each buyer, the number of FC shipments from each supplier to each buyer, the weight of LTL shipments from each supplier to each buyer. The second model aims at allocating each product purchased to each of the FC shipments. At last, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.