Simplified model for integrated Supply Chains Planning

The scope of any Supply Chain management strategy usually takes into account the few single echelons directly linked to the process of interest (raw materials acquisition, market distribution,.) which are assumed to present a previously known behaviour (even this behaviour may include some uncertainty). Decisions based on this limited picture disregard the important information associated to the interaction among different cooperative SCs. This work aims to optimize the overall performance of several SC's in a cooperative scenario acting as an "entire SC". Accordingly, the main features of this entire SC (raw materials SC, production-distribution SC, products and wastes) have been considered. The approach is demonstrated using a case study which integrates an energy poligeneration SC model (RM acquisition, and different production systems in a competitive situation) and the traditional production-distribution SC model (RM acquisition, distribution to production plants, production, and distribution to markets) in a mixed integer non-linear programming model.