COMBINING THE INTERNET OF THINGS WITH SIMULATION-BASED OPTIMIZATION TO ENHANCE LOGISTICS IN AN AGRI-FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

This paper discusses how the Internet of Things and simulation-based optimization methods can be effectively combined to enhance refilling strategies in an animal feed supply chain. Motivated by a real-life case study, the paper analyses a multi-period inventory routing problem with stochastic demands. After describing the problem and reviewing the related literature, a simulation-based optimization approach is introduced and tested via a series of computational experiments. Our approach combines biased-randomization techniques with a simheuristic framework to make use of data provided by smart sensor devices located at the top of each farm silo. From the analysis of results, some managerial insights are also derived and a new business model is proposed.