Designing a Distribution Network for a Soda Company: Formulation and Efficient Solution Procedure (CAPÍTULO)

Abstract
This work is aimed at professionals and university students interested in the redesign and optimization of primary distribution networks related to consumer products, in a three-tier distribution system (Plants- Cross Docking Warehouses-Distribution Centers). In this work, a MILP model is presented to design a distribution network for a Soda Company. To solve the model efficiently, the Lagrangian relaxation technique is used. Two relaxations were proposed to solve the optimization model and a heuristic algorithm was used to restore feasibility to the solution found by means of the solution methodology proposed in this work. Four scenarios were analyzed. The solutions obtained are feasible in the original problem. The subproblem generated by the Lagrangian relaxation for each study scenario assures us that the capacity of the production plants will not be exceeded by the demand of the cross-docking warehouses and that the number of pallets sent by each of the plants to the cross-docking warehouses is equal to the amount received by the distribution centers, and it is guaranteed that the demand of each distribution center will be satisfied by only one macro center.