Using analytic network process and turbo particle swarm optimization algorithm for non-balanced supply chain planning considering supplier relationship management

Supply chain planning has been regarded as a key strategic decision-making activity for the enterprises under the current business circumstances. From the point of supply chain planning, the important issues are to find suitable and quality partners and to decide upon an appropriate production–distribution plan. In this study, hence, we address to develop a decision methodology for supply chain planning in multi-echelon non-balanced supply chain system, taking into account such four criteria as cost, quality, delivery and supplier relationship management and considering quantity discount and capacity constraints. The proposed methodology is based on the analytic network process and turbo particle swarm optimization (TPSO), to evaluate partners and to determine an optimal supply chain network pattern and production–distribution mode. Finally, to demonstrate the performance of the proposed TPSO algorithm, comparative numerical experiments are performed by TPSO, particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA). Empirical analysis results demonstrate that TPSO can outperform PSO and GA in non-balanced supply chain planning problems.