An Integrated Bread Flour Supply Chain Model considering Import, Storage, Production and Distribution Planning

Since wheat is an important and strategic commodity, planning and managing its supply chain is also important. Yearly, million tons of wheat are purchased from other countries whereas food grain was the main imported community into the country in 2014. On the other hand, wheat and its products are considered among the highest good transportation in the country.  In this regard, this study presents optimization model for bread flour supply chain network design with the aim of strategic decisions on imports and tactical decisions on allocation. In addition, in spite of the most presented papers in this area, in this paper bread flour supply chain is integrated with attention to current capacities to produce flour. The model determines that in which months, what amount of the wheat should be purchased and transported from which country and through which point of import were sent to which province. Also, the stock size of the wheat in provinces and the inter-provincial transportation of wheat and flour produced in every province and its movement between provinces was determined The numerical results of the model and sensitivity analysis experiments along with important managerial insights were brought.