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1287. Sustainable Group Traveling Purchaser Problem: Unlocking Value and Environmental Benefits with Bundle Discounts

Invited abstract in session TA-24: Sustainability in Vehicle Routing, stream Sustainable Supply Chains.

Tuesday, 8:30-10:00
Room: 83 (building: 116)

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Zahra Sadat Hassanpourjesri
IE, Sharif University of Technology

Abstract

The Traveling Purchaser Problem (TPP) has been a central focus in supply chain management, aiming to optimize the procurement process while minimizing total purchasing and transportation costs. We consider a new variant of TPP, one that incorporates shared vehicles among the purchasers and harnesses the power of bundle discount policy from suppliers. In our proposed structure, buyers can not only use the capacity of each other's vehicles but also integrate their demands, and by group purchasing receive their needed items through bundle discounts at the lowest price. In a typical bundle discount policy, a buyer might be reluctant to buy the whole bundle's items individually. Consequently, this study delves into the amalgamation of demands of different purchasers to harness the advantages of bundle discounts. Meanwhile, each bundle contains some environmentally friendly goods that determine its sustainability score. The innovation of this paper provides an opportunity for purchasers to obtain significant cost savings by engaging in group purchasing bundles with the highest sustainable scores. This allows them to procure eco-friendly products while simultaneously benefiting from discounted prices. We propose a tailored mathematical model for this new version of TPP, which we then solve using an approximated heuristic algorithm. The findings underscore the substantial role played by group purchasing strategies in cost mitigation and the enhancement of sustainable procurement.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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