Multi-objective optimization for Green Supply Chain Management and Design : Application to the orange juice agrofood cluster

Supply chain and operations management has matured from a field that addressed only operational and economic concerns to one that comprehensively considers the broader environmental and social issues that face industrial organizations of today. Adding the term “green” to supply chain activities seeks to incorporate environmentally conscious thinking in all processes in the supply chain. The aim of this work is to develop a Green Supply Chain (GrSC) framework based on a multi-objective optimization approach, with specific emphasis on agrofood supply chain design, planning and operations through the implementation of appropriate green supply chain management and logistics principles. The case study is the orange juice cluster. The research objective is the minimization of the environmental burden and the maximization of economic profitability of the selected product categories. This work focuses on the application of GrSCM to two fundamental strategic issues targeting agro food supply chains. The former is related to the Green Supplier Selection (GSS) problem devoted to the farming production systems and the way they are integrated into the global supply chain network. The latter focuses on the global Green Supply Chain Network Design (GSCND) as a whole. These two complementary and ultimately integrated strategic topics are framed in order to evaluate and exploit the unique characteristics of agro food supply chains in relation to eco-labeling. The methodology is based on the use of Life Cycle Assessment, Multi-objective Optimization via Genetic Algorithms and Multiple-criteria Decision Making tools (TOPSIS type). The approach is illustrated and validated through the development and analysis of an Orange Juice Supply Chain case study modelled as a three echelon GrSC composed of the supplier, manufacturing and market levels that in turn are decomposed into more detailed subcomponents. Methodologically, the work has shown the development of the modelling and optimization GrSCM framework is useful in the context of eco-labeled agro food supply chain and feasible in particular for the orange juice cluster. The proposed framework can help decision makers handle the complexity that characterizes agro food supply chain design decision and that is brought on by the multi-objective and multi-period nature of the problem as well as by the multiple stakeholders, thus preventing to make the decision in a segmented empirical manner. Experimentally, under the assumptions used in the case study, the work highlights that by focusing only on the “organic” eco-label to improve the agricultural aspect, low to no improvement on overall supply chain environmental performance is reached in relative terms. In contrast, the environmental criteria resulting from a full lifecycle approach is a better option for future public and private policies to reach more sustainable agro food supply chains