Mehdi Abdollahi Kamran

Perishable food cold chains face significant challenges arising from product perishability, temperature-control requirements, high logistics costs, and environmental concerns. The geographical dispersion of customers and the time and temperature requirements of dairy products make it challenging to determine appropriate distribution centre locations and coordinate sourcing and inventory decisions while simultaneously achieving cost efficiency, timely delivery, and reduced carbon emissions. This study aims to optimize the cold chain distribution network of Nada Company, a dairy producer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, serving customers in Oman. The study employs AnyLogistix, integrating Greenfield Analysis, Network Optimization, and simulation to determine suitable distribution centre locations, evaluate network performance, and support strategic distribution network decision-making. Greenfield Analysis initially identified three potential locations in Sohar, Salalah, and Samail, while Network Optimization determined that retaining two distribution centres in Sohar and Salalah provided a more efficient configuration. Compared with the Greenfield configuration, the optimized network reduced transportation costs from $2.13 million to $1.84 million and CO₂ emissions from 949,784 to 821,524, while maintaining the same total flow and demand fulfilment. The findings demonstrate that integrating network optimization and simulation can support more efficient and sustainable cold chain network design and evidence-based distribution decisions, providing a practical decision-support framework for perishable dairy products.

Industrial Symbiosis (IS) has become an essential approach for achieving sustainable industrial development through inter-firm collaboration aimed at improving resource efficiency and minimizing waste. Rooted in Industrial Ecology (IE) and aligned with Circular Economy (CE) goals, IS enables material, energy, and by-product exchanges that deliver environmental and economic benefits. This study presents a comprehensive review of the global information systems literature, with a specific focus on case studies published between 2010 and 2025. The analysis encompasses publication trends, geographic and sectoral distributions, reported benefits and barriers, as well as methodological approaches. Findings indicate a significant surge in IS-related publications post-2010, with China, North America, and Europe leading global contributions. Within Asia, case studies are heavily concentrated in China, primarily in the mining and quarrying, as well as the manufacturing sectors. Commonly reported benefits include cost savings, waste reduction, and emissions mitigation. Key barriers, however, involve high initial investments, information asymmetries, and regulatory challenges. The paper draws on multiple case studies to identify patterns observed in international practice and develops a conceptual framework that connects the study’s findings with practical implementation. A future research agenda is proposed that emphasizes comparative analyses across continents, governance mechanisms tailored to varied institutional contexts, and digital technologies that can accelerate the identification and coordination of exchanges.

This research tackles a crucial aspect of manufacturing system design: optimizing the Facility Layout Problem (FLP). We address a specific scenario involving multiple products with flexible processing plans on various machines in a job-shop environment. Redundant machines of each type exist, with known acquisition costs and capacities. Processing times and production volumes for each product are also pre-determined. An integer non-linear mathematical model is formulated to represent the problem. While a linearization technique is applied, the inherent NP-hardness renders exact solution methods impractical for medium to large-scale problems. To address this, three algorithms are proposed: a matheuristic, Iterated Local Search (ILS), and a Genetic Algorithm (GA). These are evaluated based on solution quality, runtime, and robustness across diverse problem instances. Results demonstrate the superiority of the ILS algorithm in terms of solution quality, robustness, and overall effectiveness. These findings offer valuable guidance for decision-makers seeking optimization tools for FLPs. The ILS’s consistent delivery of high-quality solutions with minimal variation makes it a reliable choice. Additionally, as many facility layout decisions are tactical or strategic – where computational time is less critical – the matheuristic demonstrates acceptable performance and holds promise for handling problems of varying sizes and complexities. To further validate the effectiveness and demonstrate the practical applicability of our proposed solution methodology, the ILS and matheuristic algorithms were applied to a real-world layout design case adapted from the literature. The results once again confirm the strong performance of both methods in terms of solution quality, computational efficiency, and robustness.

Environmental concerns and the increasing scarcity of resources force decision makers in the supply chain to consider reuse and re-production. Closed loop supply chain is a fundamental concept that has attracted the attention of many researchers due to its profitability for businesses as well as its positive environmental and social effects. Closed-loop supply chains and sustainability dimensions are complementary because of their mutual effects. This paper develops a mathematical model to design a sustainable closed-loop supply chain network in the wood–plastic composite industry. Due to the nature of the problem considered, a mixed-integer linear programming method is utilized. The proposed model is a multi-objective model, and the Lp-metric method is used to solve it. The proposed model is applied in a real case in Iran. The proposed model identified 17 optimal provinces for manufacturing centers, 15 for reuse centers, and 9 for reproduction centers. Verification and validation of the proposed model illustrate its capability in real world implications.