Bicriterion distribution planning for agricultural power fuels

Distribution of commodities such as power fuels to agricultural operations often involves trade-offs among competing criteria (for instance, minimizat ion of delivery time versus maximization of volume delivered). The agricult ural environment faces a number of market dynamics, including declining mar gins and more efficient farming methods such as 'no-till' farming, that aff ect the demand for power fuels. This dynamic environment requires farm mana gers to examine the supply chain for opportunities to obtain more efficient and effective delivery plans. We present an approach for distribution plan ning. It is comprised of three tightly-coupled stages with an underlying DS S system which we also applied to this single-commodity multiple-depot scen ario of distributing agricultural power fuel to customers. The process faci litates (1) Problem characterization, (2) Model specification, and (3) Inte ractive distribution planning. A synthesis of the literature with our curre nt study offers managers and academics a useful application scenario for in tegrating process components and viewing the major thrusts of past research . We present an illustrative case study which required a bicriteria model. Trade-offs are examined among non-dominated distribution plans.