The Green Supply Chain Design and Marketing Strategy for Perishable Food Based on Temperature Control

With the intensification of global warming and the levy of energy tax, more industries are paying attention to energy saving and reduction of carbon footprint. For the food industry, energy cost in the supply chain of perishable food is quite high because of cold-chain transport and storage. Therefo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shuai Yang, Yujie Xiao, Yan Zheng, Yan Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2017-08-01
Series:Sustainability
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/9/1511
Description
Summary:With the intensification of global warming and the levy of energy tax, more industries are paying attention to energy saving and reduction of carbon footprint. For the food industry, energy cost in the supply chain of perishable food is quite high because of cold-chain transport and storage. Therefore, the efficacies of cold chain management and inventory control are the key factors that increase the efficiency of food supply chain and make it more ecological. This research analyzes the degradation process of perishable food and determines the optimal temperature of the cold chain as well as the optimal price to maximize the channel profit. We prove that there is an optimal price with a certain temperature and develop an efficient search algorithm to find the optimal temperature. We also perform sensitivity analyses to test which parameters affect the channel profit significantly. Numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate the proposed models.
ISSN:2071-1050