Global optimization in supply chain operations

Abstract

This chapter discusses some optimization issues from a business perspective in the context of the supply chain operations. We note that the term “global optimization” may have different meanings in different communities and we look at it from the business and classical optimization points of view. We present two real-world optimization problems which differ in scope and use them for our discussion on global optimization issues. The differences between these two problems, experimental results, the main challenges they present and the algorithms used are discussed. Here, we claim neither uniqueness nor superiority of the algorithms used, rather the main goal of this chapter is to emphasize the importance of the global optimization concept.