Production, Replenishment and Inventory Policies for Perishable Products in a Two-Echelon Distribution Network
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Thank you for sending me the revision. After checking the original and revision versions, I see that the authors have addressed well all comments.
Moreover, the authors could enhance the discussion section by considering some relevant references such as:
Duong, L. N., Wood, L. C., & Wang, W. Y. (2018). Effects of Consumer Demand, Product Lifetime, and Substitution Ratio on Perishable Inventory Management. Sustainability, 10(5), 1559.
Duong, L. N., Wood, L. C., & Wang, W. Y. (2015). A multi-criteria inventory management system for perishable & substitutable products. Procedia Manufacturing, 2, 66-76.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: After checking the original and revision versions, I see that the authors have addressed well all comments. Moreover, the authors could enhance the discussion section by considering some relevant references such as:
Duong, L. N., Wood, L. C., & Wang, W. Y. (2018). Effects of Consumer Demand, Product Lifetime, and Substitution Ratio on Perishable Inventory Management. Sustainability, 10(5), 1559.
Duong, L. N., Wood, L. C., & Wang, W. Y. (2015). A multi-criteria inventory management system for perishable & substitutable products. Procedia Manufacturing, 2, 66-76.
Response 1: Thank you very much for all the warm help you gave to our study. Additionally, we found the references you recommended are really useful to enhance the literature review, so we have added them in the right place. Please check them in lines 139, 140, 146 and 147 in page 4.
Reviewer 2 Report
- Why there are nine strategies models and only four strategies models are analyzed? Please explain clearly.
- The description of the optimization models in rows 219-234 on page 8 should be moved to the back of Table 3 on page 7 instead of putting functions (1)-(33).
- Why there are only three strategies models in Tables 11 and 12 that lack the OF-OF model. Table 13 has the performance of the OF-OF model?
- There are two ranges of changes in the A, B, and H00 parameters to discuss the models’ performance of costs and time. The results are shown in Table 13. There are only the cost and time performance analysis of the four strategies models, which should compute two changing ranges of A, B, and H00 parameters of four strategies models.
- Figure 3 and Figure 5 have the same titles, please correct it.
- The title of the subsections with the same row 504 and row 567 please correct.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Point 1: Why there are nine strategies models and only four strategies models are analyzed? Please explain clearly.
Response 1: Because the optimal strategies are difficult to be used in real production and transportation in both echelons, thus only the manually operable strategy combinations are analyzed. We have added the explanation in lines 435-439 in page 18. Please check it.
Point 2: The description of the optimization models in rows 219-234 on page 8 should be moved to the back of Table 3 on page 7 instead of putting functions (1)-(33).
Response 2: The description has been removed based on your comment, please check it in line 221 in page 7.
Point 3: Why there are only three strategies models in Tables 11 and 12 that lack the OF-OF model. Table 13 has the performance of the OF-OF model?
Response 3: Table 13 has the complete consideration of the operable strategy combinations. We feel sorry for neglecting to show the results of OF-OF in Tables 11 and 12. This time, we add the results of computational time both by CPLEX and B\&C for OF-OF, please check the results in page 18.
Point 4: There are two ranges of changes in the A, B, and H00 parameters to discuss the models’ performance of costs and time. The results are shown in Table 13. There are only the cost and time performance analysis of the four strategies models, which should compute two changing ranges of A, B, and H00 parameters of four strategies models.
Response 4: Sorry, the two ranges of changes are related to the two scenarios of stable and fluctuating customer demands, not the changes in the parameters while the results of A, B, \beta and H_{00} for total costs, time_{hold} and other costs are analyzed in Figures 2-5. Please check the results, thank you so much.
Point 5: Figure 3 and Figure 5 have the same titles, please correct it.
Response 5: The tile of Figure 3 is 'Influence of parameter B on different inventory strategy combinations' while the tile of Figure 5 is 'Influence of parameter \beta (β) on different inventory strategy combinations'. They are similar but not same, we feel sorry about the similarity. Additionally, it is worth mentioning that the parameter B is the time cost for deterioration rate to reach e times of initial deterioration rate and the parameter \beta is the increment of inventory cost.
Point 6: The title of the subsections with the same row 504 and row 567 please correct.
Response 6: The titles of the two subsections are 'Influence of parameter B on different inventory strategy combinations' and 'Influence of parameter \beta (β) on different inventory strategy combinations ', respectively. We feel sorry again for the similarity and the explanation is similar to the response of Point 5.
Thanks again for all the heartfelt help and warm comments！Wish you all the best in the future.
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Authors propose a MILP model for production and inventory Planning for perishable items in a two-echelon distribution network. Although the topics is really interesting and the research has been conducted in a proper way, I would like to suggest the following improvements for this paper:
In the ABSTRACT section, include some quantitative or numeric results based on your experiments In the INTRODUCTION section: In line 44, review the acronym, it should be 2E-PRP The goal, objectives and contribution of your research have to be more clearly expressed In the LITERATURE REVIEW section: Include some relevant state of the art or reviews related to Production-Routing problem, such as Adulyasak et al. (2015) and Díaz-Madroñero et al. (2015), Production and Distribution for perishable products, such as Amorim et al. (2013) Include the work by Diaz-Madroñero et al (2017) who proposes a production and routing problem considering transport lead times in the procurement section of a industrial network In the Problem description: Explain how the customers assignation to satellites has be done ¿The transport mode for replenishment satellites is Full-Truck-Load or routes? Indicate clearly Introduce a generic parameter for the lead time in the notation and in the model, and in the assumptions you can clarify that is one period for your experiments In the model formulation: Indicate which type of subtour elimination constraint have been used In the computational results, indicate how the inventory policy selected affects the computational time need to obtain a solution and the corresponding gap Although the authors present a complete analysis of computational results I miss a section more oriented to managerial insights from the perspective of a logistics manager than a quantitative analysis.
References
Adulyasak, Y., Cordeau, J. F., & Jans, R. (2015). The production routing problem: A review of formulations and solution algorithms. Computers & Operations Research, 55, 141-152.
Amorim, P., Meyr, H., Almeder, C., & Almada-Lobo, B. (2013). Managing perishability in production-distribution planning: a discussion and review. Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, 25(3), 389-413.
Díaz-Madroñero, M., Mula, J., & Peidro, D. (2017). A mathematical programming model for integrating production and procurement transport decisions. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 52, 527-543.
Díaz-Madroñero, M., Peidro, D., & Mula, J. (2015). A review of tactical optimization models for integrated production and transport routing planning decisions. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 88, 518-535.
Reviewer 2 Report
Thank you very much for sending me the paper “Production, Replenishment and Inventory Policies for Perishable Products in a Two-echelon Distribution Network.” The authors consider perishable products in a two-echelon distribution network integrates the production routing problem (PRP) and two-echelon vehicle routing problem (2E-VRP).
Overall, I am enthusiastic about your chosen research topic. Despite my enthusiasm for the topic, I have several major concerns regarding the methodological rigour, literature review itself and contributions of the manuscript. I started my major concerns as well as other issues in the document attached. I hope you find my comments useful in improving this manuscript.
Abstract
The abstract section should be revised as it did not clearly state the research problem and findings in the research. Ideally, we expect that the abstract should provide a summary of what has been done and findings. But I do not see these points in this abstract section.
Introduction
The authors do not state clearly motivations for the research. The first two paragraphs review somewhat of literature, but it does not tell why the authors consider this research topic.
Moreover, why perishable products are considered?
Importantly, there is a lack of discussion on the sustainability aspect of the manuscript. This is a journal about sustainability, but I do not see a clear discussion on sustainability.
Literature review
I think that the literature review lacks an answer for the “so what” question. While the authors list some relevant papers, it is still not clear what learning points that the authors want to convey.
Methodology
Where is the source of data?
Conclusion
The authors provide a mathematical model and have some interesting results. But, the point is how the results contribute to the theory. What are the implications of the results?
In general, I think the authors have done a good job in modelling, but the paper lacks academic merit.
