Investigating the Optimality of Existing Hubs in Terms of Coverage Capacity and Locating New Hubs for the Green Supply Chain of Medical and Pharmaceutical Equipment

Abstract

The problem of locating the hub is one of the most important and widely used problems in network design. The deployed hubs can fail over time for various reasons, including disruptions in the processes, in which case excessive costs are imposed on the operating companies. Therefore, proper planning is needed to reduce the harmful effects of environmental disorders. In this regard, we seek to examine the optimization of existing hubs in terms of the capacity of the new hubs and location of the hubs, with the aim of reducing the cost of coverage to reduce the cost and maximizing the level of green hubs. To this end, the economic benefits of the measures were carried out: the establishment of a new hub, the removal of the previous or current hub, the increase and decrease of the capacity of the hubs. Eventually a new structure of hubs was introduced where the location and capacity of some hubs have changed, but in contrast, the amount of demand coverage has increased.