Design and management of a perishable product supply chain in Mekong Delta of Vietnam – a case study of sweetpotato in Vinh Long Province

Abstract

Not only occupying about 60% of area at Me Kong Delta region and about 12% area of Vietnam, sweet potato in Vinh Long Province has a remarkable production, in terms of quantity which is 67.8% of quantity in Me Kong Delta and about 26.9% of Vietnam in total. Sweet potato is considered as the representative fresh agricultural product of the Me Kong Delta region. In the current time, supply chain of sweet potato is inefficient in terms of outdated technology, lack of management, and the issues of market. The dissertation research aims to improve efficiency in management and to cut off the costs of operating supply chain in Vinh Long. The objective of this research is to design the new supply chain of sweet potato so that it meets demand, functions effectively and efficiently, and brings sweet potato to customers with an acceptable price. Data for designing supply chain of sweet potato in Vinh Long consists of two categories: primary information from interviewing with local bodies, farmers, traders, and experts, secondary data from the theoretical system of the supply chain, from research, doctoral dissertation related to the supply chain and operational efficiency of fresh agricultural products supply chain in Vietnam, especially in the Mekong Delta region; and from consulting local experts in Vinh Long. The supply chain model design is a process with two phases to support strategic decision. The first phase is Multi-objective Optimization with two objectives which are minimizing cost and minimizing transportation time. The solution of the first phase was obtained by using CPLEX software. The second phase is Multiple Attribute Decision Making (MADM) in selection process to select the location. In this stage, the author use a special Analytic Hierarchy Process named Spherical Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (SF-AHP) and Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) Algorithm in location selection. The final output of the model is locations of all components in supply chain of sweet potato, all production quantity and inventory. To accompany with configuration of supply chain, management concepts are introduced and discussed. Keywords: Supply Chain Design model, Sweet potato, Multi-Objective Optimization, MADM, AHP