An optimization based decision support model for Thai rubber industry supply chain: Preliminary results

As today's global rubber markets continue to be more complex in term of cost, the objective to design effective rubber supply chain needs to address this challenge. Therefore, this paper aims to develop an optimization based decision support model for the Thai rubber industry formulated by incorporating the distribution, production and transportation of rubber products in a manner to minimize the total costs. The purpose of the model is to support the analysis of rubber supply network flows, the factory locations, the outbound distribution of transportation mode and route choices. Preliminary results based on cost minimization objective are presented and discussed.