Optimization of costs for procurement and transportation of pipes

A multi-period optimization model was developed to calculate the costs of procurement and transportation of goods. The objective function aimed to minimize the combined costs of procurement and sea transportation of goods. The goods could be procured from various suppliers, and delivered by several shipping companies. As a case study, the Model was used to analyze the procurement of pipes for a water supply project in West Africa. In this project, 430,000 meters of HDPE pipes were procured and delivered in a pre-determined multi-period supply schedule. The model provided the optimal number of suppliers and the number of containers to be shipped from each. In the model an innovative algorithm is incorporated for the nesting of pipes of various diameters for optimal packing of a standard shipping container. The proposed practical and applied model could serve as a decision-making tool for the optimal procurement and shipping of goods in general and circular (pipes) packing in particular under operational an...