Redesigning a food bank supply chain network in a triple bottom line context

Abstract We address the problem of redesigning a multi-echelon food bank supply chain network for the collection of food donations and their distribution to charitable agencies. Strategic decisions comprise opening new food banks and selecting their storage and transport capacities from a set of discrete sizes over a multi-period planning horizon. In addition, existing food banks may be closed or have their capacities expanded. Logistics decisions involve the number of charitable agencies to be supplied, their allocation to food banks, and the flow of food products across the network. We propose a mixed-integer linear programming model that accounts for all dimensions of sustainability – economic, environmental and social – through three objective functions. A computational study is conducted for problem instances capturing the characteristics of the current network operated by the Portuguese Federation of Food Banks (FPBA) in the south of Portugal. To investigate the trade-offs that occur under the three conflicting objectives, a subset of non-dominated solutions is identified through lexicographic ordering. Our study reveals that the largest trade-offs occur between the economic and the other two objectives, and that attributing the highest priority to the environmental objective results in the most balanced solutions. Moreover, multiobjective strategies that can improve the sustainability performance of the FPBA are identified. In particular, we have concluded that there is margin for improving the current performance, especially if the social dimension continues to be favoured by the FPBA.