Design of a decision support system to evaluate logistics distribution network in Greater Mekong Subregion Countries

The objective of this research is to present an approach to guide Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries in order to minimise the total transportation costs with maximum satisfaction in distributing goods between the distribution centre (DC) and the customer, the so-called logistics distribution network. The decision support system (DSS) model is the combination of a number of models beginning with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model to achieve priorities from customers and the DC operator's viewpoint on the alternatives (logistics distribution network), followed by the Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) which integrates priorities from both sides to achieve maximum satisfaction. After that the multi-commodity transportation model is employed to calculate the optimum number of products transported to customers, which yields minimum transportation costs. The recommendations, limitations and further research are also presented. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.