Resilient and sustainable supply chain design: sustainability analysis under disruption risks

Abstract

Resilience to disruptions and sustainability are both of paramount importance to supply chains. However, the interactions between the two have not been thoroughly explored in the academic literature. We attempt to contribute to this area by presenting a hybrid methodology for the design of a sustainable supply network that performs resiliently in the face of random disruptions. A stochastic bi-objective optimisation model is developed that utilises a fuzzy c-means clustering method to quantify and assess the sustainability performance of the suppliers. The proposed model determines outsourcing decisions and resilience strategies that minimise the expected total cost and maximise the overall sustainability performance in disruptions. Important managerial insights and practical implications are obtained from the model implementation in a case study of plastic pipe industry.