Research on Distribution Route of Emergency Medical Materials Based on Two-stage Model

Aiming at the problem of improper dispatch of emergency medical materials under public health emergencies, a two-stage model of emergency medical materials distribution path was constructed. In the first stage, considering the distribution characteristics of emergency medical materials and the fairness and efficiency of the three-level logistics network of "distribution center-distribution cen-ter-designated hospital',the matching model of emergency medical materials was established. In the second stage, based on the traditional distribution path model,the problem of deterioration of special materials was considered, and the path planning model of emergency medical materials was established with the sum of driving distance, time penalty and deterioration penalty as the goal. The NSGA- II algorithm and LKH solver were used to solve the two-stage model, and the actual situation during the COVID~19 epidemic was taken as an example to verify it. The results show that the two-stage model and the algorithm adopted can well balance the two goals of fairness and efficiency, so as to provide a reasonable distribution plan according to the supply of emergency medical resources and realize the rapid transfer of emergency medical materials. © 2023 Wuhan University of Technology. All rights reserved.

A multi-dimensional robust optimization approach for cold-chain emergency medical materials dispatch under COVID-19: A case study of Hubei Province

For the optimization problem of the cold-chain emergency materials (CEM) distribution routes with multi-demand centers and soft time windows and to solve dispatching materials to medical treatment institutions in various places of the disaster areas under COVID-19, a multi-dimensional robust optimization (MRO) model was proposed, which was solved by a hybrid algorithm combined Pareto genetic algorithm and the improved grey relative analysis (IGRA). The proposed model comprehensively takes into consideration of the cost factors of the cold-chain logistics and robustness of solution with the purpose of minimizing the costs and maximizing robustness. The availability of the proposed approach and hybrid algorithm were thoroughly discussed and qualified through a real-world numerical simulation test case, which was a previous risk area located at Hubei Province. Research results show an average-cost reduction of 4.51% and a robustness increment of 11.69% in addition to consider the urgencies of demand. Consequently, not only the costs can be slightly reduced and the robustness be heightened, but also the blindness of the distribution can be avoided effectively with the demand urgency being considered. Research result indicates that when combining with the specific process of supplies dispatching in the prevention and control, the proposed approach is in a far better agreement in practice, and it could meet the diverse requirements of the emergency scenarios flexibly.