Designing a Sustainable Closed-Loop Supply Chain Based on Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision Making Approach in Dairy Industries

One of the effective activities in organization’s supply chain management is the design of an efficient and functional chain network structure that plays a critical and significant role in the achievement of organizations. The increase in environmental considerations and social rules necessitates the organizations to consider such sustainability concerns in designing their supply chains while setting the economic objectives. This study aimed at designing a mathematical programming/planning model by taking into account the sustainability criteria in closed-loop supply chain of dairy industries. The most important sustainability indexes were extracted in three economic, environmental and social aspects and the most effective indexes were initially selected by using DEMATEL technique. Then, a multi-objective mixed integrated planning model was presented for designing the sustainable supply chain, the objectives of which included the indexes obtained from DEMATEL. In the next stage, the model was solved in a metric L-P method by using GAMS software. Thus, a set of optimal Pareto solutions were obtained. Finally, the resultant model was implemented in Isfahan’s Pegah Dairy Industries Company in 2019, resulting in seven optimal Pareto solutions. Based on the solutions obtained, the lowest cost, the lowest consumption rate of water and the lowest consumption rate of energy were found to be about 70 million IR rials, 760 m3 and 963 MWs per month, respectively; and the highest employment opportunities was found to be 39,000 men-hours per month.