Integrated risk prioritization and action selection for cold chain

Abstract

Cold chain, which affects human health and quality of life, is applied for temperature-sensitive and perishable products. Any problems occurring in the cold chain can cause deterioration in products, causing poisoning, death, or various diseases. There are many stages in the cold chain itself and the risk significance level of each stage is different. Therefore, the risks that occur depending on the weight of the stages in the cold chain should be defined and minimized and action plans are needed to be formed. Every action in the action plan cannot be implemented simultaneously since each action requires a different amount of budget and time resources of the companies are finite. Hence, the risks occurring in the cold chain should be minimized with the maximum use of limited company resources. In this study, an integrated mathematical model with analytical hierarchy method and failure mode and effect analysis is proposed that will maximize the weighted risk reduction amount by considering the budget and time constraints of the companies at the same time. The proposed approach has been applied in the 3PL service provider and the results are discussed. According to the results of the study where maximum benefit is aimed with the actions taken against the dangers, the maximum objective function value was obtained at the second and third levels of the workforce and budget values by evaluating the different situations with scenario analyses. In this solution, it is foreseen that by taking 5 actions, improvement will be made in 14 hazards.