Optimizing the location-allocation problem of pharmacy warehouses: A case study in Gaziantep

Authors

  • Eren Özceylan Gazianep Universitesi
  • Ayşenur Uslu Department of Industrial Engineering, Başkent University, Turkey
  • Mehmet Erbaş General Command of Mapping, Ministry of National Defense, Ankara, Turkey
  • Cihan Çetinkaya Department of Industrial Engineering, Gaziantep University, Turkey
  • Selçuk Kürşat İşleyen Department of Industrial Engineering, Gazi University, Turkey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11121/ijocta.01.2017.00373

Keywords:

P-median, p-center, set covering, GIS, network analysis

Abstract

It is a known fact that basic health care services cannot reach the majority of the population due to poor geographical accessibility. Unless quantitative location-allocation models and geographic information systems (GIS) are used, the final decision may be made on pragmatic considerations which can result far from optimal. In this paper, current and possible (or potential) new locations of pharmacy warehouses in Gaziantep are investigated to provide optimal distribution of hospitals and pharmacies. To do so, first of all, geographic information of 10 current and 10 potential pharmacy warehouses, 231 pharmacies and 29 hospitals are gathered using GIS. Second, a set covering mathematical model is handled to determine coverage capability of current and potential pharmacy warehouses and minimize the number of warehouses to be opened. Finally, P-center and P-median mathematical models are applied to open potential warehouses and to assign pharmacies & hospitals to the opened warehouses so that the total distance and the demand’s longest distance to the source are minimized. Developed integer programming (IP) models and GIS software are compared with on a case study. Computational experiments prove that our approach can find new potential pharmacy warehouses which cover wider areas than current warehouses to service pharmacies and hospitals in the city.

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Published

2017-01-20
CITATION
DOI: 10.11121/ijocta.01.2017.00373
Published: 2017-01-20

How to Cite

Özceylan, E., Uslu, A., Erbaş, M., Çetinkaya, C., & İşleyen, S. K. (2017). Optimizing the location-allocation problem of pharmacy warehouses: A case study in Gaziantep. An International Journal of Optimization and Control: Theories & Applications (IJOCTA), 7(1), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.11121/ijocta.01.2017.00373

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Research Articles