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3.2.2 Design consideration

It is possible to include all facilities, including plants, warehouses, distribution centres and retail outlets of the complete supply chain, but practically it would be prohibitive to consider the entire supply chain within a single solution platform (Rushton & Saw 1993). Though there are planning models which include plants and retail outlets, in most practical cases plants and retail outlets are likely to be excluded from consideration when designing the supply chain network. A plant or a manufacturing unit is more likely to be located at a place which is strategically selected because of its proximity to a source of raw material or to a source of cheap labour, and this is unlikely to be influenced in any medium term planning of the firm. On the other hand, the retail outlets represent the customers. We will address the design problem in this simplified form keeping in mind that just as each supply chain is unique so are the requirements of planning.

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