Determination of an Effective Supply Chain: Case Study for Delivering Products from the USA to Ukraine

The solution to finding optimal product delivery variants is always relevant. The best supply chain scheme choice is essential for long-distance transportation of specific cargoes, such as vehicles and spare parts. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to establish the dependence between the cost of delivery of automotive products on the technological and economic parameters of the provision of transport services. This approach made it possible to select the best supply chain option based on the minimum unit cost value during shipping vehicles and spare parts in containers from the USA to Ukraine. Improvement of operations determining the interaction of different kinds of transport, as well as achieving the optimal level of distribution of goods between them, allows the development of timely rational management decisions, significantly increasing the quality and efficiency of the supply chains. The study used mathematical modeling as the primary tool to achieve goals. The designed model includes several cost parameters that characterize specific conditions of certain transportation schemes. Unit cost values were compared to determine the most efficient option from the proposed ones. The most effective option is Supply Chain 3 because it has minimal values of unit costs in most tests of the experiment. The newly developed regression models give a universal mathematical tool by which researchers can choose an effective option of supply chains for delivering vehicles and their repair parts in containers. This approach can assess other distribution channels with the same or analog conceptions of route designing.