A System for Supporting Supplier and Cold Storage Selection in the Fresh Fruit Supply Chain

Nowadays, many fresh fruit companies choose produce suppliers and the subsequent fresh produce purchase arbitrarily. They do not consider the interaction between fresh fruit quality and the required cold storage technology. These decisions are critical because they have a great impact on final product quality and process efficiency. Since fruit harvesting is seasonal, the selection of suppliers and required refrigeration technology choice are made before or during the harvest season. However, many uncertainties arise such as market conditions, climate, exchange rates, and raw material shortage, among others. These dilemmas make it necessary to react quickly and flexibly when facing them. Therefore, a decision support system based on a mathematical programming model was developed in this study for supporting these tactical decisions. This system was named the FruitPS-DSS and was applied in a Chilean dehydrated fruit company to validate the system functionality. In this company, an analysis of different possible scenarios concerning changes in demand and fruit price during a supply-planning season was performed. Moreover, it was deployed and validated according to the experience of three operational managers who were in charge of the fruit purchase and storage processes of their respective companies. They positively valued the obtained reports and information, mentioning that it will allow them to make timely decisions under a user-friendly interface. Additionally, they pointed out that the FruitPS-DSS could facilitate ordering and handling information. Finally, it is important to notice that the FruitPS-DSS is flexible enough to be adapted to different kinds of fruit processing plants.