Novel heuristic optimisation approaches to organise a large-scale blood supply chain

Blood is collected from donors through blood donation centres and mobile blood donation vehicles, converted into blood products and delivered to hospitals and large health centres. Within the scope of this study, we aim to increase the amount of blood collected from donors through the correct determination of the location of blood supply chain components, optimal routing of mobile components, deliver the required blood and blood products to those in need at a higher rate, and reduce total operational costs while doing so. In this context, a mixed integer mathematical model is proposed, and two heuristic solution methods are developed for large-sized examples. The proposed model and heuristic solution methods are applied to the current Turkish Red Crescent, and the two heuristics developed respectively give 19% and 21% more cost effective solutions compared to the current situation. In addition, the amount of blood donations collected with the proposed methods has increased by 6.76% compared to the current situation, and it has been possible to respond to the currently unresponsive blood and blood product demands (4% of the current demand) with the proposed methods.