Sustainable multi-objective fixed charge capacitated transportation model: A case study in steel industry

The demand for a sustainable transportation plan that incorporates environmental preservation, reduces carbon emissions, minimizes transportation costs, and improves the safety levels of the transportation process when delivering goods has escalated in the market. However, numerous factors contribute to uncertainty in real world transportation planning, which must be taken into account while constructing the mathematical model. To effectively address these issues, a sustainable multi-objective fixed charge capacitated transportation problem is developed in this paper under an intuitionistic fuzzy environment. The mathematical structure of the problem consists of three objective functions. The primary objective is to minimize both the fixed cost and the transportation cost. The fixed cost is incurred if the target safety level of the entire transportation plan is not achieved. The target safety level ensures the well-being of personnel, preventing product loss or damage and lowering the possibility of mishaps or delays in the overall transportation plan. Second objective is about minimizing the packaging and dispatch cost of goods in transportation process. The third objective is to minimize the carbon emission cost during transportation of commodities. A methodology for the defined problem is proposed based on the concepts of possibility theory and intuitionistic fuzzy programming. Three different types of membership and non-membership functions are described for the proposed model. This offers decision makers a broad range of options to manage ambiguity, thereby, enhancing the overall satisfaction level. A case study from the steel industry is presented, depicting the applicability and efficacy of the proposed methodology. This has been followed by the discussion and analysis of the obtained results through graphs.