A holistic approach for the design and management of an agri fresh produce supply chain: a literature review

A holistic approach for the design and management of an agri-fresh produce supply chain: A literature review HO THANH PHONG International University, Vietnam National University HCMC –

A holistic approach for the design and

management of an agri-fresh produce supply

chain: A literature review

HO THANH PHONG International University, Vietnam National University HCMC – htphong@hcmiu.edu.vn

CHANDANA HEWEGE Swinburne University of Technology – chewege@swin.edu.au

PHAN THUY KIEU International University, Vietnam National University HCMC –

phanthuykieu2006@gmail.com

Abstract

The paper is a systematic review of the existing literature on the operational research models applied by previous researchers in the context of an agri-fresh produce supply chain The paper aims to generate a deeper understanding of the trends and mathematical modelling methods used in previous research by employing a structured taxonomy of literature classification A chain of intermediaries tends to play a critical role in delivering agri-fresh commodities from farmers to consumers These intermediaries perform various functions including the collection, preservation and delivery of agri-fresh produce, creating linkages among all stakeholders of the supply chain Essentially, the study summarizes most of the technical, organizational and functional solutions that have been used to design optimal fresh produce supply chain management approaches Findings of the paper generated by applying a systematic literature review protocol have significant practical implications and stress the crucial of holistic approaches for the design and management of Agri-fresh produce supply chains with a view to overcoming current challenges in production, distribution and inventory management

Keywords: supply chain; operational research; design; agri-fresh produce; modelling;

performance measurement

A supply chain encompasses all activities associated with the flow and transformation of goods from the raw material stage to end users, as well as the associated information flows As part of operations, the supply chain management (SCM) also plays an important role in maintaining the flow of materials from processing units to the production of finished goods, and then to end consumers (Chopra and Meinnd, 2001; 2007) While producing perishable goods is vital to satisfying the growing global demand for food, the supply chain management of agri- fresh produce is equally crucial to delivering goods to the market at the right time and with minimum loss of food quantities and qualities, i.e perishability may occur in one

or more stages across the chain (Amorim et al., 2013; Boselie et al., 2003; Nahmias, 1982) from the extremely short processing to transportation times (Gigler et al., 2002; Van Der Vorst et al., 1998) Other characteristics, such as seasonality of Agriculture production (Salin, 1998; Tsubone et al., 1983), long supply lead times (Aramyan et al., 2006; Lowe and Preckel, 2004) and uncertainty in harvest time due to unpredictable weather conditions (Dorfman and Havenner, 1991; Salin, 1998), also make the Agri- supply chain management even more complex As a result, the operational research of Agri-fresh produce supply chain (APSC) has attracted considerable interest of researchers as a mechanism to generate management efficiency through the use of modern decision technology tools

It is evident that the major trends related to the principles of operational research models have spread across the scientific literature Over the last 20 years, many lead authors across the world have dramatically concentrated on designing and managing agri-fresh produce supply chains (Greenberg, 1995; Carter, 2011; Pokharel and Mutha, 2009; Seuring and Muller, 2008; Srivastava, 2007) However, it is found that there is a significant level of inconsistency and confusion in segmenting fruits, flowers, and vegetables Thus, there is an acute need for the categorization of the produce to enhance the scalability of the developed models As such, this paper will adopt the definition of Shukla and Jharkharia (2013) on agri-fresh produce (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Product differentiation (Shukla and Jharkharia, 2013)

In fact, this paper reviews the key literature on the operational research models that are applied in the fresh produce supply chains and thereby aims to generate deeper understanding of the trends through the structured taxonomy of literature classification Concurrently, the authors synthesize the progression of the previously published papers related to the design and management of agri-fresh produce supply chains with a view to providing directions for further studies

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows The next section presents the review methodology we employed in this study This is followed by a detailed description of fresh produce supply chain background In section 4, we synthesize supply chain models that have been developed for agri-fresh produce Then, we discuss the findings towards designing and managing the fresh produce supply chain in Vietnam in section 5 Finally, section 6 concludes this review paper

2 Review methodology

“A literature review is a systematic, explicit, and reproducible design for identifying, evaluating, and interpreting the existing body of recorded documents” (Fink, 1998) Thus, the objective of the literature review is to: (1) summarize existing research by determining patterns and issues and (2) identify the conceptual content of the field (Meredith, 1993)

management of the supply chain of fruits and vegetables, the authors review various published research articles using a combined approach of deductive and inductive reasoning First of all, the authors focus on some key words by using Google Scholar, including “design and management of agri-fresh produce supply chain”, “Operational models applied for fruit and vegetable supply chain”, “harvesting”, “scheduling”,

“Mathematical programming models”, “Multi-objective programming”, “supply chain linear programming models”, “supply chain design”, and so on The search for these key words results in many relevant articles and then the articles are screened by applying criteria of Thomson Reuters, SCOPUS, Elsevier, Wiley or Emerald and in Web

of Science to avoid reference biases and select journals that are closely related to the key words Finally, the authors check each paper We follow three common rules: (1) papers written in English language; (2) papers consisting of decision variables modelling the production planning or logistic of fruit and vegetable supply chains, intended for fresh consumption and for production; (3) and even papers of other agri- fresh produce are selected after satisfying the rules 1 & 2 Our review results in selecting papers based on their abstracts and highlights, covering 20 review articles and 62 papers in particular

3 Agri-fresh produce supply chains background

Lowe and Prackel (2004) reviewed the literature on applications of decision technology tools for a selected set of agribusiness problems in crop planning calling for more research into solving these problems When engaging in a pioneering review of planning models relating to the production and distribution of the agri-food supply chains, Ahumada and Villalobos (2009) pointed out: (1) agri-fresh produce supply chain are more complex and harder to manage than other supply chains, (2) relating

to preserving freshness and product quality, it requires more limited delivery deadlines, more controlled storage conditions, better quality of end-products and minimum losses due to deterioration (Dabbene et al., 2008; Verdouw et al., 2010) Audsley and Sandars (2009) revise Operations Research models in agriculture but they limit the review to British developments However, these authors only synthesized holistic systems modelling of the agricultural sector in the past and gave some arguments to explain observed shortcomings

What is more, Akkerman et al (2010) reviewed the quantitative operations management approaches to food distribution management, mainly focusing on three aspects: food quality, food safety, and sustainability Proposing a taxonomy framework based on the following elements: supply chain structure, decision level, modelling approach, purpose, shared information, limitations, novelty and application, Mula et al (2010) review mathematical programming models for supply chain production and transport planning More recently, Zhang and Wilhelm (2011) provided growers and distribution managers’ insights into the variety of decision support possible and benchmarks for improvements in the specialty crops industry, including vegetables, fruits, grapes and wine, ornamentals, tree nuts, berries and dried fruits Meanwhile, Lehmann et al (2012) presented three cases covering agriculture, logistics and food awareness to overview on technology, information content, information organization, and communication and assure the successful utilization of the potential of the future Internet

Next, Shukla and Jharkharia (2013) conducted a detailed literature review covering all the operational issues related to the fresh produce supply chain management (fruits, flowers and vegetables) They also paid attention to the consumer satisfaction and revenue maximization with post‐harvest waste reduction as a secondary objective With the product‐problem‐methodology mapping may serve as a framework for the managers addressing issues in FSCM Furthermore, Tsolakis et al (2014) considered Agri-food Supply Chain management as a rapidly evolving research field and offered

an integrated hierarchical decision-making framework Concurrently, the critical issues for the design and planning of Agri-food Supply Chain management are defined and discussed to identify gaps and overlaps in the Agri-food Supply Chain literature In addition, Kusumastuti et al (2016) reviewed harvesting and processing in agricultural supply chains based on the findings from a systematic review of 76 papers Soto-Silva

et al (2016) reviewed Operations Research (OR) methods in fresh fruit supply chains and come up with future perspective of OR developments in this field of application Moreover, Borodin et al (2016) provided a state of the art OR use in agriculture under uncertainty while Paam et al (2016) looked in to optimization of agri-fresh food supply chains, with a focus on loss minimization in the fruits and vegetables supply chains Lastly, in terms of food waste, Raak et al (2017) pointed out causes of processing and product-related food waste, especially new insights from expert

the Indian fruits and vegetables supply chain

In regards to supply chain network design, Beamon (1998) reviewed the literature

in the area of multi-stage supply chain design and analysis with a view to developing a research agenda that may serve as a basis for future supply chain research Shen (2007) reviewed recent developments in the area of integrated supply chain design, in which the decision maker needs to take into consideration inventory costs and distribution costs when the number and locations of the facilities are determined Farahani et al (2014) covered the field of supply chain network design (SCND), particularly in competitive environments, throughout 200 references which categorized different SCND problems and the potential gaps as the future research areas Besides, it proposes a general framework for modelling the competitive SCND problems Eskandarpour et al (2015) reviewed 87 papers to address at least two dimensions of sustainable development and give a special focus on Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) based models

The articles included in Table 1 (Appendix) are obtained from the journals listed in Table 2 One group of three journals represents 45% of all, including European Journal

of Operational Research, International Journal of Production Economics, and Omega which account for 20%, 15%, 10% respectively Eleven journals consist of the rest representing highly statistical-focused papers

4 Review of Fresh produce supply chain models

4.1 The structured taxonomy

This paper follows the proposed classification of the literature used in Ahumada and Villalobos (2009); Mula et al (2010); Soto-Silva et al (2016)

Figure 2 : Proposed taxonomy criteria

4.2 Decision levels

This review is based on the published paper of Ahumada and Villalobos (2009b) related to three levels of the decision strategy directly: (1) The strategic level deals with decisions regarding product design, what to make internally and what to outsource, supplier selection, and strategic partnering as well as well as decisions on the number, location, and capacity of warehouses and manufacturing plants and the flows of material through the logistics network; (2) The tactical level includes decisions of harvest planning, scheduling of crops, selection of labour, capacity, etc; (3) The operational level refers to production scheduling activities on an hour-to-hour basis, lead time quotations, storage, routing, and truck loading (Simchi et al., 2008) In fact,

strategic and tactical decisions or between tactical and operational levels (Shukla and Jharkharia, 2013; Farahani et al., 2014)

Table 3 (Appendix) depicts decision levels of 62 reviewed papers Out of these, Twenty-six articles relates to strategic issues, thirty-eight deals with tactical levels and twenty at the operational decisions Whereas fourty papers have some reference to one specific decision level, twenty-four papers simultaneously consider aspects related

to two issues in the form of strategic-tactical or tactical-operational stages However, there are several papers amongst of 26 papers at the strategy level, which mention designing and managing supply chains while most of them consider the optimal models on business aspects To illustrate our synthesis, we adopt Broekmeulen (1998) approach toward formulating a tactical decision model for managing the operations of

a distribution center Four key decisions specify the amount of storage space needed in each zone within a storage facility, the storage conditions in each zone, the assignment

of each product to a zone for storage, and the storage policy

4.3 Modeling approach

Modeling approach is driven by the nature of the inputs and the objective of the study A variety of mathematical approaches are used to model and solve decision problems related to the reviewed fruit and vegetable supply chain

Besides, an array of decision support models is also mentioned in this paper with the goal of providing perspectives to models like LCA, sampling method, Stackelberg game, Fuzzy Logic, reference model, Triple Helix Model, and so forth Table 5 (Appendix) shows that a wide variety of methodologies are applied To illustrate this further, these methodologies include the linear programing-based modelling approach (14 papers), multi-objective linear programming (6 papers), nonlinear programming (2 papers), simulation models (2 papers), dynamic programming (3 papers), and HEU and HYB (4 papers) The reviewed articles in the current study also present the inclusion of two different methods, achieved by MILP and HEU (5 papers), SM and DP, ILP and stochastic programming, NIP and HEU, HEU and SM, LCA and s-LCA, information discovery and a well-structured contract allocation methodology, innovative strategies and an Expert System (ES) using Fuzzy Logic, an algebraic modelling language and an optimization software of mathematical programming, the optimal solution of the pricing and lot-sizing problem Likewise, the main approaches appear to be Fuzzy multi-objective programming model, Life Cycle Assessment Analysis, Sampling method, Stackelberg game, a novel multi-objective hybrid approach called MHPV, Optimal policies; Cross-docking centre, the Triple Helix Model, Target Minimization of Total Absolute Deviation (MOTAD) model, a planning methodology, a two-stage stochastic program, Logistics service performance, a reference model To be more precise, Soto-Silva et al (2017) are the first authors to use Optimization models and a bi-objective method in their paper

4.4 Published papers

The distribution of 62 revised papers has been depicted in the table below

The Figure describes the distribution of journals having 62 selected papers It is noted that five journals account for 56.45% of the total publications, including International Journal of Production Economics (20.97%), European Journal of Operational Research (9.68%), Computers and Electronics in Agriculture (8.06%), Agricultural Systems (8.06%), Journal of Food Engineering (4.84%), and Journal of the Operational Research Society (4.84%)

4.4.1 Novelty seeking

The novelty associated with each of the reviewed papers is presented briefly in Table 7 below

Table 7

Novelty seeking associated with reviewed papers

Author Novelty seeking

Garofalo et al

(2017)

Greenhouse gas emissions of whole-peeled tomato production are assessed and cultivation, processing, packaging, waste and end-of-life scenarios are analysed

Mohammed and

Wang (2017)

The LP-metrics method, the ε-constraint method and the goal programming method are tested to choose the best solution: the Max-Min method by comparing the obtained Pareto solutions

Keizer et al (2017) Comprehensive modelling of quality decay in network design for

perishable products

Catalá et al (2016) The lexicographic approach integrates production, processing,

distribution, and inventory decisions considering two conflicting objectives: profit and product supply shortage to address the bi-objective optimization

Tecco et al (2016) The introduction of mulching and covering on raspberry agro food

system is assessed The results of LCA and S-LCA have been combined within a cause-effect chain

Lamsal et al

(2016)

Introduces a solution approach that overcomes challenges found in the literature A novel use of a technique borrowed from the piecewise linearization Also introduces a provably optimal algorithm for truck assignment to known loads

Mirmajlesi and

Shafaei (2016

An integrated robust supply chain problem for short lifetime products is developed A cyclic feedback procedure is proposed in between location and allocation models

Suryaningrat et al

(2015)

A direct visit to farmers and discussion with some industries are implemented and strong involvement actors in supply chain of cassava product are farmers, big and small collectors, industries (processors or producer), food store and consumers

Etemadnia et al

(2015)

Optimal hub locations to control excess capacity because insufficient quantities of food

Mason and

Villalobos (2015)

An auction based coordination mechanism is formulated, which leads production decisions toward a coordinated outcome despite each individual acting independently and on his/her best interest

Zhang et al (2015) A one-manufacturer–one-retailer supply chain model for deteriorating

items with controllable deterioration rate and price-dependent demand

is developed Govindan et al

(2014)

Proposes a novel multi-objective hybrid approach with two echelons location–routing problem with time-windows for sustainable supply chain network

Cai and Zhou

Agustina et al

(2014)

A mixed integer program with the objective of minimizing the earliness, tardiness, inventory holding, and transportation cost with customer zones and hard time windows has relatively short computational time Qin et al (2014) A model for optimal pricing and lot-sizing for fresh produce and foods is

developed to find the optimal solution to the problem

Soysal et al (2014) A model for decision makers who are concerned with logistical network

problems of perishable products under emissions consideration, including road structures, vehicle and fuel types, loads, distances and return hauls while integrating emissions

Velychko (2014) The model for preparing decisions on organizing sales of vegetables and

fruit, focusing on minimization of costs of cooperative services and maximization of profits for members of the cooperation

Manzini and

Accorsi (2013)

A general and conceptual framework for the assessment of food supply chain (FSC) and logistics of food products in agreement with a

multidisciplinary and integrated view

Tsao (2013) Develops an algorithm to solve the nonlinear problem, provides

numerical analysis to illustrate the proposed solution procedure, and discusses the effects of various system parameters on the decisions and total profits

Ampatzidis et al The fruit harvest and the bin collection process are modelled to evaluate

Author Novelty seeking

(2013) the performance of the system and improve confidence in sizing the fleet

(workers and machines)

Teimoury et al (

2013)

A simulation model using the system dynamics approach is proposed to study the behaviours and relationships within the supply chain and to determine the impact of the supply, demand and price interactions Duan and Liao

(2013)

A new replenishment policy based on old inventory ratio is developed to measure the freshness of the entire inventory

Catalá et al (2013) The model decides the optimal investment policy for a given farm,

maximizing the net present value of business while dynamically deciding its planting structure along a given time horizon under different

Haddad and

Shahwan (2012)

Target Minimization of Total Absolute Deviation (MOTAD) model is used

to evaluate three levels of water availability and these are: current normal situation, 50% and 30% water reduction

Amorim et al

(2012)

Formulates models for the case where perishable goods have a fixed and

a loose shelf-life (i.e with and without a best-before-date)

Yu et al (2012) A Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) type supply chain where the

manufacturing vendor decides how to manage the system-wide inventories of its fast deteriorating raw material and its slowly deteriorating product

Tan and Çömden

Ahumada and

Villalobos (2011a)

An operational model that generates short-term planning decisions for the fresh produce industry

Rong et al (2011) Provides a methodology to model food quality degradation by integrating

in a mixed-integer linear programming model used for production and distribution planning

outsourcing decision of different levels on perceived logistics service performance and includes the moderating role that supply chain complexity may play in the proposed relationships

Van Der Vorst et

al (2009)

Proposes a new integrated approach towards logistics, sustainability and food quality analysis, and implements the approach by introducing a new simulation environment, ALADIN™

Bai et al (2008) Investigates heuristic and meta-heuristic approaches as alternatives for

the generalized reduced gradient algorithm, which becomes inefficient when the problem size becomes larger

Cittadini et al

(2008)

A dynamic farm-scale optimization model called OPTIFROP is developed

to generate alternative farm development plans, by allocating, in the course of the time horizon of the run, production activities to different land units, while optimizing different objective functions, subject to several constraints

Cholette (2007) Formulating a mixed-integer program that is an embellished

Author Novelty seeking

transportation model

Ferrer et al (2007) A practical tool for optimally scheduling wine grape harvesting

operations taking into account both operational costs and grape quality Ortmann et al

(2006)

Two models (a single-commodity graph theoretic model and a commodity mathematical programming model) are derived for determining the maximal weekly flow or throughput of fresh fruit through the South African national export infrastructure

multi-Caixeta-Filho

(2006)

A mathematical model is formulated that links pertinent chemical, biologic, and logistic restrictions to the quality of the fruit to be harvested

(2003)

The complex biological and economic relationships present in an apple orchard system and describe a dynamic simulation model based on these interactions

Gigler et al (2002) A methodology for optimization of Agri-chains by dynamic

programming (DP) is presented which explicitly deals with the appearance and quality of products

Caixeta-Filho et al

(2002)

A decision-support system based on linear programming as a production-planning and trade tool for the management of its lily flower business

Munhoz and

Morabito (2001)

A model based on linear and goal programming to support decisions in the blending process and distribution of frozen concentrated orange juice

Broekmeulen

(1998)

The operations are complicated in the case of vegetables and fruits due

to the seasonal fluctuations in production and demand and the need for special storage conditions for different products

Maia et al (1997) A mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed for the selection

of technology routes for fruit and vegetable crops between harvest and market

Starbird (1988) The use of a dynamic programming model to sequence the loading of

storage facilities at an apple-packing plant operating in the state of New York, USA

Willis and Hanlon

(1976)

A temporal model utilizing dynamic linear programming is constructed

to aid in selecting an “optimum mix” of varieties of apples for planting over time

4.4.2 Practical Application

In terms of practical application, each paper considers supporting practical (real case) or case study at each researched land Ten works use numerical examples to emphasize modelling or resolution (none); thirty-two of them are based on real cases and twenty focus on case studies Besides, Table 8 (Appendix) also depicts types of agri-fresh produce and the projected country/countries

4.5 Performance Measurement in agri-fresh produce supply chain

To design and manage a supply chain effectively, appropriate performance measures need to be developed and applied Measurement of supply chain performance gives decision makers inside (producers, distributors or marketers) and outside (policy makers or investors) full information for decision making, policy development, or redesigning A wide spectrum of supply chain performance measures are discussed in the literature covering areas such as customer satisfaction, services, responsiveness, costs, categories of either qualitative and quantitative measures (Beamon, 1996; 1998) However, this paper focuses on the types of performance measures relevant for fresh agricultural products supply chains, more specifically relating to fruits, vegetables and flowers The performance measures also focus on the behaviour of actors such as growers, retailers, wholesalers and exporters The main operations consist of productions, storage, packing, transportation and trading of these produce Syntheses from the analysis of the authors (Beamon ,1999; van der spiegel, 2004; Lohman et al., 2004; Gunasekaran et al., 2004; van der vorst, 2006), Aramyan

et al (2006) classify performance measurement as Table 9 (Appendix) below

In this paper, the authors review and analyze performance measurement in each reviewed article to determine the efficiency or/and flexibility or/and responsiveness or/and food quality, aimed at seeking the establishment of approciate, as an important component in supply chain design and management As shown in Table 10 (Appendix), fourty-three papers focus on efficiency indicators Among them, cost minimization is

the most widely used objective for an entire supply chain (total cost) or for particular business units or stages For example, Soto-Silva et al (2017) pointed out an average reduction of 8% in total cost when supporting fresh produce supply chain Moreover, Etemadnia et al (2015) declared that there was always a trade-off between transportation costs and fixed costs of building hub capacity to control excess capacity because of insufficient quantities of food Next, profit is considered in some papers, for instance, Mirmajlesi and Shafaei (2016) showed the maximizing profit is an indication

of the effectiveness of the model or Zhang et al (2015) demonstrated the revenue sharing and cooperative investment contract coordinates the supply chain Moreover, according to Ahumada et al (2012), for the same level of risk experimented by the producer, planning based on the proposed stochastic models rendered increases expected profit to over 50% At the same time when risk aversion policies are implemented, the expected losses decrease significantly over those recommended by deterministic planning models

Based on the specification of Agri-fresh production, the indicators reflect quality, divided into intrinsic (product) and extrinsic (process) quality indicators by Luning et

al (2002) First of all, the quality aspects of product consist of (1) shelf life constraints for raw materials and perishability of products, intermediates and finished products, and changes in product quality level while progressing through the supply chain, such

as taste, color, appearance, texture and sound, (2) product safety increased consumer attention concerning both product and method of production, no risks for the consumer of foods are allowed while health refers to food composition and diet, and (3) product reliability refers to the compliance of actual product composition with product description and convenience shows the ease of use or consumption of the product for the consumer (Van der Spiegel, 2004) For example, Suryaningrat et al (2015) depicted the details of flow of material, financial and information are identified

in this research and add value of selected products of cassava, or Lambert et al (2014) demonstrated from the results which have an increase in production yield and fruit quality in the orchard, or followed by van der Merwe et al (2011), selecting the best possible dates to harvest the respective vineyard blocks in order to preserve grape quality Secondly, the quality aspects of process include (1) Production system refers the way of the production throughout time (production of new or additional products, (2) Environmental issues, and (3) perceived quality, also relevant for food application, e.g advertisements or brands (marketing) can have a considerable influence on quality

the South African fresh fruit export industry is more than adequate (infrastructure utilization was only approximately 55% during the winter and 40% during the summer) to accommodate export levels planned for 2003 as well as those expected in ensuing years, or Garofalo et al (2017) pointed out the composting of waste and compost as the fertilizer improves the environmental performance of the supply-chain

By the same token, fourty papers mention more than one performance indicator It

is worth highlighting in relation to Quality (Q) and Efficiency (E) in twenty-three papers, six papers with Responsiveness (R) and Quality (Q), five with Efficiency (E) and Responsiveness (R), and one examines Flexibility (F) and Responsiveness (R) of Hsiao et al (2010) Moreover, this current review consists of two papers emphasizing three features, Efficiency, Flexibility and Quality Finally, there are two papers highlighting all four aspects of performance measurement Munhoz and Morabito (2014) showed in the production, blending and storage of juices; the blending process

of different types of juices to match product specifications, for example, using orange acidity to calculate the ratio specification Likewise, Ahumada and Villalobos (2011a) proved that significant savings can be obtained by managing the trade-off of the freshness at the delivery of the product with the added labor and transportation cost at the grower's side Moreover, dynamic, information based management practices might

be preferred over traditional practices based in fixed labor allocation and distribution practices

5 Discussion towards designing and managing Agri Fresh Produce Supply Chains in Vietnam

Supply chain design is becoming more important as Agriculture is a crucial part of the global economy, especially related to timeliness, packaging, temperature and humidity control, and storage time of perishable farm products (Fernandes, 2003; Soysal et al 2012) Likewise, Lowe and Preckel (2004) declared that these challenges generate a requirement for management efficiency and the use of modern decision technology tools Moreover, Vaart and Pieter (2003) pointed out the importance of an inter-disciplinary approach, integrating the relational and technical aspects from the corresponding fields of system dynamics and partnership in order to deliver better order replenishment performance Rumbaugh (1996) claimed that associations are

very important, for example, the addition of multiple items, complex transportation policies, or assembly nodes would make the use of associations necessary This added complexity further justifies the use of a formal modelling approach To illustrate, Maia

et al (1997) applied a mixed-integer linear programming model to propose the selection of technology routes for fruit and vegetable crops between harvest and market in the case of vegetables and fruits due to the seasonal fluctuations in production and demand and the need for special storage conditions for different products Besides, Blanco et al (2005) detailed a packing plant planning model for the fruit industry in Argentina Based on usage and requirements, fruits can pass through

up to ten different processes as they flow through a packing plant Their model deals with eight fruit varieties in three categories of quality with five different gauges (i.e., sizes) by using MIP In addition, Ferrer et al (2007) solved a mixed-integer linear programming model to support harvest scheduling, labor allocation, and routing decisions A quality loss function is used to represent wine quality reduction at each vineyard block due to premature or deferred harvest with respect to an optimal date Recently, Munhoz and Morabito (2014) showed that a frozen concentrated orange juice aggregate production planning is modelled using linear programming to support decision making in the production process of a citrus company with multiple products, stages and periods Then the model is extended to take into account uncertainty in some model parameters using a robust optimization approach Furthermore, Duan and Liao (2013) proposed a simulation optimization framework for supply chain inventory management of highly perishable products A new replenishment policy based on old inventory ratio is developed, called OIR policy It is an age-based policy using only partial age information to measure the freshness of the entire inventory The efficiency of the new policy is evaluated in detail for a single-vendor-multi-buyer platelet (with a limited shelf life of 5 days) supply chain

On the other hand, because of the wide variety of Food supply chains (FSCs) structures, Broekmeulen (1998) complemented his heuristic with a simulation model

to study the impact that a product-to-zone assignment makes on daily requests for storage and retrieval by testing three different storage policies: the preferred zone policy, the free zone policy, and the temperature policy With the proposed model, incorporating factors such as seasonality and perishability would enhance the efficiency of a fruit and vegetable distribution centre Hester and Cacho (2003) reported a biological model that describes the growth of an apple tree using a carbon-

and weight) while the input to a related economic model, forming a bio-economic model to predict the weight of fruit Results show that the relationship between thinning and net present value is nonlinear and that net present value is not maximized by the maximum price, yield, or weight of the fruit The authors use a dynamic optimization approach consisting of a nonlinear model they formulate and a genetic algorithm they devise A limitation of this model is that it does not deal explicitly with the stochastic aspects of the system Thus, addressing uncertainty explicitly remains a challenge for future research Specifically, Vitoriano et al (2003) presented two alternative mathematical models to attain the proposed objective The first model splits the time into discrete units spread throughout the planning horizon;

it is presented in connection with flexible manufacturing The second model keeps a continuous time horizon; a scheduling model is used for which a family of incompatibility conditions is introduced to avoid a certain type of simultaneous usage

of resources Next, Verdouw et al (2010) addressed a basic model with templates for the design of fresh and processed FSCs in a deep detail The paper of Rong et al (2011) focused on the management of fresh food quality modelling quality degradation, given

a general approach to fresh food and the problem of preserving the quality as happens with fresh fruit Moreover, the general structure of the FSC described by Nadal-Roig and Plà (2015) was common in modern FSCs, although the actors taking part may vary Therefore, as problems and needs in terms of modelling can be different, slight variations in the structure can be found in literature For instance, Canavari et al (2010) emphasized the role of producers and consider three different FSCs Similarly, Srimanee and Routray (2012) modelled the FSCs in Thailand as a network of five different FSCs linked by the producer who establishes a percentage of production according to the final consumer (local market, local collectors, cooperatives, assemblers and export agents) A different approach is presented by Zang and Fu (2010) who presented four different FSCs designs existing in China (worldwide the first fruit producer) with different characteristics, stakeholders and limitations

Using the product's marginal value of time (MVT), Blackburn and Scudder (2009) showed the rate at which the product loses value over time in the supply chain They also show the appropriate model to minimize lost value in the supply chain is a hybrid

of a responsive model from post-harvest to cooling, followed by an efficient model in the remainder of the chain and these two segments of the supply chain are only loosely

linked, implying that little coordination is required across the chain to achieve value maximization Similarly, Etemadnia et al (2015) developed a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) and a heuristic solution for regional food access through optimal hub locations to minimize total network costs which include costs of transporting goods and locating facilities A scenario study is used to examine the model's sensitivity

to parameter changes, including travel distance, hub capacity, transportation cost, etc Catala et al (2016) used a multi-period mixed integer linear programming formulation for the medium-term planning of the apples and pears supply chain is presented Given the supply chain structure, demand data, and harvesting dates, the proposed approach integrates production, processing, distribution, and inventory decisions considering two conflicting objectives: profit and product supply shortage The mathematical model is solved by using the lexicographic method to deal with the multi-objective optimization Also, Banasik et al (2017) proposed a multi-objective mixed integer linear programming model to quantify trade-offs between economic and environmental indicators and explore quantitatively alternative recycling technologies, developed to re-design the logistical structure and close loops in the mushroom supply chain Furthermore, Mohammed and Wang (2017) described a development of a product distribution planner for a three-echelon green meat supply chain design in terms of issues including numbers and locations of facilities that should be opened in association with the product quantity flows These issues are formulated into a fuzzy multi-objective programming model (FMOPM) with an aim to minimize the total cost

of transportation and implementation, the amount of CO2 emissions in transportation and the distribution time of products from farms to abattoirs and from abattoirs to retailers, and maximize the average delivery rate in satisfying product quantity as requested by abattoirs and retailers

In terms of management supply chain, Perdana and Kusnandar (2012) discussed the application of “triple helix model” on interaction between universities, exporters, government, and supporting institutions in developing fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain management Particularly, Manzini and Accorsi (2013) presented a general and conceptual framework for the assessment of food supply chain (FSC) and logistics of food products in agreement with a multidisciplinary and integrated view The target of the proposed integrated approach to supply chain design and management is the simultaneous control of quality (1), safety (2), sustainability (3) and logistics efficiency (4) of food products and processes along the whole FSC ‘‘from farm to fork’

of the population continues to depend on this field Unfortunately, the massive wastage and inefficiencies are always the unsolvable problems in the Agri-fresh produce supply chain due to the linkage between intermediates in the traditional supply chain with the major constraints such as poor transport facilities, non-availability of large scale cold storage, no clean policy guidelines from government and especially small farmers, leading to a mismatch between supply and demand and high transaction costs Hence, the holistic approach for design and management of the Agri-fresh produce supply chain in Vietnam is the foremost and necessary, especially in today’s competitive global market place

6 Conclusion and future research opportunities

This paper engaged in a systematic review of literature related to design models of agri fresh produce supply chains Previous works spanning over 50 years (1976-2017) have been scrutinised to analyse fresh produce supply chain models applied in these studies with special emphasis on design components relating to solving decision problems, designing supply chain structures and evaluating performance measurement Our review shows that there is a gap in designing and management of the agrifresh produce supply chains It is expected that further research would emerge

in the future to fill this gap and thereby extending theory and practice of agri-fresh produce supply chain design and management

Based on the findings of our review, it is suggested that a holistic approach for the designing and management of agri fresh produce supply chains need to be adopted Firstly, performance measurement aspects need to be embedded in to the system at the designing stage It is also suggested to test empirically agri-fresh supply chain performance measurement systems to justify or challenge previously suggested indicators considering the unique characteristics of agri-fresh produce

Secondly, operation models with newly developed components can then be formulated using a variety of modelling approaches such as linear programming, multi-objective linear programming, stochastic optimization, and even the game theory related to alternative design and risk distribution In the other words, the holistic approaches need to be applied to support strategic, tactical and operational level decisions in the most comprehensive and effective way, taking into consideration

key decision variables such as the mix of crops to be grown (strategic issue), staged to maximize long-term productivity (tactical decision) and time annual thinning

time-or harvesting, sttime-orage (operational decisions) throughout the optimal mix of an array

of decision variables linked to a system of the appropriate performance measures Apart from the holistic approaches mentioned above, supply chain management should be considered as the design and operation of physical, management information and financial systems needed to transfer goods and services from point of production to point of consumption in an efficient and effective manner The entire supply chain management process is a valuable chain where bottlenecks, value adding factors and liability factors are determined and addressed to improve and ensure that the right product is in the right place, at the right time and at the right cost

Appendix

Table 1

Highlights of reviewed references

1 Processing- and

product-related

causes of food

waste and

implications for the

food supply chain

- Summarizing product-related mechanisms leading to suboptimal foods

- Discussing potential factors for reducing food waste

Glock (2017) - Presenting the results of a systematic literature

review of decision support models for the management of closed-loop supply chains involving returnable transport items (RTIs)

- Ensuring the finished product reaches the customer at the least total cost and/or with a minimal environmental impact

literature review - Reporting methodology of the literature review

is and descriptively analyzing the papers

- Proposing future research opportunities

3 Operational

research models

applied to the fresh

fruit supply chain

Soto-Silva et

al (2016)

- Presenting the first review on OR methods in fresh fruit supply chain

- Presenting a review complemented with papers

of other similar supply chains

- Using different criteria to classify the revised papers

- Presenting a future perspective of OR developments in this field of application

- Presenting main review findings

- Suggesting future research directions

5 Planning Models to

Optimize the

Agri-fresh Food Supply

Chain for Loss

- Aiming to optimize agri-fresh food supply chain, with a focus on loss minimization in the fruits and vegetables supply chains

- Suggesting directions and opportunities to identify the existing state-of- the-art, gaps in current research and future studies on the topic

7 Modeling the Balaji and - Identifying 16 causes of food wastage in the

No Title Author Key themes addressed

Indian fruits and vegetables supply chain

- Modeling the interactions among the causes using Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM) and Fuzzy MICMAC approach

- Indicating a large number of intermediaries and lack of scientific harvesting methods are

significant causes of food wastage and as the root causes

- Poor logistics infrastructure is at the bottom of the hierarchy of the causes of food wastage

- TISM model shows the interpretations among the direct links and significant transitive links, in which 89 links among the 16 causes are tagged by

- Agri-food Supply Chain (AFSC) management is

a rapidly evolving research field

- Giving an integrated hierarchical making framework for AFSCs

decision Offering a critical taxonomy of existing research for designing and managing AFSCs

- Defining and discussing the critical issues for the design and planning of AFSCs

- Identifying gaps and overlaps in the AFSC literature

- Presenting more than 200 references and a categorized review on literature

- Covering the field of supply chain network design (SCND), particularly in competitive