Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

During the recent pandemic and events such as the Suez Canal blockage, wildfires, and floods, organizations, governments, and societies have realized the criticality of supply chains (SCs) to continue moving the economy. SCs are complex networks with dynamic behaviour that make the wide distribution of goods possible. They operate in uncertain environments prone to operational risks (e.g., quality issues, machine breakdowns, transportation delays) and disruption risks (e.g., natural and man-made disasters). Hence, the design and management of SCs capable of coping with disruptions are needed (i.e., resilient SCs). SCs touch every part of our global ecosystem. Hence, the implementation of responsible consumption and reduction of emissions needs to be considered, as well as the impact on the well-being of the societies where they operate. Although resiliency is paramount to continue working, disruptions could unleash operational problems (e.g., order re-allocation, quality deterioration, changing transportation routes) that could result in unsustainable practices. Thus, it is necessary to design SCs and policies that balance resilience and sustainability (i.e., social, economic, and environmental dimensions) in everyday operations as well as in pre- and post-disruption situations. To achieve the desired outcomes, new technologies and methodologies that allow data collection, advanced analytics and automation are needed to get visibility, data-driven decision-making, predictability, agility, resiliency, and sustainability. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development highlighted the criticality of sustainable growth, which could be hampered by SCs disruptions. Moreover, one of the significant challenges is food insecurity, which can be influenced by disruption risks (e.g., natural disasters) and affect the agri-food SCs' performance (e.g., food shortages and food price increases). Agri-food SCs are distinct from other product SCs as they are perishable and exposed to continuous changes in quality. Therefore, developing optimal production and distribution plans is critical to withstand disruptions while being sustainable. My proposed research program will support the Canadian SCs and communities by providing decision-making tools to establish resilient and sustainable operations. My research will study general SCs as well as agri-food SCs. The tools will offer proactive and reactive risk mitigation strategies for designing and managing SCs while ensuring the sustainability pillars are not neglected. Hence, this research will be attained by implementing robust methodologies (e.g., mathematical programming and simulation models) in combination with data-driven approaches (e.g., artificial intelligence) and creating digital twins that can predict, prescribe, and learn. My research will have significant outcomes, such as protecting Canadian SCs against risks while considering sustainability.