부산대학교 도서관

The Chilean agro-industry has experienced a steady increase of industrialized fruit exports over the last decade, reaching a total volume increase of 107% and 185% in value. This growth means that the fresh fruit supply chain, either for preserved, frozen, dehydrated, fresh fruit or juices, requires support in order to make management increasingly more efficient. So far, some problems directly related to the need to improve the sector´s competitiveness have not yet been addressed. In the last few years production costs have risen mainly due to labor shortage and poor quality of raw material (fresh fruit). That is why, improving the supply chain efficiency and thus the agro-industry competitiveness, particularly in the center-south region of the country, requires new tools that could support decisions making regarding the fresh fruit supply chain. Within this context, the general objective of this research was to develop a set of tools aiming to support tactical decisions that could enhance management of fresh fruit purchasing, cold storage, transport, and opening of cold chambers. Three important contributions are made in this research study. The first one has to do with the state-ofthe- art of supply chains management, by reviewing optimization models applied to fresh fruit supply chains. The second one consists in providing four tools to support tactical decisions regarding fresh fruit supply chains, specifically, three mathematical models for the optimization of decisions that support the selection of growers and the purchasing of fresh fruit, their subsequent storage and transportation, and the proposal of a mathematical model for cold storage management. The third contribution is the proposal of a Decision Support System (DSS), which aids in decisions about growers selection and purchasing of fresh fruit, as well as its subsequent storage and transportation. Finally, there is an important additional contribution that involves the application of the models to real cases. All models proposed were created and validated with the support of agro-industries from the centersouth region of the country having problems with their supply chain, which were addressed in this research study.