7. Conclusions
In this paper we have revised operational research models to solve
decision problems related to fresh FSCs. It is an attempt to gain a better
understanding of the OR methods used in the revised papers apparently
independent and oriented towards problem solving rather
than theory developing. Although there are some reviews done by
previous researchers regarding ASCs, there is no review focused on
fresh FSCs. We have stated the rapid growth and technification of
the sector in the last years to satisfy the increasing demand, regulations
and competiveness present in the sector. As a consequence,
the number of papers published in this last years has been growing.
Despite this, a few papers are focused on SCs structures and there is
a lack of holistic approaches for the design and management of fresh
FSC.
Among the papers revised, most of them were focused on tactical
and operational decisions and less considered strategic decisions.
In particular, the problems attracting more attention were transport,
routing, planning and allocation problems involving the production
and distribution stages. Regarding modeling techniques and mathematical
methods, linear programming, integer or mixed integer are
the most dominant methods. Other techniques are not so used and it
is a consequence of the novelty of the proposals or the solvers available.
Although the common objective of the papers were the maximization
of the benefit, only cost function was described in detail
and income was calculated from averaged prices considering roughly