Logistics management for blood collection and blood products distribution in Turkish Red Crescent

Turkish Red Crescent has opened blood centers for the regionalization of blood management system for blood collection and distribution of blood products. The aim of our study is to minimize the time and cost problems in the transportation of blood and blood products between the centers determined in the current system. For this purpose, models, in which the assignment criteria and logistics decisions are released in the logistics network between the centers, decisions can be made for assignments between units and transportation routes, and that take into account bag type, as a distinctive characteristic, and the diversity of products – especially, such as thrombocyte suspension - were developed. In this process, the total cost and total transport times were minimized, and the model was solved by using real data separately and together with multi-objective optimization methods. Key Words: Multi-Objective Optimization, Logistics, Blood Bag Type, Blood Products