Stability of perishable goods in cold logistic chains

We consider that production and logistics facilities in the supply chain are positioned between the origin and the supply market or in a part of it. Any changes in time-distance or temperature in the chain could cause the net present value of the activities and their added value in the supply chain to be perturbed. In reality the perturbations can be robust. The natural question arises is to what are the effects of some perturbations in a supply chain, in its production or distribution part, on the stability of perishable goods in such systems and what is the appropriate control which keeps the product on the required level of quality and quantity at the final delivery. These analyses are especially important to assure the stability of cold chains in the cold chains management (CCM). What conditions should be fulfilled to assure that after such robust perturbations of parameters and especially time delays (lead times and some other delays) the behaviour of the logistics chain would still be within the prescribed limits. The formulation obtained in the time domain will be compared with the formulation in the frequency space introduced by Grubbstrom in his paper "On the Application of the Laplace Transform to Certain Economic Problems" (Manage. Sci. (7) (1967) 558) and with the later studies of his school. Their model was extended by the authors to the complete logistic chain, where location and with it also the distance between the activity cells of logistic chain-play an important role. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.