Advances in Combinatorial Optimization with Applications in Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Dear Colleagues,

Combinatorial optimization is a multidisciplinary field that studies the design of methods to find optimal solutions to problems with discrete variables. The solutions obtained from combinatorial optimization can be used to improve decision-making in a wide range of areas, including engineering, economics and management.

One area where combinatorial optimization has had a significant impact is supply chain management (SCM). Supply chains are complex networks of organizations that are responsible for the procurement, production, and distribution of goods and services. The efficient management of supply chains is essential for businesses to remain competitive.

Combinatorial optimization can be used to solve a variety of problems that arise in supply chain management, such as:

• Designing transportation routes.
• Allocating requests and loads on vehicles.
• Designing production schedules.
• Planning operations.
• Inventory management.
• Designing distribution networks.

The solutions obtained from combinatorial optimization can help businesses to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and increase profits.

This Special Issue is dedicated to the publication of cutting-edge research on the applications of combinatorial optimization to SCM. The issue is open to submissions of high quality and originality. Submissions that address the following topics are particularly welcome:

• Exact solution methods for combinatorial optimization problems (for instance, exhaustive enumeration, branch and bound, dynamic programming, cutting plane, branch and cut, among others).
• Meta-heuristic and bio-inspired algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems (e.g., differential evolution, evolutionary algorithms, fuzzy optimization, hyper-heuristics, meta-heuristics, particle swarm optimization, etc.).
• Applications of combinatorial optimization to SCM.

We hope that this Special Issue will make a significant contribution to the literature on supply chain management.

Prof. Dr. Mariano Frutos
Prof. Dr. Fernando Tohmé 
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Mathematics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• combinatorial optimization
• supply chain management
• exact solutions
• meta-heuristics
• real-world applications