An Introduction to the Special Issue “Recent advances on supply chain network design”

Discussions of the resiliency, sustainability, and agility of supply chains are important in the research and management of supply chains in these difficult times, considering the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. A viable supply chain is often characterized by resiliency, sustainability, and agility in its network design. Resiliency is essential because disruption and demand fluctuations are forced upon SCs, and the effects of these for many managerial supply chains are unknown. In addition, applying novel technology in the supply chain, such as blockchain, Internet-of-Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) as agility tools can assist and enable the transition to lean production. This special issue of the Foundations of Computing and Decision Sciences is dedicated to advancements in this fields. Besides, the special issue covers instructional information about OR techniques which are useful for addressing real-world applications on such challenges.