Design da cadeia de suprimentos de fertilizante: aplicação do modelo de otimização

Abstract

The performance of Brazilian agribusiness is connected to the consumption of imported chemical fertilizers. Brazil is the fourth consumer, the first in the ranking of world fertilizer imports and the state of Mato Grosso is the most representative national consumer. This international dependency exposes the country to shortages of products, volatile exchange rates and rising input costs, with impacts on all agribusiness value chains and the economy. Thus, the advantages of the extension of the national territory and abundant natural resources must be weighed against the disadvantages of moving cargo over long distances in an unbalanced and deficient transport matrix. In this context, location theory applied to optimization modeling brings together the determining elements to support strategic decision making. Through a systematic review, a set of seventy articles that explore facility location problems were constituted, and for this list content and bibliometric analyzes were performed. The application area, the type of parameter, the objective function and the solution technique adopted are identified. Subsequently, a quantitative approach is adopted and an optimization model applied to the fertilizer supply chain in the state of Mato Grosso is developed, which minimizes the installation and transportation costs of raw materials and final products. The amount of industries to be installed, their locations, capacities and transport flows are determined. Among the main results, to satisfy the optimized network, a deficit of more than 4.86 million tons per year was found in the capacity of the ports in the northern region. As a result of this infrastructure shortfall, more than 50% of measured fertilizer demand needs to be redirected by more costly routes. Thus private and governmental agents can direct policies and investments that guarantee the strategic efficiency of the country.