Coordinated Network Management for Platelets in Canada

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to determine whether a simple rule-based policy could be used to reduce the wastage of platelets in a Canadian blood distribution network. The policy we are investigating is a hub and spoke network in which near-outdating units are shipped from spoke sites to a hub. Current regulatory requirements in Canada prevent managed site-to-site transfers. This study looks at the potential value of such a system in terms of wastage and total transportation costs. An optimal transport policy is also applied to the model and used to measure the effectiveness of the rule-based policy. A discrete event simulation of the distribution network is implemented in Microsoft Visual Studio.net and uses transaction level data from Canadian Blood Services to analyze results from a subsection of the blood distribution network in Southwestern Ontario.