Supply Chain Modeling

This book discusses supply chain management, focusing on developments within modelling the dynamic behaviour of the supply chain. Aimed at postgraduate students, researchers and practitioners, this book provides an in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of supply chains. Business trends such as the globalisation process and the increase of competition across many industrial sectors have forced companies to concentrate on their core competences and to outsource those activities in which they do not excel. As a consequence, companies no longer produce and distribute their goods in isolation, but being part of a supply chain or supply network, i.e. a set of interrelated companies who ultimately deliver the goods and services to the final customer. Despite the prevalence of supply chains as the primary form of production and distribution, their performance can be seriously hampered by the complex dynamics resulting from the collaboration and coordination (or lack thereof) among their members. This book provides the reader with modelling tools to understand, analyse and improve the dynamic behaviour of supply chains. It assembles seminal works on supply chain models and recent developments on the topic in order to provide a comprehensive, unified vision of the field for researchers and practitioners who wish to grasp the challenges of supply chain management. Aside presenting the main elements, equations and performance indicators governing the dynamics of a supply chain, and the book addresses issues such as the effect of timely and accurately sharing the information across members, the influence of restrictions on the productive capacities of their members, or the impact of the variability of the lead times, among others. Furthermore, more complex supply chain structures such as non-serial supply networks or closed-loop supply chains are modelled and discussed. Relevant managerial insights regarding the causes of supply chain underperformance, as well as avenues to improve their efficiency can be extracted from the resulting models.

"Dynamic Modelling for Supply Chain Management" discusses how to streamline complex supply chain management by making the most of the growing number of tools available. The reader is introduced to the basic foundations from which to develop intelligent management strategies, as the book characterises the process and framework of modern supply chain management. The author reviews supply chain management concepts and singles out important factors in the management of modern complex production systems. Particular attention is paid to modern simulation modelling tools that can be used to support supply chain planning and control. The book explores the operational and financial impacts of various potential problems, offering a compilation of practical models to help identify solutions. A useful reference on supply chain management, "Dynamic Modelling for Supply Chain Management" will benefit engineers and professionals working in a variety of areas, from supply chain management to product engineering.

A guide to help readers meet the demands of an evolving competitive business environment, Modeling of Responsive Supply Chain outlines novel concepts and strategies for implementing a fully integrated system of business improvement methodologies.This self-contained reference covers various key aspects of supply chain management, which is crucial to

Supply Chain Simulation allows readers to practice modeling and simulating a multi-level supply chain. The chapters are a combination of the practical and the theoretical, covering: knowledge of simulation methods and techniques, the conceptual framework of a typical supply chain, the main concepts of system dynamics, and a set of practice problems with their corresponding solutions. The problem set includes illustrations and graphs relating to the simulation results of the Vensim® program, the main code of which is also provided. The examples used are a valuable simulation tool that can be modified and extended according to user requirements. The objective of Supply Chain Simulation is to meet the demands of supply chain simulation or similar courses taught at the postgraduate level. The “what if” analysis recreates different simulation scenarios to improve the decision-making process in terms of supply chain performance, making the book useful not only for postgraduate students, but also for industrial practitioners.

A guide to help readers meet the demands of an evolving competitive business environment, Modeling of Responsive Supply Chain outlines novel concepts and strategies for implementing a fully integrated system of business improvement methodologies. This self-contained reference covers various key aspects of supply chain management, which is crucial to boosting industrial growth in the face of expanding globalization in the manufacturing and transportation sectors. The book focuses on topics that could potentially improve the free flow of goods and services between nations by helping users assess the performance of logistic systems deployed to achieve this end. Chapters present a conventional and evolutionary approach to coordinating all elements of the supply chain to optimize an enterprise’s competitive advantage. The authors explore different models associated with transportation, facility location, and assignments, as well as planning and scheduling. They also address diverse technologies, such as RFID tags used to monitor product flow within the supply chain network. This book addresses the importance of: Recognizing responsiveness as a metric of supply chain performance Domain interfaces for solving the optimization problem by making supply chains more responsive Coordination through contracts to enhance responsiveness System dynamics methodology to achieve responsiveness, as well as management principles, control theory, and computer simulation The use of different types of technologies to build a better supply chain that achieves higher responsiveness Few, if any, single volumes provide the detailed explanation of practical and conceptual approaches found in this book. It covers the entire spectrum of topics and will be equally useful as a reference for scholars and graduate students and as a compendium for practitioners dealing with real-life problems in contemporary supply chain management.

With an emphasis on modeling techniques, Jeremy Shapiro's MODELING THE SUPPLY CHAIN is the perfect tool for courses in supply chain management or for professional managers who seek better analytical tools for managing their supply chains, information technologists who are responsible for developing and/or maintaining such tools, and consultants who conduct supply chain studies using models. Shapiro examines in detail the roles of data, models, and modeling systems in helping companies improve the management of their supply chains. The focus is on optimization models based on linear and mixed integer programming. The complementary role played by descriptive models in developing data inputs for optimization models is thoroughly reviewed. Using numerous applications, Shapiro clearly illustrates that when properly implemented, these methodologies can create accurate and comprehensive models of great practical value. The book also shows how competitive advantage in supply chain management can be most fully realized by developing and applying optimization modeling systems.

This work brings together some of the most up to date research in the application of operations research and mathematical modeling te- niques to problems arising in supply chain management and e-Commerce. While research in the broad area of supply chain management enc- passes a wide range of topics and methodologies, we believe this book provides a good snapshot of current quantitative modeling approaches, issues, and trends within the field. Each chapter is a self-contained study of a timely and relevant research problem in supply chain mana- ment. The individual works place a heavy emphasis on the application of modeling techniques to real world management problems. In many instances, the actual results from applying these techniques in practice are highlighted. In addition, each chapter provides important mana- rial insights that apply to general supply chain management practice. The book is divided into three parts. The first part contains ch- ters that address the new and rapidly growing role of the internet and e-Commerce in supply chain management. Topics include e-Business applications and potentials; customer service issues in the presence of multiple sales channels, varying from purely Internet-based to traditional physical outlets; and risk management issues in e-Business in B2B m- kets.

An incredible volume of data is generated at a very high speed within the supply chain and it is necessary to understand, use and effectively apply the knowledge learned from analyzing data using intelligent business models. However, practitioners and students in the field of supply chain management face a number of challenges when dealing with business models and mathematical modelling. Supply Chain Analytics and Modelling presents a range of business analytics models used within the supply chain to help readers develop knowledge on a variety of topics to overcome common issues. Supply Chain Analytics and Modelling covers areas including supply chain planning, single and multi-objective optimization, demand forecasting, product allocations, end-to-end supply chain simulation, vehicle routing and scheduling models. Learning is supported by case studies of specialist software packages for each example. Readers will also be provided with a critical view on how supply chain management performance measurement systems have been developed and supported by reliable and accurate data available in the supply chain. Online resources including lecturer slides are available.