HMS 2012 Proceeding

Mesoscopic supply chain simulation

Authors:   Til Hennies, Tobias Reggelin, Juri Tolujew

Abstract

Supply Chain Management has become a highly strategic discipline that can make up a substantial competitive advantage for every organization in globalized, intertwined logistical networks. Due to the complexity of today?s supply chains, simulation has become a powerful tool in order to increase the supply chain?s resilience and robustness as the major objectives of supply chain management. This paper compares existing approaches for supply chain simulation and shows the advantageousness of a mesoscopic approach for supply chain simulation. Major benefits of the mesoscopic approach are its flexibility, speed of modeling and simulation and ease of use. Mesoscopic simulation models can be used both in the planning phase and during the operation of the supply chain. Combining elements of continuous simulation and discrete-event simulation, the mesoscopic approach facilitates modeling and simulation of many real world supply chain problems. Modeling efforts are balanced with the necessary level of detail of the output data that is needed for calculations of key performance indicators in order to evaluate the supply chain performance. The paper applies the mesoscopic modeling and simulation approach using the simulation software MesoSim, an own development, in order to show its advantages.

I3M  Scientific Sponsors

I3M  Industrial Sponsors

I3M  Media Sponsors