Supply Chain Simulation using Discrete-Continuous Combined Modeling

Abstract

Many simulation models have been built to facilitate the application of simulation in designing, evaluating, and optimizing supply chains. Simulation is preferred to deal with stochastic variables existing within supply chain. Many researches estimate that simulation is able to effectively analyze dynamic internal variables in supply chain. Moreover simulation has capability to find local optimum value within each component through entire supply chain. Most of supply chain simulation models have been developed on the basis of discrete-event simulation. Since supply chain systems are neither completely discrete nor continuous, the need of constructing a madel with aspects of both discrete-event simulation and continuous is provoked, resulting in a combined discrete-continuous simulation. In this paper, an architecture of combined modeling for supply chain simulation is proposed, which presents the equation of continuous portion in supply chain and how these equations are sued supply chain simulation models. A simple example of supply chain model dealing with the strategic level of supply chain presented in this paper shows the possibility and the prospect of this approach.