A verification method for the simulation of supply chain networks with unreliable links

Abstract

As supply chains exceed the limits of a company their behaviour grows more complex. The design of an efficient global supply chain network is of great importance in a competitive environment. As many uncertainties occur in the flow of goods, information or payments, simulation is an appropriate tool to model the behaviour of such a network. A chain is known to be as good as its weakest link and these links have shown to be failure prone. Therefore our focus is on chains with unreliable links. This enlarges the complexity of the model. In order to obtain a correct model for the logistics reality to be studied, we propose a formal method, which is able to generate a simulation model in an automatic way. Petri nets are chosen as the formalism. The procedure how to build such a model is outlined in detail for a serial logistics system. Hints are given how to extend the idea in a context with alternatives in case of link failures.