Supply chain decision making: A system dynamics approach

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the impact of delays, information management and type of demand, on the performance of a three echelons supply chain, based on the "beer game". Four scenarios of access to information on final demand for different members of the chain were developed over a system dynamics model. For each of these scenarios delivery delay times and type of demand were changed and four indicators were used to measure the supply chain performance: return on assets, accumulated income, accumulated value of inventory and service level. The results show that the location (echelon) of the access to information is critical to the performance and in contrast to previous studies, this effect is independent of the type of demand. Moreover, the results are consistent with previous studies on the positive effect of the reduction in delays on the overall performance of the chain, regardless of the type of demand.