Title: Stochastic evaluation of supply chains and replenishment policies with Petri net components

Authors: Gabriel Alves, Paulo Maciel, Ricardo Lima

Addresses: Centro de Informatica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil. ' Centro de Informatica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil. ' Departamento de Sistemas Computacionais, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil

Abstract: The outbound logistics deals with the transportation and storage of finished goods. It is one of the most complex and expensive activity of the supply chain management and is decisive for the Quality of Service (QoS). This paper proposes the use of pre-defined Petri net components to model and evaluate this activity. The model that represents an outbound logistics scenario is obtained with a bottom-up approach, guaranteeing some expected Petri nets properties. Furthermore, the use of pre-defined, validated components allows modelling and evaluating the supply chain entities and processes through a systematic procedure. In the end of this paper, results related to a real case study, conducted by considering the proposed models, is depicted.

Keywords: modelling; outbound logistics; performance evaluation; stochastic Petri nets; supply chain management; SCM; replenishment policy; quality of service; QoS.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOI.2008.021336

International Journal of Services Operations and Informatics, 2008 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.221 - 241

Published online: 19 Nov 2008 *

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