Title: Simulation of lateral transshipment in order delivery under e-commerce environment

Authors: Haibin Liu

Addresses: Zhengzhou Institute of Aeronautical Industry Management, The No. 2 Middle of DAXUE Road, ERQI District Zhengzhou, Henan, China

Abstract: In this research, we apply a discrete event simulation approach to explore how enterprises in the Chinese mainland make a successful operation with the aid of e-commerce. This paper examines the effects of proposed four kinds of transshipment operation network structures on the performance under different policies of transshipment and inventory allocation. Results show that: 1) transshipment based on availability (TBA) policy can produce the high service level, while transshipment based on the inventory equalisation (TIE) policy can give high profits; 2) adoption of TBA or TIE is contingent on different stages of development; 3) an optimal service level and performance can both be acquired at the same time by adjusting transshipping structure; 4) the 'complete link' transshipping structure is the best in improving the service level; 5) the 'small-world' transshipping structure is optimal; 6) the 'scale-free' transshipping structure should be averted forming in operation.

Keywords: lateral transshipment; discrete event simulation; DES; availability; inventory equalisation; order delivery; e-commerce; electronic commerce; China; transshipment policies; inventory allocation; transshipping structure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSPM.2016.075080

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling, 2016 Vol.11 No.1, pp.51 - 65

Accepted: 14 Nov 2015
Published online: 02 Mar 2016 *

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