Performance and Cost Analysis of Supply Chain Models

In this paper we introduce a general framework for the modeling, analysis and costing of logistic networks including supply chains (SCs). The employed modeling notation, the so-called Process Chain paradigm, is specifically developed for the application field of logistic networks which includes SCs. We view SCs as discrete event dynamic systems (DEDS) and apply corresponding simulative techniques in order to derive performance measures of the Process Chain model under investigation. For this purpose Process Chain models are automatically transformed into the input language of the simulation tool HIT. Subsequently, a cost accounting model using the performance measures is applied to obtain costs which are actually subject of interest. The usefulness and applicability of the approach is illustrated by a typical supply chain example. We investigate the impact of an additional SC channel between a manufacturer and web-consumers on the overall supply chain costs.