Agent-based simulation of a specialty chemicals supply chain

Abstract

The study of supply chains is important because manufacturing industries face an increasingly complex, global, and competitive environment. As present-day supply chains involve numerous heterogeneous entities with different roles and dynamics, managing them is not straightforward. Hence, a simulation model can serve as a valuable quantitative tool that aids in decision-making. In this paper, we present an agent-based model of a global specialty chemicals supply chain. The model explicitly considers the various supply chain entities: upstream raw material suppliers, downstream customers as well as the internal entities of the specialty chemicals company. These internal entities include a centralized sales department and a number of production sites located at different regions in the world. Each production site has its own procurement, scheduling, storage, operations, and packaging departments. Each of these entities is represented by an agent, each with its own goals and tasks, following the belief-desire-intention formalism. The model has been implemented in Jadex and simulates various supply chain activities such as raw material procurement, order assignment, job scheduling, storage, and production. It allows the user to simulate and analyze different supply chain policies, configurations, and uncertainties. This paper describes the model and illustrates its capabilities for decision support.