Research on Inventory Simulation of Pulse Supply Chain Based on Controllable Lead Time

Abstract

In the e-commerce environment, how supply chain enterprises respond to surge demands has become an urgent issue to address. This article takes into consideration the overall interests of the supply chain system, aiming to maximize the supply chain profit. By applying system dynamics theory, an in-depth analysis is conducted on a two-tier supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single retailer with controllable lead times. A system dynamics model is constructed using Vensim simulation software as the modeling platform, and simulation analyses are performed for both single and multiple surge demands. The findings reveal that in both single and multiple surge demand scenarios, implementing a controllable retailer lead time strategy leads to higher profits compared to normal lead time and random lead time strategies. Moreover, as the lead time is compressed, the profit exhibits an increasing-to-decreasing trend. Additionally, when both the manufacturer and retailer lead times are controllable, the profit of the entire supply chain surpasses that of the normal lead time and random lead time strategies.