Object-Oriented Simulation for Service Supply Chain

Abstract

Most existing supply chain research focuses exclusively on the manufacturing sector. However, there is a lack of research on the service sector, which is becoming increasingly important in the global economy. In addition, it is harder to design a conceptual simulation model than a manufacture supply chain does to the diversity of structures in the service sector. In this paper, we develop a service supply chain simulation models, based on object-oriented approach using UML analysis/design tools and ARENA (R) simulation language. We use a conceptual model of simulation because of its diversity and changeability. Objective-oriented modeling has demonstrated an effective simulation design and the practical process. The two main features of the proposed procedure are the definition of a systematic conceptual procedure to design service supply chain models and of a set of rules for the conceptual model translation in an ARENA (R) simulation language. The goal of this research is to improve the knowledge on service supply chain management with the developed model and support the simulation model development on service supply chain efficient.