Software Agent-Based Simulation for Pan-European Transport Corridor Management in Supply Chain

Introduction

Today, all business appreciates the value and consequence of building an effective supply chain as part of enterprise proliferation and profitability (Pal & Yasar, 2020) (Pal, 2020). Academics and practitioners are researching on different aspects of the industry-specific supply chain (e.g., automobile, pharmaceutical, agriculture, apparel) (Pal, 2021) (Wilding, 2019) (Marshall & Raman, 2010). In general, a supply chain comprises the system with business, technology, people, information, activities, and other resources needed to deliver services or products from suppliers to customers. Supply chain activity transforms natural resources, raw materials, and components into final products and delivers them to customers. This way, a supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs material procurement functions, transforming these materials into intermediate and finished products and distributing these finished products to customers (Pal, 2017). Supply Chain Management (SCM) integrates specific approaches to efficiently integrate suppliers and customers (e.g., stores, retailers, wholesalers, warehouses, transporters, and manufacturers). Hence, the objectives are merchandises produce and distribute in the right quantities, to suitable locations, and at the right time, to minimize system-wide costs while satisfying service level requests (Pal, 2019). Therefore, SCM is an operation management science that tries at improving the allocation, management, and control of logistical resources to satisfy customer needs.

The initial signs of SCM were perceptible in Toyota Motor Manufacturing's Just-In-Time (JIT) procurement system (Shingo, 1988). Mainly, JIT was used to control suppliers to the factory just in the right quantities, and at the appropriate time. The main goal was to reduce the inventory level drastically and regulate the suppliers' interaction with the production line more effectively. It consisted of two separate flows through the supply chain organizations: material and information. The supply chain scope starts with the source of supply and ends at the point of consumption. It extends much further than simply concern with the physical movement of materials. Equal emphasis is given to supplier management, purchasing, inventory management, manufacturing management, facilities planning, customer service, information flow, transport, and physical distribution. Some of the essential business processes along the supply chain are shown in Figure 1.

SCM tries to bring suppliers and customers together in one concurrent business process. Its main objective is to synchronize the customer's needs with the flow of raw material from purchasers. It balances Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) with appropriate customer service, minimum inventory holding cost and optimal unit cost. In this complex CSP environment, an effective supply chain's design and operation are fundamental for the global business (Pal, 2020) (Pal & Yasar, 2020).

It is worth noting that procurement process does not complete when the customer places an order using an existing procurement channel. Customer queries, before or after order placement, are inevitable. At the same time, the seller might want to contact customers with purchase confirmation and shipping information. Customer service encompasses all points of contact between the seller and the customer. It results from the accumulated value of all business processes along the supply chain. These business processes are responsible for offering an acceptable level of customer service. Moreover, these business processes are also interdependent, if one business function fails to provide the expected level of customer service, then the chain is disrupted, and the scheduled workload in other areas is destabilized. Consequently, customer satisfaction is the casualty.

Figure 1.

Diagrammatic representation of supply chain business processes