Setting Order Promising Times in a Supply Chain Network Using Hybrid Simulation-Analytical Approach: an Industrial Case Study

Abstract

Supply chain management (SCM) involves the management of material and information flow among the members of chain such as vendors, manufacturing plants and distribution centers. The main processes in supply chain are production planning, control, distribution and logistics. Effective management of all these processes provides the manufacturing companies great advantages in time based competition. In order to gain a competitive edge, firms must be able to deliver their products fast and on-time. This can be managed by better production planning, scheduling and due-date setting. This paper suggests a hybrid approach for setting realistic order due dates for a produce-to-order manufacturing company operating within a supply chain environment. The proposed hybrid approach combines mathematical and simulation modeling to bring together the advantages of both approaches. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.