Resumen de Aspectos dinámicos de la cadena de suministro
In this thesis a supply chain of the real world is studied through a simulation model, in order to analyze the dynamic aspects of this system under different inventory management policies. The chain is comprised of a main manufacturer, 3 customers and 29 suppliers, distributed through a network with 3 levels. In total, the chain has 33 agents whose behavior is simulated under scenarios that represent the market dynamics during four years. In Chapter 1 some scientific contributions are mentioned to understand the system under study. It also provides a brief description of the supply chain structure and its agents. The objectives to be accomplished with this investigation are stablished in the Chapter 1, and finally, the structure of the document is also described. In Chapter 2 the supply chain is explained in detail and the information gathered from the real world is analyzed. In Chapter 3 the scientific works about the supply chain and the various ways of managing value creation processes are discussed. It also discusses the contributions about of demand amplification and supply chain performance measurement. In Chapter 4 the process to construct the simulation model is explained. In Chapter 5, the simulation of the initial policies in the inventory management is used to obtain information on the evolution of the system. These data, together with the manufacturer¿s sales, are analyzed in order to design a global supply strategy by means of a whole approach and inventory management models. The goal is to synchronize efficiently the supply activities along the chain, while sharing information among the agents. This research proposes a global strategy that integrates new supply policies focused on optimizing the transfer lot size in the supply network to reduce the inventory management cost. Once the global strategy is designed, the supply chain is simulated in scenarios with new policies to discover its behavior. The following metrics are used to observe the behavior in the studied scenarios: annual inventory amounts; medium and maximum inventory values; intensity of demand amplification; delivery times and annual inventory costs. A comparison between inventory policies shows that the new policy proposals reduce significantly the annual inventories, the mean and the maximum inventory levels. According to the simulation results, the hypothesis that new policies are effective to counteract the demand amplification through the chain is proved. This also improves most of the supplier delivery times and the whole performance. In the same way, the new inventory policies lead a decrease in the inventory management cost through the supply chain. A second analysis examines the behavior of several structures, in a manufacturer-supplier relation, in the simulated scenarios. The new policies prove their usefulness to improve different main structures manufacturer-supplier. These results can lead to study and develop new policies oriented to improve the supply activities for the main manufacturer. This is a future suggested research line. Finally, it is possible to conclude that a global supply strategy enhances value creation in the supply chain, according to the results in this research.
