Components of chemical supply chain simulation models

2 Components of chemical supply chain simulation models 

The components necessary to model a chemical SC depend on the type of simulation model chosen. Basically, the simulation of SCs is focused on material flows among a set of processors whereby also flows of money or information might be reasonable.Processors transform and manage the flow of materials depending on specific rules and stimuli from other model components. 

Discrete-event simulation is probably the most flexible simulation technique. Flows are here discretely modelled, i.e. at a discrete number of time indices flows are controlled. Processors can represent various system elements depending on the type of flows controlled and the processors internal decision rules. Processors of material flows represent e.g. production facilities where flows are transformed and (possibly) delayed to reflect the time consumption for production. Moreover, processors may also reflect transport or storage facilities where flows are controlled depending on the available capacities. 

Typically, the management of flows is implicitly determined by local rules of the processors. To improve the system s performance, however, it is sometimes advisable to coordinate these local decisions, i.e. the processors are centrally managed. This implies that the simulation model requires an additional processor reflecting central information 

For modeUing chemical SCs using discrete-event simulation, the following types of processors are included to reflect material flows  

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