|
Supply Chain: A supply chain is a network of facilities
and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement
of materials; transformation of these material into intermediate
and finished products; and distribution of these finished products
to customers. (Source: Ganeshan & Harrison - Introduction
to Supply Chain Management)
Simulation: A representation of a situation or problem
with a similar but simpler model or a more easily manipulated
model in order to determine experimental results.
Supply Chain Simulation: A computer
model of a supply chain network that behaves in a manner similar
to the actual network, enabling prediction of future supply chain
metrics and performance.
Supply Chain Guru incorporates the most advanced
supply chain simulation in the world, directly
into its interface. You import or enter configuration data about
your supply chain network into a Guru model (or work directly
in MS Excel, Access, or using SQL).
Then, press the simulation button and Guru will
automatically build and run the network simulation model.
Results are automatically extracted and summarized
into the Guru tables. You can quickly look at simulation summaries,
or dive down for an in-depth look at the details of individual
model variables.
Guru has extensive scenario analysis capabilities
to streamline the process of analyzing your results. You can use
built-in scenario generation tools to quickly create numerous
policy and structural alternatives, and then use batch-run capabilities
to simulate all of them automatically. Supply Chain Guru is the
premier tool for the Supply Chain Strategy professional looking
for maximum productivity, power, and efficiency.
Supply Chain Guru uses Discrete Event Simulation
(DES) to simulate extremely detailed and complex supply chain
network operations. DES allows the model to incorporate both TIME
and RANDOMNESS into its simulation.
TIME is simulated using an event calendar, where
individual demands, production runs, order fill operations, and
shipments are all scheduled to occur in time, and trigger other
future events in the simulation.
RANDOMNESS is incorporated through the use of random
variables in place of deterministic or fixed numbers. Most any
time field and many other quantity fields in Guru models can incorporate
randomness using:
- a fixed time, such as “1 DAY”
- a distribution such as “N(1, 0.1)
DAY” (the time is normally distributed with a mean
of 1 and standard deviation of 0.1)
- or empirically, such as “D(1, 0.6,
2, .4) DAY (the time has a 60% chance of being equal to
1, & a 40% chance of being equal to 2)
|
Guru’s simulation engine is extremely powerful, designed
for speed and flexibility. Small models can be run nearly instantly;
large models can be scaled up for true Enterprise Simulation of
individual supply chain transactions.
Guru’s supply chain simulation
engine, called Enterprise Simulation Planning
(ESP) engine, is deployable on all Windows, Linux, and Unix operating
system variants. The simulation component can even be integrated
directly with your other planning system components and ERP systems,
enabling the possibility of “bolting on” simulation
capabilities to your existing systems.
In addition to the standard supply
chain simulation elements necessary to model a network,
such as sites, products, demands, and transportation/supply lanes,
Supply Chain Guru has additional capabilities making it the most
unique and powerful network simulation technology in the industry.
Here are just a few of the many elements and constraints in Guru’s
powerful supply chain simulator:
- Pre-built inventory, sourcing, and transportation
policies
- Incorporate forecasting and demand variability
to accurately simulate occasional occurrences and the network
respond to them
- Build custom rules and criteria to simulate expedite
processes and handle exceptions like preferred customers, late
orders, and seasonal demand spikes
- Detailed, multi-level BOM support
- Manufacturing work centers and routings which
can model multi-step production and value add processes for
far more accurate manufacturing capacity and lead time modeling
- No coding required, powerful and accurate policy
simulation; ability to customize and enhance models with coding
capabilities to capture production and inventory planning processes
-
Geographical interface and mapping for visualizing results
-
Flow Chart-style interface for an interactive “Business
Process” view
-
Table views and access to optimization details for a more
in depth investigation into results
-
Batch running of simulations: setup as many as 50 scenarios,
then kick it off to run automatically!
-
Model Compare does direct comparisons of all model input
and output tables, highlighting what exactly has changed from
one scenario to the next
-
Scenario comparison graphs enable direct visualization and
comparison of metrics across model databases
|
