A Distributed Approach for Agile Supply Chain Decision-Making Based on Network Attributes

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Bi, Mingjie, Tilbury, Dawn M., Shen, Siqian, Barton, Kira
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Bi, Mingjie
Tilbury, Dawn M.
Shen, Siqian
Barton, Kira
author_facet Bi, Mingjie
Tilbury, Dawn M.
Shen, Siqian
Barton, Kira
contents In recent years, the frequent occurrence of disruptions has had a negative impact on global supply chains. To stay competitive, enterprises strive to remain agile through the implementation of efficient and effective decision-making strategies in reaction to disruptions. A significant effort has been made to develop these agile disruption mitigation approaches, leveraging both centralized and distributed decision-making strategies. Though trade-offs of centralized and distributed approaches have been analyzed in existing studies, no related work has been found on understanding supply chain performance based on the network attributes of the disrupted supply chain entities. In this paper, we characterize supply chains from a capability and network topological perspective and investigate the use of a distributed decision-making approach based on classical multi-agent frameworks. The performance of the distributed framework is evaluated through a comprehensive case study that investigates the performance of the supply chain as a function of the network structure and agent attributes within the network in the presence of a disruption. Comparison to a centralized decision-making approach highlights trade-offs between performance, computation time, and network communication based on the decision-making strategy and network architecture. Practitioners can use the outcomes of our studies to design response strategies based on agent capabilities, network attributes, and desired supply chain performance.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_19038
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Distributed Approach for Agile Supply Chain Decision-Making Based on Network Attributes
Bi, Mingjie
Tilbury, Dawn M.
Shen, Siqian
Barton, Kira
Multiagent Systems
Social and Information Networks
Systems and Control
In recent years, the frequent occurrence of disruptions has had a negative impact on global supply chains. To stay competitive, enterprises strive to remain agile through the implementation of efficient and effective decision-making strategies in reaction to disruptions. A significant effort has been made to develop these agile disruption mitigation approaches, leveraging both centralized and distributed decision-making strategies. Though trade-offs of centralized and distributed approaches have been analyzed in existing studies, no related work has been found on understanding supply chain performance based on the network attributes of the disrupted supply chain entities. In this paper, we characterize supply chains from a capability and network topological perspective and investigate the use of a distributed decision-making approach based on classical multi-agent frameworks. The performance of the distributed framework is evaluated through a comprehensive case study that investigates the performance of the supply chain as a function of the network structure and agent attributes within the network in the presence of a disruption. Comparison to a centralized decision-making approach highlights trade-offs between performance, computation time, and network communication based on the decision-making strategy and network architecture. Practitioners can use the outcomes of our studies to design response strategies based on agent capabilities, network attributes, and desired supply chain performance.
title A Distributed Approach for Agile Supply Chain Decision-Making Based on Network Attributes
topic Multiagent Systems
Social and Information Networks
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19038