The physics of decision approach: a physics-based vision to manage supply chain resilience

Abstract

As instability becomes the norm, supply chain management is becoming increasingly complex and critical. As a result, supply chain managers must adapt to complex situations. Managing instability is a key expectation for these managers. One way to help them to manage this instability is to study resilience. Resilience is related to in the literature as the ability of a system to resist, adapt and recover from disruptions. Measuring and controlling supply chain resilience has therefore become a key issue for managers, especially in a context of instability. In 2013, the World Economic Forum [2013. Global Risks 2013. Davos, Switzerland: World Economic Forum] highlighted in its study, this priority for the surveyed companies to master this concept of resilience. To address this need, this paper presents an innovative approach to disruption and resilience management based on physics principles. It considers disruptions as forces that impact supply chain performance. These forces are created as a result of changes in the internal or external attributes of the supply chain. In this approach, supply chain performance is represented and visualised as a physical trajectory modelled in the framework of its performance indicators. Thus, disturbances are considered as forces that displace and deviate the supply chain's performance trajectory in its performance framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Resilience
• physics of decision
• performance management
• supply chain management
• risk management

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the application of the PoD approach to resilience assessment are only available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Notes

1 It is important to notice that this value is for a duration of 10 months (the strike occurring 2 months after the beginning of the year and the experiment lasting 365 days). The time duration must be defined and discussed; else it is meaningless.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thibaut Cerabona

Thibaut Cerabona is PhD student in the Industrial Engineering Center of IMT Mines Albi. His academic background includes a master's degree in industrial engineering. His research interests include supply chain management, performance measurement, risk management, resilience measurement, decision support and virtual reality. His email address is [email protected].

Frederick Benaben

Frederick Benaben is Full Professor in the Industrial Engineering Department of IMT Mines Albi (FRANCE) and Adjunct-Professor at Georgia Tech ISyE and Beijing JiaoTong University SEM. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from University of Montpellier. He is the head of the research axis ‘Security and Crisis Management'. He is Director of the IOMEGA-VR Lab (immersive technologies for security) and Co-Director of the international laboratory SIReN (Sentient Immersive Response Network), between IMT Mines Albi and Georgia Tech ISyE. He works on the use of data to model instable situation and exploit Artificial Intelligence to support decision-making and security management. He has extensive research collaboration experience with industry over the last 15 years, including publicly funded research projects and industrial private common research labs. His email address is [email protected].

Benoit Montreuil

Benoit Montreuil is Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech and the Coca-Cola Chair in Material Handling & Distribution. At Georgia Tech, he is Director of Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, Director of the Physical Internet Center, and Co-Director of the international SIReN (Sentient Immersive Response Network) Laboratory. His main research interests focus on developing methodologies and technologies to model, optimise, transform and enable businesses, supply chains and value creation networks to enable them to thrive in a rapidly changing hyperconnected world. He has extensive research collaboration experience with the industry, recently with Americold, Nissan, SF Express, The Home Depot and UPS. He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1982. His email address is [email protected].

Matthieu Lauras

Matthieu Lauras is full Professor and Deputy-Head of the Industrial Engineering Center at IMT Mines Albi. He is the Pierre Fabre ‘Agile Supply Chain' Chair and the Scientific Director of various public-private joint research labs and research projects. He is Adjunct-Professor at Georgia Tech ISyE and Beijing JiaoTong University SEM. His research works develop contributions to support collaborative networks’ stakeholders to better make their decisions in uncertain and/or disruptive environment. His research activities concern both industrial management systems and crisis management systems such as humanitarian supply chains. His email address is: [email protected]

Louis Faugère

Louis Faugere is Applied Scientist in the Modeling and Optimization Research Group at Amazon and Affiliate Researcher in the Physical Internet Center at Georgia Tech. He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Diplôme d'Ingénieur in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from Arts et Métiers ParisTech. His main research interests lie at the intersection of the Physical Internet, Supply Chain Management, and Transportation and Logistics Systems. His recent contributions focus on designing, managing, and operating sustainable and resilient logistics systems. His email address is [email protected].

Miguel R. Campos

Miguel Campos is a Fulbright Scholar Grantee from Bogota, Colombia. He is currently a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Industrial Engineering at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. His academic background includes bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial engineering. With over 7 years of experience with industry-related projects, Miguel is currently working as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Physical Internet Center under the direction of Dr. Benoit Montreuil. His main research focuses on improving the performance of supply chains and logistics systems through the use of large-scale simulation. More broadly, his research interests include supply chain engineering, transportation, parcel delivery, durable goods delivery, manufacturing, applied statistics and large-scale simulation. His email address is [email protected].

Julien Jeany

Julien Jeany is an engineer specialised in Cognitive Sciences and Artificial Intelligence. He is currently the manager of the SCALIAN R&D Lab, and co-director of the SCAN common Laboratory, an initiative founded by SCALIAN and IMT Mines Albi. His email address is [email protected].