State of the art, conceptual framework and simulation analysis of the ripple effect on supply chains

Abstract

Supply chains are becoming increasingly sophisticated and vital for many firms’ competetiveness. Nevertheless, their interrelated, complex and global nature also makes them more vulnerable to the risk of their operations being interrupted. This article analyzes the ripple effect on supply chains, which occurs when disruption in one node spreads throughout the supply chain and impacts its performance, design and planning parameters. This article offers a systematic review of the existing literature that covers the ripple effect in the supply chain context. It structures and classifies existing research currents and application areas in this context by presenting and analyzing the obtained results. Based on the conclusions obtained with the literature review, a conceptual framework is proposed and includes the main characteristics and perspectives of the ripple effect on supply chains, and the possible proactive and reactive measures to mitigate its effects and to recover from serious disruptions. The conceptual framework is also analyzed and validated by a system dynamics simulation model.

KEYWORDS:

• Ripple effect
• supply chain resilience
• disruption management
• risk management
• simulation

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities with the project entitled ‘Optimisation of zero-defects production technologies enabling supply chains 4.0 (CADS4.0)’ (RTI2018-101344-B-I00) and the Operational Program of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the Valencian Community 2014–2020 IDIFEDER/2018/025.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Generalitat Valenciana: [Grant Number IDIFEDER/2018/025]; and Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities: [Grant Number RTI2018-101344-B-I00].

Notes on contributors

Arrate Llaguno

Arrate Llaguno graduated in Managment Engineering at the University of Deusto (UD) in 2019 and she algo graduated in the Master`s degree in Advanced Engineering at Production, Logistics and Supply Chain at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) in 2020. Her principal interests lie in production engineering and management, operations research, the optimization of the supply chain, along with colaboration mechanisms and the application of lean tools to get the best out of production industry, also known as, lean manufacturing. Moreover, the last mile logistics and the usage of electric vehicles in the logistics or distribution companies have also been of great interest for her.

Josefa Mula

Josefa Mula is Professor in the Department of Business Management of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain. She is a member of the Research Centre on Production Management and Engineering (CIGIP) of the UPV. Her teaching and principal research interests concern production engineering and management, operations research and supply chain simulation. She is editor in chief of the International Journal of Production Management and Engineering. She regularly acts as associate editor, guest editor and member of scientific boards of international journals and conferences, and as referee for more than 50 scientific journals. She is author of more than 100 papers mostly published in international books and high-quality journals, among which International Journal of Production Research, Fuzzy sets and Systems, International Journal of Production Economics, European Journal of Operational Research, Computers and Industrial Engineering, and Journal of Cleaner Production.

Francisco Campuzano-Bolarin

Francisco Campuzano-Bolarín is Associate Professor in the Business Management Department at the Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT) in Spain. Having graduated in 2000 in Management Engineering, in 2006 he received a PhD degree in Management from the Universitat Politècnica de València. His doctoral thesis was rewarded with honours by the Spanish Logistics Centre (CEL) in 2007. His main fields of research are focused on the modeling and simulation of supply chain systems and production management using the system dynamics methodology. He has participated in 11 research projects of public competition at regional, national and international level, and 6 research contracts with public and private entities. He has 27 publications as scientific international peer reviewed journals included in JCR, author of one book and three book chapters, both in international editorials (Springer and Pearson). He has also contributed to several international conference proceedings. He is currently an active member of the Systems Dynamic Society. He is a reviewer for several international journals.